What a wonderful taste!
It is!
The southern barbarians are forbidden meat on a festival they call temporas.
On that day they fry fish in oil.
Lord Tokugawa certainly seems to like it!
One does not taste things like this in the rustic eastern provinces.
I will not forget this so long as I live.
Is Lady Yodogimi unwell?
She carries my child.
This is marvelous news!
Yodogimi is again with child.
In truth?
Milord has missed his chance.
And so?
If the Taiko has an heir...
...Lord Tokugawa bids us bide our time.
Has His Lordship changed his mind?
Yes.
He has resolved to out-live the Taiko.
He is studying the botanical writings of the physician Dosan.
'The herb of long life'...
He leaves nothing to chance, does he.
If you would...
Somebody! Come quickly! It's the Master!
August 1593 Death of Imai Sokyu, aged 74
Who is it?
Approach as you will.
You did well to find me.
I knew as soon as you vanished from the capital.
Why did you not come sooner?
Hideyoshi will be a father.
With Yodogimi?
If the Taiko has an heir...
...the lords gain nothing by plotting against him.
And our task...
We are to cease.
Hmm...
On whose orders was it...
...that Sokyu died?
Enough deception. What does it matter?
Killing the Taiko was never simply another job.
You mustn't go back.
Dogen and the men of Koga are waiting.
My death is my own affair.
So is the man who killed Sokyu.
What did you say?
You must not go back! Run away with me.
If you will not go with me, I cannot let you go back.
Not even time for a final tryst...
Do you mean those words?
You'd stab me then, anyway!
You won't steal Juzo from me!
Trifling with a young girl...
Shame on you, Juzo.
With his invasion of China stalled in Korea...
...Hideyoshi is blessed with a long-awaited heir.
Osaka Castle
In his joy he moves Yodogimi and her child into Osaka Castle...
...and to mend relations with his childless wife...
...arranges a great cherry-blossom viewing party in the hills of Yoshino.
Not content with the blossoms of Yoshino...
...he continues on to the temples of Mt Koya...
...and performs a Noh play of his own composition at Seiganji Temple...
...final resting place of his late mother.
Music and singing in a holy place like this!
The Buddha will be angry!
What a pity.
We've missed our chance.
While we live we can still strike.
At least Gohei didn't appear.
No...
He's out there in the dark.
We should separate.
Take the others and go on ahead.
Gohei...Hideyoshi is blessed with great luck.
Gohei...join with us.
Before ambition casts you into hell!
Where is the evil in wanting to rise in the world?
Why waste my life under the spell of Iga?
And what of honor?
Honor?
In what lays an outlaw's honor?
I would rather hell than a tedious heaven!
Where are you going, Kuroami?
You run quickly. That is bad for an old man's health.
Make demons submit and enemies scatter!
Rin! Pyo! To! Sha! Kai! Jin! Retsu! Zai! Zen!
No!
Take him alive.
Stand back!
Koga is blessed.
Nobunaga did not kill your young.
Iga is naught but old men.
Kill me.
A woman!
'Tis a fine smell!
Run, girl, run...
I'll send you to the one you love.
Juzo...
Yes. Tsuzura Juzo, of Iga.
Come to take revenge.
I knew you'd come.
Rin! Pyo! To! Sha! Kai! Jin! Retsu! Zai! Zen!
Juzo...don't kill me.
Help me.
What?
You've won.
Do you fear death?
Of course.
As of this night I will cease my work.
At home...two women await me.
Without me they cannot live.
Let me go back to Koga.
Let your women care for you, then.
I give you no thanks.
Have that seen to, or you'll die.
Marishiten Dogen...
...does not faint at wounds like this.
I have used your weakness of heart to beg for my life.
In this contest you have lost.
You have not the heart to make an end to my life.
Farewell.
Milady!
Prepare him a bed.
No!
Do you know what this man is?!
I do.
You are a fool!
You'd sleep with our enemy?
Forgive me!
How long have I slept?
This is the second night.
I had a dream.
You were in it from beginning to end.
