I'm assuming that man's your husband.
His name is Toda Hirokatsu,
though friends call him Buntaro.
For Christ's sake, he can still make it.
Toda Hirokatsu!
Shit.
Sorry.
I'm happy to see you have changed your mind
about bathing.
You seem in good spirits.
After a night of good company.
The courtesan was acceptable, then.
Nebara Jozen!
Hmm.
As I live and breathe.
The most precious gift there is.
You see that?
I do my part, and the old man does his.
Now we're getting somewhere.
You can't understand a word I'm saying,
but when I was your age,
one of my first chores was cleaning game
my father would poach from an estate in Chatham.
Watch this.
Now, we'll hang it up
for a few days to mature, maybe a week,
depending on the weather.
There we are.
Yes, yes. There will be a terrible stench.
But this is a gift from Toranaga-sama.
It must be the best pheasant this village has ever prepared.
Now, this next part is very important.
No one is to touch this bird.
Um...
Huh?
Oh?
Huh? Huh?
I understand your husband is to stay with us now.
Is there anything you feel I
should be preparing for?
- Dinner? - Dinner.
And you will be a gracious host.
My husband wishes for you
to address him as Toda-sama,
as Buntaro is reserved only for those close to him.
Tell Toda-sama it's a relief he was able to escape Osaka
and an honor for him to have observed
our cannon regiment today.
He believes that, in the hands of a true samurai,
the bow and sword will always outmatch the cannon.
Oh. Well, perhaps
we should have a friendly contest sometime.
Now, for my esteemed guests
on this wonderful evening, I am proud to present to you
a taste from my home country.
We call it English rabbit stew.
Now, admittedly,
I had to substitute a few of the ingredients
sake for sherry, a few other things,
but that's the beauty of a good stew.
It all tastes like gravy in the end.
Mariko-sama wa?
We are particular eaters, Anjin-sama.
It is our loss.
It's not the same without sherry anyway.
There you go.
Oh, please. Eat.
What did he say?
My husband comments
on the way you eat your noodles.
The sound you make while eating
reveals the depth of your pleasure.
Hmm.
You know, where I come from, only women
drink from a tiny cup like that.
The polite size of the sake cup helps us
to enjoy the drink and...
This is how we drink.
Seeing as we're toasting, I have a toast to propose.
If you cheat, cheat death.
If you steal, steal the heart of a woman.
If you lie, lie in the everlasting warmth
of her bosom, and if you drink,
drink with me.
What did he say?
Perhaps it is getting late.
I think Fuji-sama appears to be tired.
Fuji-sama...
Oh, nonsense.
Mariko-sama,
ask your husband if he'd share the
the story of his escape in Osaka.
Never too late for a good story.
Well, go on. Ask him, then.
He would like to know about a war you have fought in.
Oh, I don't know.
All of my war stories are full of holes.
Please listen.
My husband is tired and has had a lot to drink.
You must tell him a story.
But choose your words carefully.
The gateway of your house.
He asks you to choose a post.
What, he's going to shoot it?
The left or the right post?
Well, the man can't even see straight.
Please choose.
Right?
Mariko-sama.
You should move.
Mariko-sama, move.
Mariko-sama.
Get out of the fucking way.
Please tell him
that while I understand that in this country,
like mine, a man's wife is his property,
but I believe strongly
that his wife merits better.
I am to tell you about my family.
I am daughter of the late Lord Akechi Jinsai.
Mariko-sama, you don't have to do this.
Just make up a story, he'll never know the difference.
My father's lord was Kuroda-sama,
ruler of Japan before the Taiko.
Kuroda-sama was corrupt and murderous,
and so my father killed him out of love for the realm.
For this he was hunted, along with my family.
All of my brothers, sisters,
and my mother
they all knelt before my father,
who was forced to execute them one by one
before committing seppuku himself.
I was just married and not permitted to fight.
Each year on the anniversary of my family's murder,
I ask my husband to let me take action
against this injustice.
But I can do nothing.
Because my husband orders me to live.
I ask you to remember the Eightfold Fence.
Excuse me.
Mariko!
Get out of the way. I said move, damn you.
Get out of the way.
Get back.
Oh, Christ.
Buntaro!
Look at me!
Oh, what are you doing? Get up.
Sake?!
Is that your excuse?
Get up, you bastard. On your feet!
Sake.
You piece of shit.
Morning.
Where is Mariko-sama?
I don't understand anything you're saying. Where is she?
You all right?
All of this is my doing.
Mariko-sama, your husband's brutality
is no fault of yours.
We should not be seen together.
Oh, the pox on that.
Don't put it behind that folded fence of yours,
whatever you call it.
I-I see you. Your disgust for him.
If you want to be free of that shit less coward,
then be free of him.
Still, you understand so little?
Your swords.
Fuji-sama believes they were given to her father
as a battle honor.
The truth is, he died a coward, begging for his life.
Her grandfather bought them from a drunken samurai
for three bags of rice to spare her the embarrassment.
But she knows nothing and we say nothing,
because our silence is what she merits.
I will give my husband nothing,
not even my hatred,
because that is what he merits.
It's a good story, Mariko-sama,
and I understand the sentiment, but you take it too far.
Honestly, you're shuffling around with your manners
and your buried self, for what?
I would not expect for you to understand.
Well, forgive me, but you'd die to avenge your father,
you'd live in anguish to spite your husband.
Which is it? What becomes of you?
My life is mine and yours is yours.
If you can't see that,
you'll never be free of this prison.
No, Anjin-sama.
It is you who is imprisoned.
If freedom is all you ever life for
you will never be free of yourself.
I will honor my duty as your translator.
But from this day forward,
the only words we share will be from others' lips.
What's the matter with everyone?
What is it?
Pheasant?
Our gardener?
Old bastard should get a medal
just for being able to climb up there.
It's fine.
It'd been up there long enough anyway.
What have you done?
You put that old man to death
over a stinking,
God-cursed pheasant?
What the hell is wrong with you?
Why in Christ's name didn't you ask me?
Go away.
All of you!
Go away!
Lord, when we were at sea,
we discussed my training your army in European combat.
I feel I have now fulfilled that duty.
I ask that my ship and my men
be returned to me so that I may leave
and not return.
He asks what troubles you.
I'm troubled by your whole damned country.
Life has no value to you.
Only the meaningless rituals you are trapped in.
Like Uejirou.
Who died for nothing.
It is my understanding that you ordered
no one to touch that bird.
And by law, your house could not disobey that order.
Nor could they allow the rotting pheasant
to ruin the peace of the village.
The bird meant nothing to me.
Your words gave it meaning.
A meeting was called with Muraji,
who is the village headman,
but he determined it was a house problem.
So someone had to steal it and bury it.
Uejirou announced that he had been sick lately,
so he volunteered.
He died for a great purpose.
It was a better end than he could have hoped for.
I killed him.
Lord forgive me, I killed that old man.
There is no use dwelling on what cannot be undone.
How can you believe that?
We live and we die.
We control nothing beyond that.
Jesus!
Where the hell is he?
He's here!
There he is!
These belonged to Fuji's father.
They may not be much,
but I'd be honored if he would accept this gift.
Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org