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.
Genji

Ine

Itoman

Furukawa

Masuya

Toramatsu

Oko

Kinzo

Oyoshi

Magoshichi

Yoshino

Nui

Roku

Nakazawa

Koide

Matakichi

Hanjiro

Sakunojo

Densuke

Yamikumo-dayu

Omatsu

Gon

Ijuin

Jyosyuya
