 After more than a year, the "bakufu" decided to confiscate the fief, a move which formally reduced the Akō retainers to the status of "rōnin".Ōishi and the men who had previously joined his "oibara" plan now decided to avenge their dead lord by killing Kira.Had their mission failed, the Akō "rōnin" had resolved to commit "junshi" together.