Kokuhô

In 1964, renowned kabuki actor Hanai Hanjiro II visits yakuza group Tachibana in Nagasaki for a New Year gathering. Kikuo Tachibana performs as onnagata an excerpt of the kabuki performance Barrier Gate. A rival yakuza group attacks after the performance, killing Kikuo's father. Kikuo plots revenge, but fails. A year later, Kikuo is taken on as an apprentice by Hanjiro despite his background. Kikuo is given the stage name Toichiro and begins training alongside Shunsuke (stage name Han'ya), Hanjiro's son and heir to the Tanba-ya house of kabuki. The two form a brotherly bond.