[door banging]
[Ringo] Hello?
Hello in there!
Please. You have to help us.
I have dying people or… Maybe they're already dead.
I'm too scared to look, but I'm trying to save them,
even though I'm really mad at one of them.
I think you know him.
Please! I've been walking for days, and bad guys are after us,
and I don't know where else to go.
[sighs]
What do I do?
[clanging, echoing]
Mizu.
Come inside.
[mysterious music swelling]
[music ends]
- [Fowler] My cage. So many years. - [waves crashing]
[chuckles wryly] Took them forever to build a proper jakes.
Made the shogun unspeakably rich, and all I had to do was hide.
I spun so much gold in there.
Fucked 10,000 times.
I never want to see it again.
Adieu!
[dramatic music playing]
[horse neighing]
Our spring procession to Edo.
You promised we wouldn't be bored.
We won't be.
Every night, a delicacy.
I'm glad to see you got your appetite back.
You lost an arm, not your prick.
Ha. We, uh, should send word of when the weapons arrive.
Our friends are nervous.
Ah, let them be nervous.
When they stop worrying, they stop thinking they need us.
But you do know when.
[chuckles]
Now, what's planned for tonight?
[ambient music playing]
[music ends]
That is… something new.
Pleasure as always,
Madame Kaji.
Always a pleasure to serve you.
Safest travels to Edo.
Heiji Shindo, you promised, you delivered.
Every stop a surprise and a delight.
I like to think we gain strength from pleasure.
But our army is nothing without guns.
Ah, you worry like an old woman.
I worry like someone about to go to war with the entire shogunate.
Ah, the guns will be smuggled in
on fishing boats in two days.
Clever.
Our army will take the castle,
and I'll personally execute
the shogun and the entire Itoh Clan
during the Council of Elders at the Spring Matsuri.
The lords can then choose.
[pants] Die with him or bow to my puppet,
who will take his orders from me!
[Ise pants]
[Fowler] I didn't say stop.
[sighs]
[breathes deeply]
[Fowler grunts]
[Shindo] The shipment comes in two days.
Scour every port and fish yard. Search every boat.
Open every box. Bribe any man at any price.
We must get the guns before Fowler.
Once you've secured them, it will be my privilege to kill Fowler.
"That man would be a plague on Japan. There is no sharing power with him."
Find those guns before they reach Edo.
- Bring them to me. Now. - [tense music accelerates, fades]
[chirping]
The convergence of your wedding and the Spring Matsuri.
The timing couldn't be more perfect if I planned it myself.
Ah!
Every lord has brought us their finest.
Find a smile.
[chuckles] What can you possibly want that isn't right here?
I want to not be forced to marry some horrible man I don't know.
I want to leave Edo.
[sighs]
Daughter.
When in your whole life have you not gotten what you wanted?
When you blackened my teeth.
Just… trust me.
[footsteps receding]
[sighs deeply]
[chirping]
[twittering]
[twittering continues]
[chirps]
Hello, friend.
How long have you been in there?
- [twittering, flapping] - Hmm?
Too long. It's spring outside.
[theme music playing]
- [clapping] - [gasps]
A bird that small, caught on the wing.
I tell you, you were born to kill.
Ugh! You saw something beautiful, and your first thought was to kill it.
You're as cruel as they say.
You have nothing to say for yourself?
[gasps]
[regal music playing]
[music fades]
[woman 1] You are bold to speak to the young master so plainly.
[woman 2] Bold is unwise.
A wife should be like tofu.
Unnoticed, colorless, and bland. [chuckles]
He's as terrible as they say. He won't even talk to me.
Oh, the young master doesn't converse with any woman. Lady Itoh's rule.
His first wife wishes she followed it.
- What happened to her? - Oh, she went back to her family.
In an urn.
He is as ruthless in bed as in battle.
Your fiancé's favorite position?
With an obi around her neck.
