Drama
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.
Directed by
Shōhei Imamura
Yuko Tanaka
Omatsu
Yasuaki Kurata
Hanjiro
Minori Terada
Ijuin
Kaori Momoi
Ine
Ken Ogata
Furukawa
Kazuko Shirakawa
Yamikumo-dayu
Masao Kusakari
Itoman
Mitsuko Baisho
Oko
Nenji Kobayashi
Matakichi
Taiji Tonoyama
Jyosyuya
Shōhei Hino
Magoshichi
Norihei Miki
Masuya
Shoichi Ozawa
Sakunojo
Shigeru Izumiya
Genji
Chōichirō Kawarasaki
Nakazawa
Shino Ikenami
Yoshino
Junzaburō Ban
Toramatsu
Ако
Oyoshi
Shigeru Tsuyuguchi
Kinzo
Etsuko Ikuta
Nui
Sanshō Shinsui
Densuke
Hiroshi Inuzuka
Roku
Kibaji Tankobo
Gon
Kazuo Kitamura
Koide

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