Set in the icy wilderness of Hokkaido during the early days of the Meiji era, where the brutal warden of Kabato Prison terrorizes convicts sentenced to forced labor to build the roads needed to open up the territory.

A woman who runs a bar with her older sister has her life disrupted when she has a chance meeting with an old lover.

With soft curves and deadly cunning a widow and her two daughters take revenge for the killing of her husband who was the leader of their gang. Based on the novel by Azusa Katsume.

The story is set in Bakumatsu and revolves around the Bunta Sugawara character, a yakuza (of course :) but instead of a modern yakuza/gangster, he's a gambler/bakuto). After he kills someone and gets wound, is saved by a blind woman (Mitsuko Baishô), who took care of him. They has a happy time under the protection of the Tomisaburo Wakayama character, an oybun. But of course, happy time doesn't last long. The story is also related to Okada Izo and the Shinsengumi (w/ Kondo Isami played by Makoto Sato)

Zenjiro (Masaru Shiga) is a lowlife criminal, roaming the country with his merry band of crooks, gamblers and rapists. When he gets done with his latest escapade of banging a samurai's wife, he finds that his love Okoyo (Eiko Matsuda), has managed to be recruited as one of Shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna's (Kantaro Suga) concubines. While attempting to win her back, Zenjiro becomes involved in increasingly murderous palace intrigues.