Jun Sagara

A romance between a young koto prodigy and the head of a koto school’s daughter.

In the ruins of postwar Osaka, performers and drifters gather in a rundown tenement known as "Geinin Mura." Osen, a kind-hearted seamstress, supports her eccentric former-comedian father while carrying the memory of a lost love, Sо̂ji. After a misunderstanding separates them, she marries the cheerful performer Yonetaro, only for tragedy to strike soon after.

A heartbroken beauty has slipped into the ranks of the "Golden Horse" circus troupe. The circus's two star performers, vying for her affection, face off on a perilous trapeze, staking their love and friendship on the outcome.

The film is set in Kyoto at the end of the Tokugawa period, when there is a fierce clash between the supporters of the Emperor, who are fighting for the overthrow of the Shogunate, and the Shinsengumi squad, who are chasing them. Suddenly, a mysterious masked warrior appears, on a white horse he is called Tengu from Mount Kurama and he opposes the Shinsengumi.

Hayase, a schoolteacher, assists Sakai in editing a German-Japanese dictionary. Hayase owes much to Sakai, as Sakai raised him for 13 years after Hayase lost his parents in a war. Hayase has been secretly married to Otsuta, a former geisha, and has been unable to tell Sakai of the marriage, aware as he is that Sakai wants him to marry his daughter, Taeko. Otsuta wants Hayase to tell Sakai about her, but understands the difficulty of his position. At a festival, Otsuta is mistaken for a pickpocket and taken to the police. Because of her background as a geisha, newspaper reporters eagerly delve into her past and report that she has been married to Hayase. Unaware of what has been printed in the papers, Hayase decides to tell Sakai about his marriage. Sakai shows the newspaper to him and orders Hayase to part with Otsuta. Given no chance to explain, Hayase accepts Sakai's order.

The title of the film reflects the custom of writing poems and lyrics on paper lanterns. The film tells about the difficult relationship between the actors of the Japanese classical theater No, friendship, hatred and love…

The story follows Oshino, a geisha who is trying to start a new life with a lover who is a painter. However, her past filled with debts and pimps catches up to her.