"Against the chaotic last days of the Edo period, Kawashima jovially recreates on screen a popular rakugo character, Saheiji, who possesses tough business and survival skills with nihilist shadings" (Japan Society). "Popular singer and comedian of the time, Frankie Sakai, stars as the deadbeat Saheiji, who comes to carouse at a Shinagawa brothel with no money up his kimono sleeve. After evading his bill for a few days, he finally volunteers to work off the debts he has incurred. In the process, he endears himself to the innkeeper, has two rival prostitutes indentured to the establishment fall in love with him, and is taken into the confidence of a brash young samurai involved in plots against the collapsing Tokugawa government. Eventually, Saheiji, an incorrigible drifter, makes his escape from the inn, off into the winter cold to find some new adventures" (David Owens). Typically of Kawashima's inventive use of space, A Decadent Tale of Waning Glory is a would-be picaresque confined to the several rooms of the brothel, whose denizens are drawn with the agility, humor, and lightness-of-touch of a Hokusai sketch.