Watanabe Kazuma and Kawai Matagorō from the Bizen Okayama Ikeda clan were close friends, but they inevitably became enemies after Matagorō killed Kazuma's younger brother, Gentayū, and fled. Seeking assistance, Kazuma asked his brother-in-law, Araki Mataemon, for help, but Mataemon refused, saying that it was against the code for a brother to avenge another brother's death. On the other hand, the lord of the clan, Ikeda Tadao, ordered a search for Matagorō, who was found to be sheltered by the Hatamoto, including Andō Jiemon, in Edo. Tadao was furious but unable to act. Matagorō, in Edo, came to regret his birth as a samurai. He met and fell in love with Okō, a bathhouse maid. As the discord between the Hatamoto and the Ikeda clan deepened, Tadao died of illness. Seizing the opportunity to ease the conflict, the shogunate ordered the Ikeda clan to be succeeded by the young lord Katsugorō and to relocate to the Ikeda clan of Inshū Tottori. Meanwhile, Matagorō was exiled from Edo.
Matsumoto Hakuō I
Isuzu Yamada
Nakamura Jakuemon IV
Hiroko Nanaura
Minoru Ōki
Yukiko Shimazaki
Eitarō Ozawa
Hideaki Nagai
Ryōsuke Kagawa
Kinzō Shin
Shinji Takano
Matsumoto Hakuō II
Akio Satake
Mitsugu Terashima
Kenji Nagata
Mitsuo Nagata
Shinobu Araki
Keijirō Morozumi
Akio Isono
Fujio Suga
Jinichi Amano
Isao Ubukata
Eijirō Hose
松井光三郎
Yoshito Yamaji
Jotaro Togami
Kamon Kawamura
Hiroshi Aoyama
Yuji Nango
Kenzō Tanaka
Toshio Nogi
Koji Nakata
Aizo Tamashima
Akira Nishioka
Rintarō Fujima
Eiichi Nozawa