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"Kan'ei 19 (1642), Late Autumn"

Episode 7: "My Other Self, My Devotion"

That is...

They are burning corpses.

Corpses?!

Because they died due to the epidemic.

"Japan, during the 19th year of Kan'ei..."

"...was also struck by a great famine in addition to the epidemic."

"A great number of dead appeared."

They will take the straw out from the earthen walls.

They will then boil and eat that.

Let us move on, Sho... Chie-sama.

Outta the way! Outta the way!

Outta the way! Outta the way!

Heave-ho! Heave-ho! Heave-ho! Heave-ho!

Excuse us! Excuse us!

There are many more women here than when I last came.

All the families are in fear of the scarlet smallpox...

...so they do not dare let their young men go outside.

Many of the women have their hair tied up in braids, don't they?

It is more comfortable for them to work that way...

Welcome!

- Prepare some money. - Yes!

- This... and this... - Yes!

And this as well.

This, and this... And this as well.

Ah, um... Please excuse me!

By all means, do come to our back room.

I can offer you much finer articles there. Come in, come in.

This way.

Please wait here for just a moment.

Welcome. I have brought the articles.

I am this family's son, Matabei.

Thank you very much.

Please come again...

Princess!

If the Princess gives the word...

...my son could heartily wait upon you at Hachiryo for a short while.

Hachiryo, huh...

With them at such high value everywhere...

...she will allow her son to mimic being a prostitute?

That's not something the poor should get involved in.

This is Yoshiwara.

It is the red-light district permitted by the former Shogunate government.

Now it is just a shadow of its former self.

What's more, because of the scarlet smallpox...

...the number of young men here has decreased sharply...

Ah, Master, Master.

Look, our boy is quite the young one.

What's more, he's only 2 pieces. How about it?

Let's leave.

Master...

I definitely hate being seen as some cheap customer.

Why is it...

The women who come here do not do so for the pleasures of a single night.

It is for those women...

...who so desire a child for themselves that they will even enter a world such as this one.

Shogun!

What's this? Kasuga, huh?

I have told you this many times over.

What would we do if something happened to you...

Masakatsu! Masakatsu, are you there?!

Shogun!

Yes! Shogun, I am here.

Call for the Rokuninshu at once. (A post established by the Shogunate consisting of 6 advisers)

Understood.

For first thing tomorrow.

If things go on like this, an insurrection may occur.

Yes!

Shogun.

Kasuga. Be at ease.

I'm skilled at my disguised walks.

That my true identity would become known is but one in a million.

So don't worry. Okay?

Shogun!

There is a famine at this time.

Hurry and have shacks built in the city.

We can give seven days’ worth of gruel to those people who have been starving, can't we?

That would be a very kind thing to do, would it not?

However, I am afraid Shogun...

...that if we only give out enough gruel for seven days...

...whether that would truly to help out the peasants is...

Huh?

That isn't what this is for.

This is to dampen the momentum of insurrection that is growing in many parts of the country.

It isn't a measure to save the peasants!

And? Can you do it? You can't do it?

Yes! Instantly!

And then...

We have to deal somehow with those farmers and tenant farmers...

...who are trying to escape the famine at this time by becoming refugees.

What is your view of this?

If the farmers could be made to work hard at a time like this...

...and make the rice that they must, then...

Not only the tenant farmers, but the poor peasants as well.

If they cannot cope with their poverty, they will sell their fields...

...and furthermore, the numbers of refugees will increase.

So, after all...

...we must prohibit the buying and selling of fields by farmers.

To protect the families of all peasants, and not just those small-scale farmers with small fields...

...have them tied to their land and work it for the rest of their lives!

"I want you to climb next to the Shogun..."

"...and accomplish making a child."

"No... Arikoto-sama!"

"Please."

"There is no one other than you I can ask."

"In my place..."

"...make an heir for the Shogun."

"Please stop, Arikoto-sama. To do such a thing to me..."

"Very well."

At this time, having been appointed to be at your side, I am Gyokuei.

Let's talk for a little while.

Ah...

You've only dropped your forelocks, huh?

It is strange seeing you as an adult man this way.

With all deference, I and the Shogun are the same age.

What's with that tone of speech?!

If I don't care for you...

...won't that humiliate your master?

Even if the Shogun does care for me...

In either case, I will be betraying Arikoto-sama.

And so it will not change my torment.

In that case, why have you come here?

Although it might have been at Arikoto's request, you could have refused it, couldn't you?

As Arikoto-sama's lover, you and he...

