This extraordinarily complex film is not only a send-up of every samurai film ever made, it is also an extrapolation of the value of life. The Yamatai, represented by Prince Susano-O and elderly advisor Sumuke, hire Yumihiko of Matsuro to hunt the phoenix so that Queen Himiko, sister of Susano-O can have eteranal life. Matsuro is then destroyed by the Takamagahara, who have mastered the art of horseback riding, which is foreign to all other western Japanese tribes. One of their number, Uzume uses makeup to appear ugly and avoid rape, though her dancing induces Jingi to spare her. Queen Himiko's apprentice, Iyo, orders the execution of an innocent based on her magical observation, so Susano-O sides with the people. A Yamatai doctor named Guzuri washes up from a shipwreck in the country of Kumaso, where Hinaku, daughter of the chief, is dying. Urusni, her husband, is killed hunting the phoenix to save her, but Guzuri gives her penicillin, which saves her, so the chief marries him to her