Famed onnagata (a man who plays women's parts in Kabuki) Tamasaburo Bando follows up on the success of his directorial debut, Gekashitsu, with this soft-focused romance about love and obligation, based on a novel by Kafu Nagai. Set during the Meiji period (1868-1912), Kaede (Sayuri Yoshinaga) is the former mistress of a wealthy merchant. When he dies, she is forced out on the street and forced to give up her young daughter to the merchant's family. The film opens with her working in a high-class brothel abutting Tokyo Bay. Though she has passionate affection for a drug wholesaler, whom she loves as well, Kaede is swamped with not only debts to the bordello and family obligations -- she is expected to support her parents and her sister -- but also guilt over losing her child. This pain is only increased when Kaede learns that her daughter is being abused. She does the only thing she can: She buys back her child by signing on at the brothel for a longer stint.
Свободолюбивый эстет Нагаи не смог создать прочной семьи, его шокирующие связи с гейшами и проститутками стали причиной разрыва с его аристократической родней. В довоенное время его разгульная жизнь позволила ему отгородиться от революционного движения и остросоциальной прозы его современников. А в период войны его свободомыслие помогало ему отстраниться от националистических и милитаристских настроений, царивших в то время в стране. Главным своим пристанищем он выбрал веселые кварталы Токио, самые дешевые публичные дома, которые без разрешения властей выросли на восточном берегу реки Сумида.
The world is in turmoil with the October Revolution of 1917, riots over the inflationary price of rice, and the military expedition to Siberia in 1918. But Shinsuke spends his days in the arms of geishas, paying little heed to the events happening around him.
Учитель Дзюмпэй Танэда чувствует себя неудачником и в семье, и на работе. Его спасением становится проститутка Оюки из дешевого веселого квартала на восточном берегу реки Сумида. Чем сможет он отплатить ей за её преданность и любовь?
In Asakusa, Tokyo, a couple of a violinist Yamano and a revue dancer Hanae lives in poverty. One day Hanae’s little sister rolls into their apartment and begins to stir things up with her riotousness.