- [imitates choking] - [both chuckling]
[tense music playing]
- Akemi! Heavens, child. - [gasps]
Get away from that window.
This is your ambition now? Death?
Is there another way out?
It's the window or the knife. Or wait for an obi. [sighs]
Save your worries, Seki. Sadly, I lack the courage.
Go away.
I don't need your advice on marriage or love
or whatever you think you're an expert on today.
Hmm.
I've never understood a thing about love,
or battle, or politics, or art,
or anything I was supposed to.
I was a miserable warrior.
The only thing I have ever known everything about is you.
Here. A gift from me.
[Akemi] A Go set?
We stopped playing when I was 12.
[Seki] Why?
Because I beat you every time.
Why?
Because you learned.
You're determined to resent me
when what you resent is being someone else's property.
Women shouldn't be property.
Well, they are.
And tomorrow, you go from your father's to Master Takayoshi's.
[breathes deeply]
I've always known this day would come.
Since your mother died,
I tried with the time I had
to ready you for the world that is,
not the world you'd have it be.
Without your father knowing,
often without you knowing.
You think you sneaked into the library to read all those years?
Why do you think you wanted to?
Know it or not,
you are equipped to do more than survive here…
but succeed.
Expand your territory.
Find the vulnerabilities. Capture.
Win.
You learned.
You can stop pretending to be my mother.
After tomorrow, I won't be your responsibility ever again.
Blame me if you must.
Hate me.
I was no better a mother than I was a warrior.
I did enjoy the job more.
[serene music playing]
[grunts]
[The Swordmaker] Hmm. Someone is awake.
Tell me if Taigen ever wakes up.
Thanks to your apprentice, you did not die.
Your soul is stubborn.
I'm not Mizu's apprentice.
Will Taigen live?
Hmm. His soul is also stubborn.
[Ringo] How can I help you today, Master?
I washed your clothes. You probably didn't know they were so dirty.
They will look so much nicer now. And white.
Did you know they're actually white?
The legendary Master Eiji deserves clean white underwear.
Especially if he's gonna train me.
[The Swordmaker] Hmm.
You can help me by providing silence.
My dad loved silence too.
[Taigen pants]
You're alive.
[grunts] Everything hurts.
That's a good sign.
[sniffing]
Salt and fish guts.
[gasps] Kohama?
Near it.
[chuckles]
This is Master Eiji's forge.
So this is where you disappeared to all those years ago.
This is where you trained.
No one in town cared if I starved or died.
He took me in.
Rest. I'll be back.
Wait. You have to let me thank you for saving me.
It's hard enough to admit you did.
You don't owe me anything.
- [theme music playing] - [children laughing]
[woman 1] Lady Itoh hoped a ride would lighten Miss's mood.
[woman 2] Look at the trees.
It's as if they bloomed especially for the wedding.
Even the prostitutes are working night and day.
[both laughing]
Stop! Stop here.
[gasping]
[grunts]
- [dog barks in distance] - [children laughing]
[Akemi] You're a long way from home.
Yes, Madame Kaji.
It's me. Or do I have to recite some renga?
Akemi? [gasps]
Akemi! You have wife teeth.
Every paying customer in the country is in Edo for the Spring Matsuri
and some lavish royal wedding.
We rented rooms at a tea house here in the Yoshiwara.
We worked the whole highway getting here.
Fucked our way through all 69 Stations of the Nakasendo.
But why are you here? And in the shogun's crest?
Oh. The lavish royal wedding, it seems, is… mine.
Wait. That wedding is your wedding?
She really is a real princess.
[chuckles] Of course she is. Bet she lives in a castle.
I'm in a snare, surrounded by snakes.
I will trade lives with you right now.
We've been servicing the road-weary crotches of every man here
to pay obeisance to your new family.
You need only service one, freshly washed.
You don't understand.
[Madame Kaji] That he's a beast? He's weak.
He's a man. All men are weak.
The ones who act beastly are weakest.
They penetrate women and think that makes them powerful.
