Text by / MOOK Scenic Spots Home Travel Life Network Editorial Department, compiled and reported
Hailed as the “Heisei-era Shiba Ryōtarō,” Ishitani Michifumi gained widespread recognition after his bestselling novel *The Samurai Accountant’s Journal* was adapted into a film in 2010. This movie is based on a chapter from his work *Selfless Japanese* titled “Tanzaya Jūsanrō,” directed by Yutaka Nakamura, who also helmed [*The Snow White Murder Case*] and [*The Incite Mill*]. Director Yutaka Nakamura mentioned that he had long wanted to create a disaster relief-themed film, and the original story portrays the resilience of people from Tohoku—that’s precisely why it was brought to the big screen.
Stills from *Your Highness, Sky-High Taxes*. (Image provided by / Temmaikōkū)
This is a true story set over two hundred years ago during the Edo period. At the time, the Sendai Domain faced depleted state coffers and imposed heavy taxes. Every night at Yoshikawa Post Station, villagers fled their homes to escape debt, earning the village notoriety as a “night escape village.” The villagers suffered greatly until their wise tea master, Sugawara-ya Tokujirō (played by Eita), came up with an ingenious plan to “repay zero-fold” taxes to His Highness (tax evasion?).
Stills from *Your Highness, Sky-High Taxes*. (Image provided by / Temmaikōkū)
They planned to lend one thousand ryō (equivalent to thirty million yen today!) to His Highness, then charge him high interest (played by Hayato Yama), and then pay the annual interest back to His Highness as taxes. That meant using His Highness’s own money to pay the villagers’ taxes for them.
Stills from *Your Highness, Sky-High Taxes*. (Image provided by / Temmaikōkū)
Despite risking beheading, these daring villagers were determined to carry out the plan—but how could a group of brave but penniless villagers scrape together three hundred million yen? Compound interest, revolving interest, consumer price index, and inflation? This is an unexpectedly hilarious period comedy about Edo-period samurai turning the tables on His Highness with an economics reversal—equal parts humor and laugh-out-loud fun.
Poster for *Your Highness, Sky-High Taxes*. (Image provided by / Temmaikōkū)
[Info]
Your Highness, Sky-High Taxes
Director: Yutaka Nakamura
Cast: Masatoshi Nagase, Eita, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Yuko Takeuchi, Ryuhei Matsuda
Genre: Comedy
Country: Japan
Release Date: 9/30
Runtime: 129 minutes
Production Company: Temmaikōkū