One has been executed.
The rest are prisoners of Lord Yabushige.
The Lady Ochiba's sister, my daughter-in-law, is in labor.
Or has Lady Ochiba been taken hostage
to guarantee your safety here?
Mother!
You are choosing the wrong ally.
We'll always be their hostages now.
I already received another offer.
Regent...?
Your formal answer, please.
I bow before you.
I will submit to Lord Ishido.
You're all dead.
Cracking his head on stone.
Wasn't a death I'd thought of.
Be sure to record it in our book.
I'd rank it lower than boiling,
but higher than eaten by dogs.
Lord...
I am sorry for your loss.
He's surrendered.
Your ruse was a brilliant success.
A great Minowara, meeting his end at a humble fishing village...
Who would have thought.
He still has his mourning period.
Until his head is pressed to the floor in submission,
we are not free of his threat.
Perhaps, to strengthen our alliance,
we should make our intentions public.
Our pact is not in doubt.
In the days when I stood in the Taikō's service,
I was captivated by you.
His favored consort.
Peerless in strength, grace, and courage.
If you saw those things, it was merely a reflection of our lord.
I revered our lord,
but let us stop pretending he was kind.
We didn't just survive our time, we made our place here.
I propose we strengthen our bond through marriage.
What would you say?
The offer is yours to consider.
What's there to be said about Lord Nagakado...
He was eager to please.
Full of long stories that went nowhere.
Once, he fell from a tree and broke his arm.
Didn't tell anyone for days.
So they would think he was brave.
He was truly courageous.
At the same time,
he was reckless.
What an embarrassment.
If I may...
It's hard to believe Lord Nagakado isn't here with us tonight.
He would have enjoyed us
honoring him.
But he's not.
Because our lord has chosen to surrender...
to slice his belly before that snake, Ishido.
This is something Lord Nagakado could not accept.
Reckless as he may have been,
his life...
was given to one thing...
the name of his lord.
Lord Toranaga.
Absent from his own son's funeral...
I'm told Lord Toranaga has fallen very sick from his journey.
So you haven't seen him either?
My nephew's speech last night...
he's just a boy, but he's right about many things.
Look how his Edo generals wear their armor in protest.
There are those who haven't yet given up.
Why not march to Osaka with guns and cannon?
You alone will head to Osaka.
As a condition of our surrender,
Ishido requested you return the guns and cannons to Osaka.
Her grandfather must be very proud.
Yes, I hope he will be.
His new granddaughter...
Lord Toranaga hasn't come to see her yet?
I've heard he's been in bad health since his return.
Have you heard from your sister in Osaka?
Only by formal letter.
Assuring me that after Lord Toranaga bows to Lord Ishido
my family will be spared.
Beyond that, nothing.
You know how Lady Ochiba can be.
Each of us endures in her own way.
Staying hidden is hers.
Lord Buntaro.
Welcome back to Edo.
It's good to be home, Lady Rin.
Lord Toranaga sent word for you to join him this afternoon.
I understand.
I will leave you.
Please stay.
I do not wish to interrupt.
These are hard times, this business with Osaka.
I'd like to prepare tea for my wife. What do you think?
I accept.
But we gave you firewood yesterday.
Understand, but I don't need firewood.
Looking for, um...
My friend is asking for more firewood.
Please forgive this barbarian's lack of manners.
I ask for charcoal. It gives off better heat.
Lotus tonight. Please.
You've heard that Lord Ishido has bent the Council to his will.
Of course we know this.
Our deal, which we made on the Black Ship...
Our church made its best effort,
but Lords Kiyama and Ohno
would not be swayed to your cause.
Things my spies have already reported...
Have you really come all this way to tell me that?
Mariko.
From now on, you will translate for this priest,
as the Church is not our ally
and cannot be trusted to speak in our tongue.
Lord, if I may...
Tsuji says he is not here on the orders of the Church...
Though Ochiba has no reason to be your enemy,
she controls Ishido.
I cannot change her hatred of me.
He believes you can forge an alliance with Ochiba.
And your thoughts?
You wish to hear my thoughts?
I do.
Tsuji has a point.
Why?
Osaka is not our enemy.
Ishido is.
If we align with Lady Ochiba,
Ishido's only path to power will be removed,
as the Heir's army will become our ally.
You once knew her.
Do you believe, in a thousand years,
Ochiba would ever ally with me?
I don't think you are her enemy.
I think fear is her enemy.
She would sooner have my head buried in the earth.
What?
Speak.
Your face... has the color of defeat.
Lord, it's not like you.
I...
This victory would come at too high a cost,
so I choose a peaceful defeat.
Then you are giving up on those
who would never give up on you.
Quiet.
If I wanted your advice I would have asked for it.
Call my vassals to assembly tomorrow.
I've heard these rumors about their defiance of my will.
Wearing armor to my son's funeral.
Lord--
My son is dead.
I will have...
no further bloodshed.
I want their signed pledge
that they will march with me in surrender.
Tell the priest I am grateful for his attempt to change my fate.
Since he kept his promise,
I will keep mine.
He may build a new church here in Edo.
The land has been set aside.
I only have one request.
That he return to Osaka and tell them what he sees here.
All I want is a peaceful death.
He's going to fight.
How do you know?
Otherwise, our lord would not send him to Osaka
with a message.
Beauty of Nature.
Winter is ending soon.
Yes.
The scent of plums
detaches from the blossoms and leaves
off into the distance.
My mind is drawn to the distant haze
where the wind carries the detached scent.
