A group of samurai plan to assassinate a sadistic feudal lord.
Near the end of the Edo period, a military force known as Shinsengumi guards the Shogun.
A photo taken of Takakura and Shindo both sporting full-upper-body tattoos, something not the common in pre-1963 yakuza films.
Per aging chanbara star Katoaka's involvement, this leans more to the old-fashioned gangster film style/formula spilling over from Toei's 1950s heyday.
A new prisoner arrives at a prison where the prisoners have their own obscene culture. There he gets involved in a plot to steal government gold from the Shogun's vault.
The eastern and western factions of the Yakuza battle to control Japan.