Original subtitles

That's right! There's the ocean in front of us.

Can't we make salt with those iron plates?

Speaking of salt, Ako's the place. Kanbe-kun, let's go to Ako tomorrow.

- Tomorrow? - What are you going to do there?

We're going to learn salt making.

Basically, you're saying that by pouring water on hot iron plates,

salt will remain after water evaporates.

That's right, Kanbe-kun. You didn't graduate from Osaka Imperial University for nothing.

Thank you.

But can salt be made that easily?

- Probably not. - What?

Kanbe-kun. That's why we're going to Ako.

They've been making salt there since the Edo Period.

Manpuku

♫Marumatteru senakani ni morai naki ♫I get infectious weeping looking at your stooped shoulders

♫Haji datte issho ni ♫We'll share the humiliation too

Week 6

Are You Going to Make Salt?!

♫Hikoukigumo bonyari nagamu ♫Gazing absentmindedly at contrails

♫Kokoro kokoni arazu ♫Here in body, but not in spirit

♫Nenkan totaru moshi shitara ♫If I was to calculate an annual total

♫Tsukiau watashi sugoi? ♫Aren't I amazing for keeping you company?

♫Toboketeru mayuge ni morai warai ♫ I get infectious laughter looking at your comical eyebrows

♫Tere datta nandatte ♫Be it embarrassment or whatever

♫Morai naki morai warai morai ikari ♫Infectious weeping, infectious laughter, infectious anger

♫Moraippaji don to koi! ♫Infectious embarrassment. Bring them on!

♫Seiten mo donten mo hekireki mo ♫Sunny days, cloudy days, thunderous days too

We just recently moved to this neighborhood. Our name is Tachibana.

- Ah, that old Army warehouse... - Yes, that place.

- We're pleased to make your acquaintance. - Same here.

And so... we brought this.

Well, thank you kindly.

Actually, uh... we were wondering if we could exchange this for rice.

- Ah yes. That oceanfront house? - Yes.

- And so... Mom. - Ah, yes.

Would it be possible to exchange this kimono for some food?

I can't do this anymore. I feel like a beggar, saying give me food, give me food. It's pathetic.

It's something everyone's doing.

I am the daughter of a samurai.

Oh, that must be Hana-chan's house.

Welcome to Izumiotsu.

I've heard a lot about you, Fukuko-san, from my wife.

Aren't you just so cute.

I heard you're a landowner in Izumiotsu.

Hana's Husband

MIZUSHIMA KENSAKU

My father is the landowner.

We've been living here for a long time.

So you got to marry the son of a landowner.

You have a child too. You must be very happy.

Thank you.

Peek-a-boo!

- Enough of your peek-a-boo. - Boo~!

I sure would like to see my grandchild soon too.

Children are gifts from heaven.

They are, aren't they?

So are you making courtesy calls today with your mother?

Yes. We're asking people to exchange kimono for food.

It's an embarrassing situation.

Not at all. We'd like to see what you have too.

Certainly. We saved the best for last.

- It's a kara-ori obi . - It's beautiful.

This is a high-grade product.

It was passed down from my grandmother to my mother and to me.

I'll buy it for 300 yen.

You'll need money too.

Is 300 yen too cheap?

Oh, no. Thank you.

- Thanks, Hana-chan. - Don't mention it. You're my best friend, after all.

It was past noon of that day when Manpei-san and company arrived in Ako.

Ako, Hyogo Prefecture

Irihama Style Salt Pit.

It's a method that's been around for a long time.,

Written with characters "iri" and "hama", right?

Specifically, what is the method?

30 grams of salt from 1 liter of salt water.

- That's about it. - In other words, salt content of sea water is 3%.

But it's not easy to extract salt.

Can you teach us the process?

- Come on in. - Thank you.

How do you write "kansui" ?

How do I explain it... kan...

KANSUI

One more time, please.

- You're a graduate of Osaka Imperial University, aren't you? - I never even heard of "kansui".

We'll look up the character later.

