The shogun will continue his commitment in Kanto.
Work diligently towards anti-alienism.
Set a date immediately to execute anti-alienism.
We had previously asked Sir Hitotsubashi to do so.
Yes, sir!
In March 1863...
14th Shogun Iemochi met with Emperor Komei in Kyoto.
There was another killing on Sanjo Bridge.
This will affect the guarding of the Shogun.
We have increased the number of guards, but the men...
at the city's magistrate's office fear the lawless men.
We can't very well capture them ourselves.
Oh! I know of a perfect group for that task.
Masterless samurai gathered by the Shogunate...
are requesting to serve you, the Commissioner.
Masterless samurai?
What do you think?
They are quite skilled.
I heard they came to Kyoto with over 200 men...
but there aren't that many there.
Yes.
We originally had about 240 men...
but we excluded men disloyal to the Shogunate.
We plan to stay in Kyoto to protect the Shogun.
I see.
We have 24 loyal and patriotic samurai.
HIJIKATA TOSHIZO We have 24 loyal and patriotic samurai.
An elite group.
Isn't that right, Saito?
SAITO HAJIME
Hijikata appears to be a sharp man.
He has skilled men, too.
His group will bring order.
Is something bothering you?
They're dangerous.
I could sense Saito's bloodthirstiness.
We'll keep an eye on them to keep them controlled.
We need manpower now.
Yes, sir.
YAE'S SAKURA
Episode 8: Not As One Wishes
Screenplay: Yamamoto Mutsumi
Theme Music: Sakamoto Ryuichi Music: Nakajima Nobuyuki
Narrator: Kusabue Mitsuko
Yamamoto Yae: Ayase Haruka
Yamamoto Kakuma: Nishijima Hidetoshi
Kawasaki Shonosuke: Hasegawa Hiroki
Yamamoto Saku: Fubuki Jun
Yamakawa Okura: Tamayama Tetsuji
Takagi Tokio: Kanjiya Shihori
Yamakawa Futaba: Ichikawa Mikako
Kajiwara Heima: Ikeuchi Hiroyuki
Jinbo Shuri: Saito Takumi
Matsudaira Katamori: Ayano Go
Sagawa Kanbei: Nakamura Shido
Saito Hajime: Furuya Kenji
Akizuki Teijiro: Kitamura Yukiya
Hirosawa Tomijiro: Okada Yoshinori
Sanjo Sanetomi: Sasai Eisuke
Katsura Kogoro: Oikawa Mitsuhiro
Kurokouchi Dengoro: Musaka Naomasa
Yokoyama Shuzen: Kunihiro Tomiyuki
Tanaka Tosa: Sato Bsaku
Hayashi Gonsuke: Kazama Morio
Emperor Komei: Ichikawa Somegoro
Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu: Koizumi Kotaro
Katsu Kaishu: Namase Katsuhisa
Saigo Tanomo: Nishida Toshiyuki
Executive Producer: Naito Shinsuke
Translations by MTI
Director: Kato Taku
Good afternoon.
Aren't you departing for Kyoto soon?
Yes... This is my last day of practice.
Please have a safe journey.
Thank you.
Kyoto is unsettled now.
I'm prepared.
I regret not being able to attend my brother's wedding.
What?!
Yoshichiro is getting married?
He has 20 men under him.
It's only natural that he settles down.
Yes.
Stop!
Bow!
Resume practice!
Yes!
Oh my... it's swollen.
It's unlike you to be caught off guard during practice.
Yes.
What's wrong?
Yes...
Do you have a fever?
A stomach ache?
Yae...
Yes?
I've seen them once...
They make a nice match.
What do you mean?
Otose is beautiful and from a good family.
Are you talking about Okura's wedding?
I'm...such a fool.
For falling in love with him...
and getting disappointed.
It was hopeless to begin with.
But for all this time...
I had no idea.
Tokio-san, you never said anything.
It was no use telling you.
Still...
it's painful.
Tokio-san...
I'm...not getting married for life.
What are you saying?
I don't want to marry anyone else.
I'll teach sewing and writing to earn a living alone.
I'm not getting married either.
Yae-san...
Tokio-san...
Oh...
To begin with, will I even get a marriage offers?
Say...
There are a lot of things out of our control.
Yes.
AIZU'S MAIN CAMP
They are the Mibu Group serving the Aizu clan.
We have an assignment for you.
His Excellency will be inspecting the Settsu Sea.
You'll join his security guards.
We gratefully accept KONDO ISAMI
Get the details in the other room. Now leave.
Yes sir.