...shared...

...this bedroom.

He's decided to suffer that pain.

But, even so, if I had turned down Arikoto-sama's request to me...

...that would have been far more painful to him.

Watching Arikoto-sama's suffering is...

...far more...

...far more painful to me.

And so, I came here.

Arikoto and you...

...have a strong bond, somehow.

Can it be called an unshakable bond?

I've thought about that, too.

After this evening...

What will become of Arikoto-sama and I...

But...

But for now...

...I cannot turn down a request from Arikoto-sama.

And it's also because of Onatsu!

I would hate more than anything for Arikoto-sama to lose to the man called Onatsu.

And so, Shogun...

I may not agree with you as much as Arikoto-sama does...

...but if you could care for me more than you do Onatsu...

If you don't, I won't be able to face Arikoto-sama.

What a ridiculous man.

Trying to give me directions, you insolent fellow!

Who I will serve isn't you or the Buddha, either.

I have decided it will be Arikoto-sama alone.

I have never had...

...someone speak so bluntly to me before.

It is true I can't hate...

...a man such as you.

I and you...

...are both similar in places somehow.

After tonight...

...Arikoto and I will talk about what happened here.

Don't be worried.

Arikoto will still love you.

Heiwa Fansubs Presents: "Ooku ~ Tanjou ~ Arikoto - Iemitsu Hen" "Shogun's Harem ~ Birth ~ Arikoto - Iemitsu Volume"

It's said because you cannot have children...

...and that in your vexation over your vile social position...

...you submitted that young priest to be a concubine.

You would not think the son of an aristocrat would do something so base, now would you?

What was that?! You don't know anything!

You don't know anything about Arikoto-sama!

You won't get away with such an outrage!

After today, both this Gyokuei and Onatsu-sama will be concubines equally.

If that social position is so vile to you that you curse it...

...then you will not get away with that, either.

Gyokuei. Let us go.

You are a good boy.

Thank you, Gyokuei.

Chiyo...

You called for me.

He's interesting.

More than I thought he would be...

That Otama turned out to be an interesting man.

He is a mysterious boy.

His power for life is strong; and his luck is strong, as well.

Completely different from me.

Nevertheless...

No... precisely because of that...

That boy feels like my other self.

I am light, Gyokuei is shadow.

And if I am shadow, then Gyokuei is light.

There was such a thing.

At a time when I had yet to enter the Ooku, the unconceivable occurred.

"Oi, you and that child."

"Takamitsu"

"What is it?! Staring at a person's face like that!"

"Oi, Gyokuei."

"This is strange."

"In this child's countenance..."

"...there is the future he will become father of the entire country."

"What's in my countenance?"

"Father of the entire country."

If it goes according to the words of that priest...

...it would be better with him than you?

Yes.

"Kan'ei 20 (1643), August 1st"

"August 1st."

"At Edo Castle, to celebrate Tokugawa Ieyasu-ko's entry into Kanto..."

"...the various Daimyo attended the castle to express their celebration of the Shogunate."

"Hassaku Celebration Ceremony."

"This day was called "Hassaku." (short for "August 1st")

To you!

"First off, the Superintendent of the Daimyo would, like this..."

"...would have them convey those feelings in an audience with the Shogun."

"Next, Matsudaira Nobutsuna-sama, Governor of Izu Province..."

"...would then deliver the message of thanks on behalf of the Daimyo who was up."

Matsudaira Kainokami Terutsuna...

...wishes to offer his thanks on this Hassaku.

"The Shogun's reply was also fixed."

Auspicious!

To you!

It's been a long time, Governor of Izu.

Well then, Governor of Sanuki.

Only coming to the castle during such occasions...

"Chief Minister Sakai Tadakatsu, Governor of Sanuki"

...as Chief Minister, I could say you were trying to keep a respectful distance from me.

Governor of Sanuki-sama, that's not...

Is this your son?

Ah, I'm late in telling you.

This is my eldest son, Terutsuna.

Oi, give your greetings.

I am Terutsuna.

This is my son, Tadatomo.

Well then Governor of Sanuki-sama, please excuse us.

What's most important...

...is that given the times, we have both been mutually blessed with heirs.

Quite true.

What? What's so funny?

The Governor of Sanuki-sama's son.

That was his daughter.

And not only him.

Of those accompanying the Daimyos to the castle...

...far more of them were women than there were men.

Father, weren't you aware of this?

"Did the Shogun..."

"...happen to say anything about your Father?"

