Kobori Masahiro

In the end of Meiji era, Takei Chiyo was born in a poor family in Osaka, and was sent to a theatre tea room as a servant when she was 9 years old. There, she was attracted by the world of theatre comedy. She grows up to be an actor and marries to Amami Ippei , but the war broke out and she was forced to stay away from acting for a while. However, when she comes back again, her acting in a radio drama impresses many people and makes herself one of the leading actors in western Japan.

Toru recalls his life in the 1960s, when his friend Kizuki killed himself and he grew close to Naoko, Kizuki's girlfriend, and another woman, the outgoing, lively Midori.

Set in Kyoto in the last days of the Edo Period, the bloody conflict continues between local feudal domains, which aim to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate, and the Shogun's police and city patrol. Tajuro Kiyokawa, once the master of the sword but now a depraved samurai who left his domain putting aside his past ambition, barely makes ends meet. Toyo, a woman who runs a tavern next door, feels affection for Tajuro who guards her place against nasty customers, but he never realizes Toyo's feelings.

Akira is a hunter in a village where wolves disappeared 100 years ago. After he overspends community money on his obsessive hunts, his coleagues spurn him. He decides to go into the forest to kill a wolf.