Perhaps you would take cha?
It would be my honor.
Your performance was wonderful.
It was only for you.
Despite what my father says
I think we're going to die in Osaka.
Perhaps that's what makes this tea so meaningful.
I remember our first days together.
We were happy.
I struggle to remember clearly.
Are you still under the Anjin's spell?
Let us go to death tonight.
I wish to finally give it to you.
In protest of our lord's surrender, and your enemies,
let us welcome death together.
Let us enter oblivion as husband and wife.
Even now you fail to understand.
What you've denied me...
wasn't death.
It was a life beyond your reach.
And I would sooner live a thousand years
than die with you like this.
Your men live in the funayado.
They've been drinking all the saké in the region for months.
We'll be glad for them to leave.
All of them.
Let's go.
While he regrets that he has no choice in the matter,
he's come to you out of desperation.
What does he want?
Fate.
He believes our lord will soon die,
and wishes to sail for you.
I think he calculates, unwisely,
that you wish not to join Lord Toranaga in Osaka.
This is disgraceful.
My nephew is right.
I refuse.
The Anjin is wrong to think Lord Toranaga has given up.
I don't know what the old man is up to,
but it's not surrender.
He says that he knows he doesn't belong in Japan.
own people
seem
...strange.
He believes he has no choice but to make his own fate.
He recalls the time you were close to death on a cliff.
He believes you also know what it means
to control your own fate.
Tell him that since he is a foreigner, I will overlook his mistake.
I would never betray our lord.
We've been called to the castle to sign our obeisance to him,
and that is what I intend to do.
The main gates. Here.
My tea house will be here...
We'll make a room for Kiku in a separate house.
I see nothing here.
It's an idea she chased all her life.
It must be beautiful to finally see it.
It was your hard work that earned this for her.
Serving my mistress
is my greatest pride.
Do you think loyalty could ever be a disservice?
Or even a harm?
No.
I don't know what I'm fighting for anymore.
If you look and see nothing...
you must simply look harder.
Lord Toranaga was very generous to grant you this plot.
It's among the best in the city.
Who is that over there?
Your neighbors.
I'm told they are courtesans.
Courtesans...
Good morning, Lady Daiyoin.
I have tea and your favorite sawara today...
Someone find a doctor!
It was a stroke early this morning.
All we can do is make her comfortable.
I knew it would be this face to send me off.
All of your strength. And sadness.
You must stop these games.
Promise to release the hostages.
Ishido comes from nothing, and he is nothing.
How about some medicine to ease your pain, Lady Daiyoin?
Tell our son to look for me in the Pure Land...
Look what I made...
Tomorrow, Yabushige will leave for Osaka.
In addition to delivering my guns to Ishido,
he will submit the names of those who will join me in surrender.
I now require your signatures on this list.
Lord...
we are unable to accept what must be a ploy.
There is no such trickery.
Forgive us, Lord...
we cannot follow you on this path to defeat.
You refuse your duty?
Our duty is to advise you.
If you stay in Edo, Ishido will be forced to fight us here.
He will destroy this city.
Let him try.
Which is more important?
Survival of our clan, or Japan?
My fight is decided.
Lord...
if you will not change your mind
then I will
commit seppuku at once.
Do you all doubt your allegiance to me?
Traitors should confess at once!
If you surrender to Osaka
it is treason against your heritage--
Quiet!
This is between me and Lord Toranaga.
My one and only friend.
Lord...
I have
stood by your side since you were a piss-dripping boy.
Then die by my side in Osaka.
You are throwing away all that we have fought for.
I have made my decision.
Now you must make yours.
So you do believe in pointless death.
Lord!
Your vassal dies in vain!
Then die.
Lord!
Please stop this...
He has set his mind against me.
I will not yield.
Lord Toranaga...
Then this is farewell.
Buntaro, bring my sword and second me.
I'm following you into death.
No.
Father...
please...
You must live.
You will know what it is to be denied.
Do not give up on our lord.
Even when it appears he has given up on himself.
Now second me.
Lord Toranaga!
This is madness!
Stop this!
Forgive me...
I beg your pardon.
Do you disagree with what happened today?
Today we all suffered great loss.
I won't deepen the wound by disagreeing.
The sound of rain on the leaves
can be heard.
Still more fragile
is the dew of tears on my sleeves
even in springtime.
Waiting, the pine tree
never withers in winter.
If I could use words
like scattering flowers and falling leaves,
what a bonfire my poems would make.
I concede victory, Mariko.
Your poetry was always superior.
Tell me...
has the Anjin gone to Yabushige yet?
Yes.
But Lord Yabushige refused.
He'll change his mind after today.
Hiromatsu made sure of it.
The Anjin and Yabushige are both goshawks.
Short-winged and predictable.
Then...
Lord Hiromatsu...
Hiromatsu...
my old friend...
knew his duty well.
Osaka has to believe my defeat is real.
Now are you ready to do your part?
I'm ready.
Hurry! Hurry!
Be quick.
What are you doing?
Hurry it up!
If Lord Toranaga finds out you've aligned with the Anjin...
I won't die on behalf of a crazy old man.
But the Anjin is dangerous.
Uncle!
What do you want?
What you said the other day...
it meant a great deal to me.
Allies.
You...
...and me.
Allies.
We're allies.
Lord Toranaga has requested I accompany you to Osaka.
Thank you, my son.
You earned me some time.
I will not waste it...
Hiromatsu and you, both.
I will not waste it.