SETTING: Edo (Tokyo) in the Edo Period (beginning of the 18th century)

SYNOPSIS:
SATSUMA GENGOBEI is a ronin (masterless samurai) who is planning to participate in a plot to avenge his lord's death. In order to deceive his enemies, he conceals his identity and dissipates himself at geisha houses -- in the course of which he falls in love with KOMAN. She seems to be very fond of him, too, and even tattoos on her arm as proof of her love.
GENGOBEI has one problem. He has been unable to raise 100 ryo which he needs to participate in the vendetta. His faithful servant, HACHIEMON, returns after much trouble with the money. GENGOBEI is deeply touched. Ashamed of his weak frame of mind, he renews his resolution to help avenge his lord's death.
Just at this time, a man named SANGORO visits GENGOBEI and informs him that KOMAN is about to be bought from the geisha house for 100 ryo by a samurai. SANGORO suggests that GENGOBEI redeem her first. GENGOBEI cannot refuse the proposition and gives SANGORO the money he received from HACHIEMON for the vendetta.
However, the story turns out to be a plot by SANGORO and KOMAN to rob him of the 100 ryo. When GENGOBEI finds out that they are man and wife, he becomes furious, and he attacks and kills SANGORO's men, but SANGORO escapes.
SANGORO goes to his father, TOKUEMON, to give him the 100 ryo he obtained from GENGOBEI. TOKUEMON's master is in need of the money and SANGORO stole the 100 ryo so his father could give it to him. Around this time GENGOBEI tracks KOMAN down. When he sees the tattoo changed into her husband's name, he kills her and her child in a fit of fury.
SANGORO and TOKUEMON hurry to a humble cottage nearby where they plan to deliver the money to TOKUEMON's master. Whom should they see there but GENGOBEI drinking sake with KOMAN's head in front of him. GENGOBEI's real name is FUNAKURA SOEMON, SANGORO's father's master. GENGOBEI and SANGORO instantly understand what has happened: by a twist of fate SANGORO has stolen the money from the very man for whom it was intended. SANGORO kills himself, and GENGOBEI disappears.

NOTES:
This film is based on two works. One is "KAMIKAKETE SANGO TAISETSU" written by TSURUYA NAMBOKU in 1825, a Kabuki playwright of the Edo period. NAMBOKU wrote the famous ghost drama "TOKAIDO YOTSUYA KAIDAN." The other is a work written by ISHIZAWA SHUNJI for a 1969 SHNGEKI (New Theatre) production based on NAMBOKU's original work.
The story of the loyal 47 ronin who avenged the unjust execution of their lord in 1702 is known as "CHUSHINGURA." It is still celebrated in Kabuki plays, popular novels and motion pictues. The people at the periphery of this story appear in "KAMIKAKETE SANGO TAISETSU" and "TOKAIDO YOTSUYA KAIDAN." In NAMBOKU's work the hero, GENGOBEI finally joins the band of loyal ronin, but in ISHZAWA's work they abandon him when they set out for their revenge. Both NAMBOKU and ISHIZAWA deal with the virtues of loyalty and sincerity in the thems of their work; MATSUMOTO TOSHIO, the director of this film, delves instead into the cause and effect of passion.
MATSUMOTO has been active as a documentary and experimental filmmaker, playwright, and critic, and in radio and television. This is his second feature-length dramatic film after "Funeral Parade of Roses" (BARA NO SOSETSU) 1969. He writes about the original work by NAMBOKU as follows: "This is a story of cruelty and madness in which the characters are betrayed by love, politics, other people, and themselves; that is they are betrayed by everything in the world. There is no doubt that this Medieval Age nightmare of blood and revenge is simultaneously linked to the
endless dark inferno of our time."
KARA JURO, who plays the role of SANGORO, is the leader of a theatrical company called "JOKYO GEKIJO" - a leading force in Japanese avant-garde theatre since the 1960s. He himself has directed one feature-length dramatic film.