Jirokichi the Rat is a notorious thief. While on the run from the law, he discovers an unexpectedly honourable side of himself, and maybe some form of redemption.
Kind of the Japanese equivalent of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, this film is a fictionalized version of the gang battle in the later Edo period, which ended up in a direct duel between Kira no Nikichi (Ryunosuke Tsukigata) and Ano Toku (Dennosuke Ichikawa).
Rikiya is blinded in a fight after falling in love with a courtesan. Believing the blindness permanent and his opponent dead, he goes back home to his sister Okiku, who become a prostitute to pay for his treatment.