Jirokichi the Rat
(Oatsurae Jirokichi Kôshi)

Ito’s other paean to Edo-period populist malfeasance, Made to Order Cloth spins a fictional story of real-life thief and folk hero Jirokichi “rat boy” Nakamura. While attempting to elude the shogun’s goons, Jirokichi takes a riverboat to Osaka and meets a beautiful geisha and her dishonorable brother. Spectacularly dramatic swordfights––which still impress after 80 years––abound. Its elegant stylization is punctuated by its revolutionary combination of benshi narration and intertitles, written in a Kansai dialect.