The Japanese Ministry of Information, under the militarist government, commissioned director Kenji Mizoguchi to make this film as a morale booster for the WWII war effort. But it was a commercial failure, being released in Japan one week before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The military and most audiences found the first part of the film to be too slow and serious. However, the studio and Mizoguchi both regarded it as so important that Part 2 was put into production, though Mizoguchi was forced to insert some close-ups of the stars which are totally absent from Part I. The film was finally shown in America in the 1970s.
The original play "Genroku Chushingura" is probably the most well researched, historically accurate account of the famous Ako Vendetta that happened in 1702. Though the film was partially supported by the Ministry of Information to promote the idea of loyalty to the Japanese population just before entering WW II, it is interesting that the original play was written for the communism-oriented collective Kabuki troops 'Zenshinza', and most of the original cast members also played the same roles in the film version.
Based on a true story, a version of which can be read in Jorge Luis Borges's short story collection, 'A Universal History of Infamy', under the title 'The Uncivil Teacher of Etiquette, Kotsuke no Suke'.
This film's original release title, Genroku Chushingura, is commonly translated as "Treasury of the Forty-Seven Loyal Retainers."