Plot
The film depicts carnivalesque atmosphere summed up by the cry "Ei ja nai ka" ("Why not?") in Japan in 1867 and 1868 in the days leading to the Meiji Restoration. It examines the effects of the political and social upheaval of the time, and culminates in a revelrous march on the Tokyo Imperial Palace, which turns into a massacre. Characteristically, Imamura focuses not on the leaders of the country, but on characters in the lower classes and on the fringes of society.
Trailer
Cast
Shigeru Izumiya
Genji
Kaori Momoi
Ine
Masao Kusakari
Itoman
Ken Ogata
Furukawa
Norihei Miki
Masuya
Junzaburō Ban
Toramatsu
Mitsuko Baisho
Oko
Shigeru Tsuyuguchi
Kinzo
Ako
Oyoshi
Shōhei Hino
Magoshichi
Shino Ikenami
Yoshino
Etsuko Ikuta
Nui
Hiroshi Inuzuka
Roku
Chōichirō Kawarasaki
Nakazawa
Kazuo Kitamura
Koide
Nenji Kobayashi
Matakichi
Yasuaki Kurata
Hanjiro
Shoichi Ozawa
Sakunojo
Sanshō Shinsui
Densuke
Kazuko Shirakawa
Yamikumo-dayu
Yuko Tanaka
Omatsu
Kibaji Tankobo
Gon
Minori Terada
Ijuin
Taiji Tonoyama
Jyosyuya
