The film depicts how the work to build the Great Buddha overcame a number of obstacles as proponents and opponents clashed over the construction of the Buddha. This work is based on a play by Hideo Osada, which was performed by the Shin Kyodo Theater Company in 1940.

石坂洋次郎文学の映画化。「隠退蔵物資の巻」「仲たがいの巻」「千草ぐるまの巻」の3話からなる。東北のある城下町に住む有名な小説家・石中先生が、村の老若男女の御意見番としてユーモラスに問題を解決していく。第3話に登場する三船敏郎の農夫は笑える。

Reputedly based on Frank Capra’s 1939 film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, A Descendant of Tarô Urashima is about a repatriated soldier who becomes populist politician in the Japanese Happiness Party.