Considered by many the best Japanese film comedy, Sun Legend of the Shogunate was voted the 5th best Japanese film of all time in a 1999 poll of 140 critics by Kinema junpô, Japan's leading film magazine. The story is taken from rakugo (a traditional form of "sit-down" comedic narration), and focuses on the craftily versatile character of Saheiji (played by the great comedian, Frankie Sakai), a man-about-town who gets stuck at a high-class brothel when he can't pay the bill. The ever-resourceful Saheiji makes the best of his situation by performing various tasks amidst the tumult of the end of the shogunate -- but always by making sure to get a "commission" for his troubles. The women of the establishment start falling for this skilled player, but as with many Kawashima heroes, Saheiji is more intent on escape -- from everything, it seems. Many Nikkatsu performers, including Ishihara Yûjirô, postwar Japan's most popular male star, appear in the film.
| Directed by | Yûzô Kawashima |
| Written by | Shôhei Imamura, Yûzô Kawashima |
| Original lang. | Japanese |
| Country | Japan |