Synopsis: On the eve of the Meiji Restoration, the cataclysmic upheaval which ended Japan's Tokugawa Shogunate, Genji returns from six years in America, only to find the life he had known irretrievably lost, his young wife sold into prostitution. Discovering her in sleazy East Ryogoku, Genji is drawn into the underworld in which she lives. Strife among the ruling parties spreads throughout the city, and the people begin to riot, shouting "Eijanaika!" ("Why not?!!" or "What the hell!") as they loot the storehouse of wealthy merchants. As troops advance on the rioting mob, Genji, now an agitator planted by the Satsuma clan, is among them, stirring their anger.
The film was a critical and commercial success, allowing Imamura to raise a siza
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