My life is yours.
Do with me as you will.
Do you speak from your heart?
My heart?
Since childhood I have trained as a ninja.
Does it hurt?
I have become so many people I do not know which is myself.
Ask not after my heart.
You are a ninja as well.
Your heart has been stolen, too.
You search for your heart in the same darkness.
I am no ninja.
I am the child of Sasaki Yoshitaka, late Constable of Omi.
When our house was destroyed, I was taken in...
...by the Mochizuki family of Koga.
That is the story you were told...
...by Imai Sokyu.
Sasaki Yoshitaka left no child.
Your birth, your parents...
...and even your heart were stolen so you could be used.
Who made you a ninja?
Fool!
If Dogen was Mitsunari's spy, there will be no end of trouble!
Why did you act without my orders?
Dogen was killed by a man of Iga, Tsuzura Juzo.
You arrested him, of course?
Unfortunately, he escaped.
Are you nothing but talk?!
You may withdraw!
Leave, I said! Can you not hear?!
Tsuzura Juzo was commissioned by Imai Sokyu to kill the Taiko.
Behind Sokyu, I think...
Was whom?!
Lord Tokugawa.
What?!
But Lord Tokugawa has had a change of heart.
Because now, with an heir, the Taiko's line will continue?
Exactly, Milord.
If the Taiko has a successor, the lords he created will stay quiet.
The ailment that killed Sokyu will spread to all who know of the plot.
That is true.
But were Tsuzura Juzo in your hands...
...you could use him against both Lords Mitsunari and Tokugawa.
You speak well.
Capture him, and your stipend will be raised to 1000 koku.
But until Tsuzura Juzo is yours, Gero Shobei is not of this house!
Remember that!
Here you are.
What are you doing?!
Will you go, then?
Why must you go?
Did you not say your life was mine?
Yes.
I gain nothing from killing Hideyoshi.
Revenge is meaningless.
But I have no skill to free my fate.
You do. You can run away with me.
I have my task.
Without it, I have nothing to call myself.
If I do not return, keep this in memory of me.
I need no keepsakes!
My death is not certain.
If I live, I will come back to you.
Fushimi
Welcome!
A guest!
You've been most kind.
Thank you very much.
Take care!
Oh, I'm sorry! The boat for Osaka has just sailed!
We have a horse. Ride that!
I need no horse!
Would you break our bones?
I'm sorry. I apologize. Now let me pass.
I will not!
Not if it means my life!
Either ride our horse, or buy us a drink.
Hold!
Stop!
What is the meaning of this unspeakable behavior?!
Begone!
You are dressed as a merchant, but you fight like a samurai.
I take you for a man of position.
I am Ueno Yahei, Warden of these streets.
May I have your name?
I am a man of no exploits. I have reasons to appear like this.
That is unfortunate.
I must ask you to come with me and tell your story at the guardhouse.
That I cannot do...
That, I regret, is my duty.
If my name suffice, you shall have it.
That will do.
I am...
...Ishikawa Goemon.
Ishikawa Goemon...
By your leave...
Take that!
What was that noise?
Just the wind.
Will you not wake?
I do not know you...
Are you really Hideyoshi?
I am indeed.
Be silent.
Or cry out if you will.
I will kill you when you do.
What?
Why do you laugh?
Are you so pleased at creeping in here?
You are so old!
Why have you come?
To kill you.
I am ruler over all the 60 provinces!
Take care in what you say. Your life is in my hands.
I value my life...
My heart goes out to you.
I did not think to find the Taiko so old and feeble.
It is cruel to put you to the sword.
As you say. What does it profit you to kill me?
But this is my task.
Who employed you?
At first I was employed, but now I am not.
I do this for myself.
If that be the case, spare me. Before you is merely an old man.
But that will not content me.
And what will?
Your thanks for not killing you.
What?
I have risked my life to come here.
I am not likely to leave this place alive.
I require your gratitude.
No one must know.
That I cannot promise.
Then I will not speak.
If you will not...
...I have no choice.
