En (縁): the meeting and joining of people, a tie between them. The Nihon Kokugo Daijiten also glosses it as enko, a personal connection.
Tōku no shinrui yori chikaku no tanin (遠くの親類より近くの他人): better a stranger nearby than a relative far away. In a time of need, the person to rely on is not the relative who lives far away but the neighbor.
Hadaka no tsukiai (裸のつきあい): naked association. A dictionary gives it as an example of hadaka, naked, in the sense of hiding nothing.