"Yes. That he knew him well and that they had been childhood friends..."

"His voice was just like..."

"...what a Father's would be."

Mother, I have just returned.

Did your audience during the Hassaku go safely?

Yes.

The Shogun gazed upon me with gentle eyes again today.

And like this... he nodded to me.

What did he say?

He stated, "Auspicious."

Anything else?

Mother.

As today is Hassaku, his words are fixed; so he wouldn't say anything else.

And? How about the Shogun's health?

Yes. He was unchanged; he was in excellent health.

What kind of clothing did he have?

A pale yellow...

No, that was Izunokami-sama's...

Can you not remember?!

Mother.

I am still unused to being in attendance at the castle.

Yes...

Still, it was hot.

I got a one-day heat rash.

We thought at first it was convenient that...

...those obstructive Daimyo who's heirs had been taken by scarlet smallpox could then be crushed, but...

That's right. So few male heirs to the Shogun Tokugawa's family clan members have been raised...

...that there's anxiety amongst the Daimyo families whether the Lord's family itself will go extinct.

Everyone!

Everyone, keep your hearts as they have always been.

Here...

Here, for this short time...

...let us give girls the standing to be recognized as successors.

Wait.

What are you saying, Masamori?

Strictly as a stop-gap measure until the next generation.

Foolishness.

Still, all of the farmers and townspeople's daughters have already...

...inherited the family business from their fathers and seem to be earning their living from it.

Anyhow, what you are saying is for those of the lower classes.

It is the duty of samurai families to work in the battlefields.

There is no way that girls could inherit THAT as a birthright!

If they have an excess of women...

...then let them be given out as concubines and have them give birth to boys!

As for boys right now...

...out of every 5 that are born, at most only 1 will reach maturity.

Even for those large Daimyos keeping many concubines...

...it has been difficult for them to raise a male successor.

This is a different world from what an old woman like you knew during the Sengoku era.

Those were troubled times from an ancient past.

To begin with, there aren't enough men around to use for a war.

And so you are saying that you don't mind if women stand at the top as samurai generals?!

I at least think that our current Shogun...

...is the best one for our generation.

I have been at her side all this time, watching.

I think just like the former Iemitsu-ko...

...no, I think she is becoming an even more benevolent lord...

...as the days go by.

Kasuga no Tsubone-sama.

Wasn't it you who said this upon the occasion of the death of former Iemitsu-ko as well?

That these are not normal times.

This is all in order to protect the reign of the Tokugawas.

Well, well, if it isn't Kasuga no Tsubone-sama.

What is this, Masasuke!?

Is this some sort of joke...

This is?!

Turn around.

It is embroidered with turmeric and celadon porcelain colors.

The inside of the kimono is a dark blue.

They are suitably youthful colors that look well on you.

Unless the embroidery is better than his, I can't win against Onatsu.

This is good enough. Any further and it would become vulgar.

Arikoto-dono!

Are you there, Arikoto-dono!

A chrysanthemum display!

- What were you thinking! - Is it not good?

Because today is September 9th, the seasonal festival of the Chrysanthemum Festival.

We are different here from the Imperial Court!

The men here of the Ooku...

...are samurai who should be protecting the Shogun!

We do not need everyone here...

...to have their hakama cords all dyed to the same color as their wainscots...

It is completely like a competition in dandyism!

What a deplorable thing!

Every day in the city...

...it is filled with the stench of corpses being burned!

Kasuga no Tsubone-sama.

I, too, am here only to serve the Ooku...

...and I receive a stipend from the Shogun.

For this current chrysanthemum viewing, everyone has new costumes...

...which were all paid for out of my stipend.

Today's banquet will be just the usual meals...

...and the only alcohol brought in will be wine with petals of yellow chrysanthemums in them...

...just to enjoy the taste.

The lanterns, too, will be those brought out from each of the rooms.

- But... - Everyone in the fencing and archery disciplines...

...will not neglect even one day of their training.

For those who must spend the days of their lives held captive in this Ooku...

...is there something wrong if they at least find some consolation in the admiration of...

...all those chrysanthemums for one night?

I don't want to listen as each and every one of them spouts all this crap.

Arikato and the Rokuninshu and even Masakatsu, too!

And the Shogun is no exception, either!

Kasuga no Tsubone-sama.

- If you become overly angry... - Eh? Shut up!

See? Is it not just as I said?

Kasuga no Tsubone-sama?!

Kasuga no Tsubone-sama!

Someone! Someone come!

Kasuga no Tsubone-sama...