On April 21, the Mibu Group, later known as Shinsengumi,
stood out noticeably in the shogun's procession.
Your companion is here.
Kakuma!
Sir Katsu! It's been a while.
Since our last meeting.
Come in.
Keep it coming.
Navy Magistrate? What a huge success!
Consider how poor I was before.
It just shows how much the country has changed.
It's like the tail wagging the dog.
Anything can happen.
Like the delirious state of anti-alienism.
Sir Yoshinobu set May 10 as the execution date and left,
but no one in the Shogunate takes that date seriously.
The anti-alienists will raise another ruckus.
If they want anti-alienism so badly,
they should wage war with Britain and America.
But if we fight them...
We will definitely lose.
When we lose, then they will realize how weak we are.
It's best not have a war.
But what's bad is making excuses and not doing anything.
I agree.
Only after being thoroughly beaten and rising from there...
can this country improve in ten to a hundred years.
In 10 to 100 years...
Yeah.
Kakuma.
What is Aizu trying to do in Kyoto?
What?
Create a murderous group of desperate samurai?
Are you referring to the Mibu Group?
I don't like them.
Sending killers after the killers is meaningless.
But we must maintain order. What's the other option?
It's your job to think of one!
Think it out thoroughly!
Sir Shozan...and the late Torajiro...
had the long-term future of Japan in mind.
Yes, they did.
What should Aizu do?
Rather...what should I do?
On May 10, 1863...
the Choshu clan shot at an American ship in the Shimonoseki Straits.
On May 20, Anegakoji Kintomo was attacked by assassins.
The Satsuma were suspected as culprits and alienated from the palace...
allowing the Choshu clan to gain complete control of the Court.
What do you want?
We are inspecting the inn under the Commissioner's order.
This is bad! Run!
Don't let anyone escape!
CHOSHU CLANSMAN KATSURA KOGORO
The Aizu clan hired strange men.
You mean the Mibu Group?
Surprisingly, they are all skilled.
They raided our secret meeting place and we barely escaped.
We're busy promoting anti-alienism now!
This Mibu Group is a nuisance!
The biggest nuisance is Aizu Clan.
I took them lightly as country bumpkins from Oshu.
Hiring those men shows they're smarter than I expected.
Their military strength cannot be taken lightly.
We must distance them from the emperor.
Maki, I hope you have a plan.
MAKI IZUMI
We shall see.
You'll be going to Kyoto soon.
I wish you success.
Please take care.
Thank you.
I'll be going now.
I have other places to pay my respects.
Oh, that's right.
I have a book to return to you.
You can return it later when I come back.
I'll go and get it. Please wait a bit.
Please give my regards to Kakuma.
I will.
I am good-for-nothing.
What?
Not being able to do anything is unbearable.
If I were a man...
I would've rushed to Kyoto and worked with Kakuma.
Carrying a fire-arm?
That's right.
I wish I were a man!
I wish so, too.
If you were a man...
we could've competed like when we were children.
We could've fought together with rifles in hand.
I agree.
When I think of Aizu from Kyoto...
I'll probably think of you first.
What?
You...
represent Aizu.
What was that about?
He said a strange thing.
I'm going to study now.
Kanbei!
Stop him!
Kanbei, wait!
Kanbei, you...!
The main camp in Kyoto has hired suspicious men.
Please send me to Kyoto!
No!
If I can't get approval, I'll desert and go to Kyoto!
Kanbei! If you do that you can't see the lord again.
Councilor!
No means no!
If I can't serve the lord at a time like this...
I would've been better off dead six years ago.
Who's up there?
What are you doing there?
Well...
Oh, you're Kakuma's sister?
I'm Yae.
I'm sorry!
You must know about Kanbei.
Yes, I do.
He's stirred up that this is his time to repay his debt.
His burning loyalty may work against him.
The poor man.
His wish to go to Kyoto can't be granted?
That's not your business.
No.
But even I would like to somehow help the lord.
So I can imagine how Sir Sagawa feels.
Councilor.
I must go to Kyoto.
What?
Before it's too late...
I have to stop him.
Sir Hitotsubashi returned to Edo,
but shows no sign of executing anti-alienism.
We should send Lord Aizu to Edo to rectify the situation.
Let us immediately...
Stop!
If the Commissioner leaves...
there will be nobody to protect Kyoto.
We can just appoint someone else to fulfill that role.
The Aizu men aren't the only samurai around.
Lord Katamori received an imperial order at his main camp.
It says to go to Edo and urge Hitotsubashi to start anti-alienism.
Isn't that odd?
During that time...
what will become of the post of Commissioner?
What is an imperial order?
