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.
泉谷しげる
as Genji
桃井かおり
as Ine
草刈正雄
as Itoman
緒形拳
as Furukawa
三木のり平
as Masuya
伴淳三郎
as Toramatsu
倍賞美津子
as Oko
露口茂
as Kinzo
亜湖
as Oyoshi
火野正平
as Magoshichi
池波志乃
as Yoshino
生田悦子
as Nui