Kasuga no Tsubone-sama!

Kasuga no Tsubone-sama! Kasuga no Tsubone-sama!

Is she that bad off?!

Anyway, she is at that age already, and she has had to endure the heat of this year's summer.

Moreover...

Moreover?

Mother...

...has been failing to take her medicines.

Kasuga!

Fool!

Why are you doing that?

Hurry and lie down.

That only shows me in a unsightly form.

Why have you been failing to take your medicine?!

Upon the occasion of the former Iemitsu-ko's suffering from the scarlet smallpox...

...I prayed for his recovery...

...by swearing an oath to Buddha that I would not take medicines.

Such a petty thing...

Anyhow, Father is dead already.

That is why.

Unable to save the predecessor to the family line...

...at least until a boy heir is born to the Shogun...

...I cannot break this oath.

Foolish person!

This is my order. Take your medicine.

I won't consent to you dying without taking medicine.

I will cut myself open and throw myself away.

Are you okay with that?

Are you not okay with it? Kasuga!

And because of that, she refused to take all medicines from that year?

That's right.

She's what you'd call hardheaded.

I was shocked!

What is it, Arikoto?

No.

It was rude of me.

What is it? Tell me!

Yes.

As I thought, for the Shogun...

...Kasuga no Tsubone-sama is precious to you.

It is entirely as if you worry over her the way you would a Mother.

It is.

It is, isn't it?

Such an odd thing.

I have all these hateful thoughts of her.

It was Kasuga who tore me away from my mother when I was young.

And...

It was Kasuga who tried to sever my relationship with you, as well...

Who is at Kasuga no Tsubone-sama's side now?

I ordered the nanny Yajima to watch that arrogant wet-nurse.

She is also my shield when Princess Chiyo cries like a spoilt child.

Water...

I want water to drink.

Yajima!

Yajima, aren't you there?

For pete's sake...

Are you still not there?

Sorry to have kept you waiting.

I will pour it for you now.

Arikoto-dono...

Please do not get up.

Here.

Thank you.

Although...

Why are you being this kind?

It appears Yajima-dono cannot free her hands.

Anyhow, you are at leisure right now.

You should be eating pastries on the veranda, should you not?

Shall we go?

- Excuse me. - What... what is this?!

- What are you doing! - Taking you to the lavatory.

Please be quiet.

It will be faster if you allow me to carry you there.

- You appear to be in a state of pain. - I understand.

This seems like your manner of doing things.

This way you can say that I was humiliated.

That is your intention, is it not?

You are free to think so.

But, all people grow old.

I will become old sometime as well...

...and will have to turn to someone else to help me do my business.

I do not think there is any shame to be had from this coincidence.

Of course if you do hate it...

...I will immediately call for Yajima-dono.

Whichever's the same.

Did you want water?

It is fine if you don't come to this place every day.

I can copy the sutras anywhere.

I can be here in the meantime.

Arikoto-dono...

Arikoto-sama!

Arikoto-sama!

Is it Masasuke?

It is the scarlet smallpox, Arikoto-sama.

For Sutezo...

No, for Oraku-sama's sake, we employed another young man as his servant.

At first it was two of them.

But then it was Oraku-sama himself as well!

Oraku-sama?!

Does not the scarlet smallpox at most take only those men between 16 and 17 years of age?!

It can, rarely, come to those young men who are adults.

The former Iemitsu-ko...

...died sporting it at 31 years of age.

Masasuke.

At any rate, take medicine to Oraku-sama and the servants...

...as well as to the other men in the Ooku.

In particular, immediately place Onatsu-sama and Otama-sama (Gyokuei) as far apart as possible!

Therefore, where do I bring them?

Here!

To the antechamber next to Kasuga no Tsubone-sama's room.

Eh?

Along with me, those three and I will sleep in the same room.

Arikoto-sama!

As there is a chance you may get it, you must not approach this room from here on, either.

Such meals as are necessary are to be brought here by the woman Yajima. Understand?

But...

Arikoto-sama, you nursing them yourself...

...is something the Shogun would never permit!

Tell the Shogun that I and the others have caught a serious cold.

I am a man who is unnecessary for this Ooku.

It would be of no inconvenience if I died from the scarlet smallpox.

Now then...

May I have Kasuga no Tsubone-sama's permission?

I have no objections.

If this room with a dying old woman...

...can be of any use to you...

Then go ahead.

Masanori...

"Each Accepting Their Fate"

"Feelings For This Country..."

"This Drama is Fictional"