Although both had been taught their art by Tsuruhachi's now deceased mother, he constantly criticises her way of playing, which leads to repeated conflicts that have to be resolved by their manager Shohei and venue owner Takeno.

Now appearing solo at small venues across the country, Tsurujirō's career declines, until one day Shohei and Takeno can convince him and his former partner to enter the stage together again.

Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro was based on Kawaguchi's short story of the same title, which had been awarded the first Naoki Prize in 1935[4] and was itself said to be an adaptation of the 1934 US film Bolero.

[3] In a 2006 review for Slant Magazine, critic Keith Uhlich concluded that it was "primarily a vehicle for its very attractive stars", whose visual beauty remained on the surface and whose musical sequences, unlike the director's later The Song Lantern, lacked "the thematic depth of Naruse's best work with the form".

[6] Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro was shown at the Museum of Modern Art in 1985 as part of its retrospective on Mikio Naruse[7] and at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2014 in its "Retrospektive" program.