In medieval Japan a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.

A samurai travels to Edo with his two servants. On their way, they meet many people and encounter great injustice.

In 8th-century China, the Emperor is grieving over the death of his wife. The Yang family wants to provide the Emperor with a consort so that they may consolidate their…

Umekichi, a geisha in the Gion district of Kyoto, feels obliged to help her lover Furusawa when he asks to stay with her after becoming bankrupt and leaving his wife….

To save her brother and the ancestral house from the heavy burden of an unfulfilled debt, Osan–the noble wife of the parsimonious but reputable scroll-maker, Ishun–turns to her husband's kind-hearted…