Eijanaika

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.

Cast

Kaori Momoi

as Ine

Shigeru Izumiya

as Genji

Masao Kusakari

as Itoman

Ken Ogata

as Furukawa

Junzaburō Ban

as Toramatsu

Norihei Miki

as Masuya

Yuko Tanaka

as Omatsu

Shino Ikenami

as Yoshino

Shigeru Tsuyuguchi

as Kinzo

Shoichi Ozawa

as Sakunojo

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