Really, their pricks are fragile.
Exposed. You saw it yourself.
They want to be diapered, spanked, and breastfed,
then strut away like they conquered an army.
Nurture his weakness.
Be his strength,
and he'll worship you.
I… don't know if I can.
Stop running to and from men,
and decide what you want for your fucking self.
I want to be in control of my life.
Then take control of his,
Princess.
Poor thing.
That white man is going to kill her with the rest of them.
I will not be a burden to you long.
You had a place here once.
I have no place until I've had my revenge.
For that, I need my sword.
[clanking, echoing]
[Mizu] Can you fit them back together?
No.
Broken is broken.
Then it must be remelted and reforged.
Your sword broke because the blend was wrong.
It was perfect.
It was too pure.
Your metal wants to be blended with new steel.
Do you have steel for me?
No.
Then give me a sword.
No.
The fire in you rages beyond control.
I'm not the child you once knew.
[The Swordmaker] No.
That child would see you and run.
That child understood the meaning of a sword,
the line separating life and death.
I have no steel for you.
Then I will make my own.
[grunts]
[sighs]
[various voices] Mizu!
[wind whooshing]
[window shutters slamming]
[children laughing]
[tense music accelerates, fades]
[metal scraping]
[gasps]
[muffled] How'd you know I was here?
Your tools you use in place of hands,
who made them?
Huh. Mm…
I did.
Why?
To be useful.
Is that all?
I want to be a samurai. I want to be great.
[The Swordmaker] Hmm.
Most people laugh when I tell them that.
Is it funny?
Samurai needs hands.
Do they?
As a swordmaker needs eyes?
Your hands.
An accident, or by birth?
Birth.
Your eyes?
A fire.
And now, fire listens to you.
[The Swordmaker] Hmm.
[pounding in distance]
[grunts]
[hissing]
[clanking, echoing]
[gasps]
[grunts]
You worked all night. Thought you might be hungry.
Old man Itagaki's famous fish dumplings.
Only good thing about Kohama.
I've never tried them before.
Remember? I was just a dog who ate gutter scraps.
Your blade.
The steel wouldn't form for me.
So what?
You have to go after
that son-of-a-bitch Fowler before it's too late.
"The sword is the soul of the samurai."
No, that's just what they tell first-year students in the dojo.
You're good. Maybe better than me.
And no one is better than me.
[chuckles]
Look, the weapon doesn't matter.
[grunts]
You could beat him with a hammer.
Here. Get up.
Master Eiji won't like you moving things.
[laughs]
[Mizu] Ha-ha!
Ah, I'm in way too much pain to spar.
[chuckles]
- [hammer clanks] - [Taigen grunts]
[Taigen chuckles]
[both grunting]
You think you can take me down twice?
[both laughing]
[both panting]
Uh. Oh. Uh… I… I… I'm… I'm…
I'm sorry.
Don't be sorry, Taigen.
- Taigen? - [Taigen chuckles]
Must be missing Akemi. [clears throat]
There's something I need to tell you.
You'll never see Akemi again.
What?
She's in Edo, marrying Takayoshi Itoh.
How do you know this?
I stood by as the Tokunobu guards took her away.
She came looking for me to save your engagement.
And you just let them take her?
It was for her own good.
[sighs] I have to go to Edo.
No. It's too dangerous. Fowler's plotting an attack on Edo Castle.
What?
I saw his plans. He has an army armed with foreign rifles.
He's smart. He'll move to strike during the Council of Elders.
You've known all this time.
The shogun is in danger. Akemi is in danger.
What kind of samurai are you?
I'm going to kill Fowler.
Not for honor.
For hate.
You really are a demon.
I'm going to Edo to warn the shogun,
and then I'm going to find you and kill you.
[Shogun Itoh] The greatest gift I ever received
was from Lady Itoh, who gave me two sons.