Anyway, you make this liquid with high concentration of salt called kansui, correct?

And the process to make that into salt is called "sengou".

SENGOU

What characters do you use to write...

Can you show us that process?

300 yen.

Hana-chan's family must be rich.

They're landowner after all.

Compared to that, what is your husband planning to do?

- He said he's going to make salt. - After he makes salt, then what?

Is he going to give it to Seikouken so that they can make tastier ramen?

- That's not the only thing... - Exchange it for food with the neighbors?

- I don't know. - You don't know?

You don't know what your own husband is thinking?

- But Manpei-san is an inventor, you know. - So?

He's probably envisioning something for the future.

He only looks to be living a life of hit-or-miss.

I believe in Manpei-san.

You've already accepted our marriage, so please accept your fate too.

Accept my fate?

Isn't the daughter of a samurai supposed to be unflappable?

How, may I ask, are we going to make a living?

We have to go on eating tomorrow and the day after too.

Hana-chan's husband said

if we had a good kimono, he'd buy it, didn't he?

Mom, you still have it, don't you?

No, I don't.

You're hiding it, aren't you?

No, I'm not.

We're back.

Welcome home.

- How did it go in Ako? - We learned a lot.

- Dinner's ready. - Thank you.

We didn't eat lunch.

Before that, Kanbe-kun, let's go to the warehouse.

- Huh? - Let's go.

What are you going to do about dinner!

Go ahead and eat without us.

It was a beautiful sunset today so tomorrow should be a nice day.

It may turn out to be a good day.

- We'll get to experiment right away. - Experiment?

Let's make a base to place the iron plates on

and let's make a return to keep the salt water from spilling over.

A return?

Like a levee.

Manpei-san's hungry too.

- We're gonna get everything made tonight. - Okay.

He said to go ahead and eat, so let's eat.

When they're working hard?

You're neglecting your parent.

Always taking your husband's side.

You willingly came on your own, Mom.

You said you'd come with us to Izumiotsu.

But what can I do? I have no one to turn to but you.

My house burned down, but I can't stay at Katsuko's house.

Saki won't even appear in my dream anymore...

It won't hurt you to let me have my way once in a while.

All right. Let's eat.

Can we?

Manpei-san won't get mad about something like this.

Mom, you wore a pretty formal kimono at Manpei-san and my wedding, didn't you?

What happened to it?

Just as Manpei-san predicted, the skies were clear and blue the next day.

Although it was still May, it felt like mid-summer.

Watch out behind you.

- I'm putting it down. - Okay. Slowly.

All right. It's perfect.

It's perfect on this side too.

- Kanbe-kun, good job. - Thank you.

Isn't this good enough, Manpei-san?

Okay, let's give it a try.

Is it evaporating?

I'm sure it is. Slowly but surely.

It's getting salty.

Pour it again.

How many times are we going to do this?

Until it we get kansui.

- Oh my, what a beautiful formal kimono. - This is nice.

It's the best kimono in our house. Right, Mom?

Yes.

We're back.

- How did it go, Madam? - Did you sell the kimono?

Yes. Hana-chan's husband gave us 500 yen for it.

- 500 yen?! - That's great.

Yes. What are you doing now?

- It's called sengou. - Sengou?

After running it down that iron plate numerous times to evaporate the water,

we're boiling down the resulting sea water with high concentration of salt to make sea salt crystals.

Sea salt crystals?

- That's sea salt crystals. - Manpei-san.

My formal kimono...

Mom! Come here! Mom!

The last step is to get rid of the nigari like this.

Nigari refers to the last remaining moisture.

All right.

Did we make it?

We made it.

- Is this salt? - Can I taste it?

It's salty!

It's salt! It's salt!

- Mom, you taste it too. - It's brownish.

It's just the iron from the iron plate.

We made salt! Manpei-san!

- But it's brown. - We did it!

- We did it! - It's salty!

Come on, Mother. Have a taste.

It's brown.

We did it! In any case, we did it!