Wait! Please!
Before I die let me ask...
...did Tokugawa send you?
No. I serve those troubled by your foolish and pointless war in Korea.
So even the bandits think that was the work of one old fool...
Let me tell you what happened. All I had to do was drop a hint...
...to set the hearts of those wanting war alight with a flame so fierce...
...the Taiko himself could not dampen it.
Do you think an army of 500,000...
...gathers simply at the order of one old man like me?
I am no more than the wishes and acts of this world...
...played by a man named Hideyoshi.
If I go against this world, someone else will simply be set up in my place.
That is the truth of political power.
Exactly who I may be...
...I have no idea.
Let me ask you. Who am I?
Am I really the man named Hideyoshi?
Life is a dream within a dream.
If I should die, this world will not change at all.
This from a man who rules this world!
What irony! What pathos! What karma!
'A dream within a dream'...
If so...
...you should sleep again...
...and dream what I dream...
...the endless nightmare of a bandit.
What a farce!
What will you do?!
I must ask you to close your eyes.
I have enjoyed these years of pursuing you.
But all you have from me...
...is a sudden blow of my fist.
Just desserts for us both!
I knew you'd come out here.
Don't interfere!
Tonight I cannot let you go.
I have no future if I fail now.
Find him!
Where did he go?!
He's in the moat! Hurry!
There!
There he is!
Villain! Come quietly!
I am no villain!
Hidden in the moat of Fushimi Castle at night?
I am Gero Shobei, in the service of Lord Maeda Gen'i!
What business has Lord Maeda's man here?
I have reason, but this is not the time!
The real villain is still here!
He will use this diversion to make his escape!
There is a place where you can tell all.
Leave the other.
I am a Magistrate's official in pursuit an intruder who threatens the Taiko!
You will rue this day!
Come along!
I assume you have an answer from Lord Maeda.
What I have said was the truth.
Lord Maeda has replied.
'Concerning the recent intruder at Fushimi Castle called ''Gero Shobei '':
'The Maeda Household has no retainer of that name...
'...and further employs no spies nor engages in plots of any kind.
'We beg your kind indulgence. Yours respectfully.'
There is no mistake.
This is the man I saw dressed as a merchant near the Taiko's castle.
His name was Ishikawa Goemon.
Is this the man, Milord?
Gen'i!
This is the man whose bandit gang has terrorized Kyoto!
That infamous villain, Ishikawa Goemon!
He claims to be a spy of yours.
That is an outrage!
This is the man who attacked me in my bedroom!
Am I to die thus without even a name?!
I am who I am!
Who is it says I am not?!
Gen'i! Hideyoshi!
I am become a demon in life...
...and curse you till the laws of Buddha...
...shall crumble away!
Let all the world know the fate of those who disturb my rule!
Take Ishikawa Goemon, his family and followers...
...and gather a crowd at the Sanjo execution ground!
That's Ishikawa Goemon? What an ogre!
They're going to fry him in oil and he doesn't even turn a hair!
They say when he crept into the Taiko's bedroom...
...a stuffed plover sang out to warn him!
Truly the Taiko is a great man!
Raise him up!
They've pulled his tongue out...
That's why he isn't screaming.
Juzo...
Master...
Why did you not kill Hideyoshi?
Kuroami is lost, Gohei dies in your place...
Where will you and this woman go?
I know not.
She is Hattori Hanzo's ninja.
It was she who killed Sokyu.
You know too much. She will either kill you or drive you to suicide.
I know that.
Do you wish to be murdered in your sleep?
A ninja in love is of no use.
Go where you will.
Stay well, Master.
Juzo! Run!
What's this good for?
The stomach and bowels.
'The herb of long life'...
Yes.
And what's this?
Black nightshade.
It produces urine and brings down fever.
In August 1598, four years after the execution of Ishikawa Goemon...
...Toyotomi Hideyoshi died at Fushimi Castle at the age of 63.
Hattori Hanzo's watch over Tsuzura Juzo and Kohagi...
...came finally to an end.