So that should I die,
it would be of no consequence to the nation,
save the trouble of a few prayers. [chuckles]
It is with pleasure I offer a seat to celebrate the union of my second son,
Takayoshi Itoh,
to the only daughter of Lord Daichi Tokunobu.
Each of you is here for your proven devotion to the shogunate.
May the bride be as loyal as your clans are to me.
[gasps]
May her womb be as fruitful as your fields.
Mmm. Oh…
My dear,
your meal was prepared especially for you.
Rabbit liver in a velouté of horse semen.
For fertility.
I do hope you can handle your duties
as an Itoh wife.
You'll find I can handle anything.
Mmm.
[Lady Itoh] Chilled fox brain for wisdom.
A pottage from fetal pig's blood.
For youth and vitality.
This one was your husband's idea.
[gasps]
[Lady Itoh] Such a sweet boy.
[breathes sharply]
[tense music accelerates]
[waves crashing]
[The Swordmaker] So… everything crumbled.
Your steel.
Perhaps a demon cannot make steel.
[The Swordmaker] Is that so?
The world sees me and sees a hateful monster.
An onryō.
My own mother saw it too…
and could not love me.
Maybe they're right.
I did not train you to be a demon
or a human.
I showed you how to be an artist.
To be an artist is to do one thing only.
Look at me.
Cannot fight, or weave, or farm.
I make swords.
I cook for strength to make good swords.
I study the sutras to cleanse my heart to make good swords.
You think revenge is an art?
Swords, pots, noodles, death.
It is all the same to an artist.
Then I'm a bad artist.
[grunts]
An artist gives all they have to the art,
the whole.
Your strengths and deficiencies,
your loves and shames.
Perhaps the people you collected.
I made my best blades when I had an apprentice.
I thought I annoyed you.
Both are true.
There may be a demon in you, but there is more.
If you do not invite the whole,
the demon takes two chairs,
and your art will suffer.
Then what do I do?
I only know how to make swords.
Each morning, I start a fire.
And begin again.
[theme music playing]
[music fades]
[woman 1] Like tofu ready to be devoured.
[woman 2] Master Takayoshi sent you a gift.
[woman 1] Since you enjoyed your dinner so much,
he provided you breakfast and lunch.
[chuckles]
[grunting]
Is it funny to torment me? Kill my bird and make me eat it?
Give me two more?
Say something.
Or is it beneath you to speak to me?
[stammers] It was an… a… apology
f… for my mother.
[theme music playing]
I see.
Your gift was sincere.
Can my husband forgive me for striking him?
My husband has no cause for shame with his wife
nor need he ever rush his reply.
The most brilliant tutor I ever had had a stammer.
Lesser teachers laughed,
but I knew it was because his mind was so full of thoughts
his mouth simply couldn't keep up.
When he recited poetry,
the words filled with meaning and filled me with fire.
I… always had a devastating crush on him.
Again,
can my husband forgive me for striking him?
Mm… Yes.
Would my husband recite for me?
[theme music playing]
[Mizu] Ringo.
[gasps]
You know the Heart Sutra?
"The body is emptiness, and emptiness body."
"All things are only empty."
- "Nothing is born, nothing broken…" - "Nothing is born, nothing broken…"
There are some things I cannot do alone.
[dramatic music playing]
[panting]
[moaning]
I want to hear you.
[Akemi] Go on.
[Takayoshi] "If only for t… t… tonight."
"Let us share this pillow."
"For I have long traveled
on the pathway of my dreams to find reality."
[Akemi moans]
[both panting]
[Akemi moans]
[grunts]
[both groaning]
[moaning]
[pants]
[dramatic music ends]
[Chiba] Searched every boat and every cart on every coast.
And found nothing.
There are no Western guns in Japan.
I fear your white man is a fraud,
and you are on your way to your death.
[door opens]
[Fowler] Hmm. A letter?
Just business.
Finish your business. I have something to show you.
A shiny new toy.
I asked for two condemned men.
They sent four.
