Eijanaika (1981)

A film exploring the collective popular movement in Japan during the Meiji Restoration period.

The film’s title Eijanaika translates loosely to “Why not?”, referring to a collective popular movement marked by singing, dancing, and the chanting of “eijanaika” across Japan in 1867. Imamura renders this historical epic through an insect’s-eye view of history, privileging the perspectives of peasants, prostitutes, and the dispossessed as they are swept along by the tides of history.