Using my name for things I don't wish for...
and issuing imperial orders as they please.
Did you call?
Summon Lord Konoe Tadahiro.
Without Sanjo knowledge.
If that is his wish, there is nothing we can do.
Yes.
I'll make the preparation to go to Edo.
No, I'm not convinced.
Lord!
You received an imperial order.
What do you mean?
We received the order to go to Edo.
The emperor gave this to former regent Koneo in secret.
Men, please refrain.
The emperor wrote it himself.
The decision to send you back to Edo...
was not my wish.
However, since the nobles strongly insist upon it...
there is nothing I can do.
It is not His Majesty's wish that I go to Edo.
What was that first order that we received?
The story about the fake imperial orders are true.
They plan to force Aizu out of Kyoto...
to manipulate the Court as they wish.
He orders that we do not abide by it.
Lord?
"It's because...
"I rely on Aizu the most."
He relies on Aizu the most.
His Majesty...
relies that heavily on us?
Tanomo arrived at the main camp a few days later.
When you were first appointed Commissioner,
you believed discussion was the best route.
However, currently you employ suspicious men...
and punish all those who oppose.
I have no choice but to punish them severely.
In that case, I would like to make a request.
Please resign your post as Kyoto Commissioner.
What are you saying?
You must stop here.
If you continue as Commissioner,
you, rather than the Aizu clan...
our hands and name...
will be stained with blood.
You'll only be revered as a guardian deity now.
You'll soon be feared as a demon and hated by the people.
Please resign as Kyoto Commissioner.
Councilor!
Are you telling me to give up because there's no reward?
Isn't that cowardly?
Aizu has policies.
Never unite with other clans.
Do you plan to crush Aizu for that purpose?
What?
Lord, you are being taken in...
by our policy that a betrayal makes one not a descendant of the clan.
You dwell on that because you were adopted from another clan.
His Majesty...!
His Majesty...
is carrying the burden of this country, all alone.
I'll protect him, even if it means staking our clan's existence.
That is...
...Aizu's duty.
I won't let you destroy Aizu.
Be gone.
Go home and await sentencing.
Councilor.
Oh...Are you both doing well?
Yes.
Did something happen in Aizu?
No...I came to see what the main camp in Kyoto is like.
Kakuma... Akizuki...
Don't let Aizu be destroyed.
No matter what happens... be sure to protect the lord.
Is that clear?
Yes, sir.
I'll be going now.
What's wrong with him?
Shuri.
Notify the home province.
Tanomo is ordered to confinement.
Lord...that is too harsh.
If you push him away now...
In July, Aizu clan would display their military training at the palace.
It's been set!
In the horse parade to be held in four days...
we will display our artillery shooting skills.
The emperor hasn't seen a horse parade.
...since Nobunaga's time (1580)
It is truly an honor!
Yes, sir!
But due to the rain, the event was postponed.
And it rained from the morning, the next day.
The rain isn't letting up.
We won't have our turn today.
No.
Get ready at once!
We're starting the horse parade immediately!
Why? It's still raining.
They said that rain or snow would not stop us in a real battle.
Is there a misunderstanding?
We've been tricked!
They plan to disgrace our lord before the emperor.
We won't let that happen!
Let's go!
Men, get ready!
Let's go!
That surcoat...
This is my robe.
Turn it into a surcoat for your armor.
Go!
Fire!
Councilor.
Oh, it's you, Yae.
What are you doing?
I was removing the bugs on the branches.
To prevent the tree from wilting.
What are you doing here?
I was going to read a book.
I would not advise it today.
You'll get attacked by these insects.
Yes.
Bam!
I heard you're skilled.
I practice daily.
What are you going to do with that skill you have?
You can't become a gunner.
That's the frustrating part.
Things don't work out, do they?
No one can live life as they please, can they?
You too, Councilor?
I'm not a councilor anymore.
I incurred the lord's anger, and was dismissed.
I'm in confinement, like Kanbei.
I have the skills, but no place to use them...just like you.
Maybe I'll take care of the cherry trees.
To prevent them from dying...
I wanted to at least remove the root of trouble.
Please let me help you.
If the tree dies, it would put me in a bind, too.
I see. I'll ask for your help then.
Yes.
Look, an insect.
Aren't you scared?
Not at all.
Here?
Yes, there. There's a lot of them.
END OF EPISODE 8
I have a secret order.
Join hands with Satsuma?
One mistake and we will be branded as imperial rebels.
It's like a dream to have Princess Teru here.
Let us be kind and brave.
For we are Aizu women.
Notify the entire army...
to quietly creep up to the palace.