It's nice to be respected.
Go on then!
Do your worst.
My turn.
Time to test our guns.
[Shindo] Our guns?
I don't understand. Where are they?
They're right here.
Of course, I had to modify the designs
to get 2,000 rifles from my country into yours without notice.
My country's history is one of manufactured suffering.
I was a boy when the Tudors
burned any food the rebels under O'Neill might think to eat.
We starved. Everyone starved.
Mouths on the dead stained green from chewing nettles.
You get resourceful in a famine.
My parents died early.
Left me and my sister catching rats.
The rats ran out quick. Fed my sister on my blood.
It kept her alive an extra two weeks.
I didn't sleep for three days
to protect her body from the starving till the ground thawed.
I cut out her kidneys and buried her.
Fat cap on them like a pea.
I haven't eaten a single meal since my mind didn't go to that bite.
It was the last thing I ever did because I had to.
I control my life now.
Every bite.
[ominous music playing]
- [gunshots] - [grunts]
[Fowler] Master Chiba tried to steal my delivery.
I think he had a mind to lead our coup without us.
You want his thumbs?
What about his soldiers?
[Fowler] They're your soldiers now.
Seems we lost our man on the inside.
Seems you'll have to do Chiba's job in the castle.
Think you can manage?
[music fades]
[chimes, echoes]
A sword from this steel could kill a god.
You will make a blade from this worthy of your purpose.
No. You're right.
I don't deserve a sword. Not yet.
This steel is for you.
I must go to Edo and kill the man I am sworn to kill.
If I succeed and am still alive, I will return.
And you can determine if I am worthy of a sword of this metal
made by your hand.
[Ringo] Forgive me for leaving, Master Eiji.
I know you were excited to be my teacher, maybe for years.
[whispers] But Master needs me.
Goodbye, Swordfather.
Bye, Swordfather!
Hmm.
[Akemi] Take your belongings. Your services are no longer required.
Tell Lady Itoh she can stop curating my meals
and my company.
But who will attend to you?
[theme music playing]
[Madame Kaji] The princess summoned us.
This isn't a summons.
It's a business proposition, Madame Kaji.
I now have money of my own
and would like to buy out your ladies' contracts.
All of them.
- [gasping] - Five times what each owes you.
On what terms?
[Akemi] No terms
other than that each woman considers herself free and free to go.
I don't have to become a prostitute?
You don't owe us.
I don't.
But it seems I've decided what I want for my fucking self.
Also, I find myself in need of new attendants.
Good pay, new clothes. You'd have to live here though.
[gasping]
Here? In your palace?
There is opportunity here. But I have much to learn.
I need friends I can trust.
Friends experienced in the world.
[gasping]
[laughing]
This is the best thing that's ever happened to me.
Oh my gosh. I cannot believe this.
[cries softly]
I meant it. If you don't want to stay…
[Ise] I was awful to you,
and you offer me this?
Please. Akemi, please listen to me.
You have to leave.
You're in terrible danger here.
[ominous music playing]
[Akemi] Father, I didn't know what to do but to come to you.
Tell him what you told me. Go on.
There's a plot against the shogunate.
A white man is planning to attack Edo Castle
and kill Shogun Itoh and his whole family.
Everyone inside the castle walls.
He has an army, foreign guns,
accomplices within the court.
Did he say when?
The lords' assembly.
You have to leave now.
[Daichi] Thank you.
You may have saved us all,
including my daughter.
Who else knows this?
No one.
I cannot thank you enough.
[Ise screams]
[gasps]
[gasps] Ise.
I told you to trust me.
You won't be married to some horrible man for long.
You're a member of the Itoh Clan now.
The people will rally around you when the shogun and his sons are gone,
allowing their power to fall to me…
[grunts]
… shared with my new partners.
Many will die.
[gasps]
You'll be safe here till it's over.
Then… you can thank me.
[music crescendos]
[Akemi screaming] No!
[closing theme music playing]