[1][2] The real Chikuzan appears on a stage in a small theatre, Shibuya Jean-Jean, and begins telling the story of his life.
At this time, his wife's child sickens and eventually dies, but the urgent telegrams to Sadazo are discarded by the other performers because they do not want him to leave.
A teacher gets a student pregnant, and lies to Sadazo to make him and his wife take care of the girl.
At the end of the film, he meets his future teacher, Narita Unchiku (Kei Satō).
The film is based on Takahashi Chikuzan's autobiography Tsugaru jamisen hitori tabi.
[5] The Life of Chikuzan was screened at a 2012 retrospective on Shindō and Kōzaburō Yoshimura in London, organised by the British Film Institute and the Japan Foundation.