"Dedicated to Ryotaro Shiba" "A Production of The Fukuro no Shiro Project" "Iga was known from ancient times as 'the hidden land'." "Isolated by steep mountains it was a perfect refuge for those defeated in political struggle." "Their descendants, in the Age of Civil War, were the famous 'ninja' of Iga." "Trained from childhood in stealth, they were employed in this time of upheaval as spies, conspirators, agitators and assassins." "With their strong sense of tribal loyalty they admitted allegiance to no lord." "Their stubborn independence earned them the heartfelt hatred of one man the warlord Oda Nobunaga." "He feared that to leave this shadowy group outside the bounds of his control would jeopardize his ambition to rule all of Japan." "September 1581" "They're coming!" "Hurry!" "Nobunaga invaded the land of Iga, whose ninja inhabitants he hated as if they were the demons of hell itself." "With their numberless arts of stealth they could not be left free to learn his secrets and plot against him." "With a force of 50,000 men he laid waste to Iga and massacred its people." "Leave no one of Iga alive!" "Kill them all!" "Shizu!" "Rin!" "Pyo!" "To!" "Sha!" "Kai!" "Jin!" "Retsu!" "Zai!" "Zen!" "Ten long years passed after the destruction of Iga." "Rule of the land passed from Nobunaga to Toyotomi Hideyoshi." "FUKURO NO SHIRO OWLS' CASTLE" "Executive Producer Shigeaki Hazama" "Original Story Ryotaro Shiba" "Screenplay Masahiro Shinoda  Katsuo Naruse" "Producers Masaru Kakutani  Masaru Koibuchi" "Photography Tatsuo Suzuki" "Art Director Yoshinobu Nishioka" "Music Joji Yuasa" "Wardrobe Setsu Asakura" "Lighting" " Sound Yoshio Unno" " Tetsuo Segawa" "Editor Hiroshi Yoshida" "Noh Director" " Period Consultant Hideo Kanze" " Toshiharu Takatsu" "Period Music Sennojo Shigeyama" "Production Manager" " Assistant Director Hidekazu Uehara" " Masaki Hamamoto" "Action Director Motosada Mouri" "SFX" " Art Consultant Kazuto Kawazoe" " Katsumi Asaba" "Managing Producer" " Yoichi Matsumae A HYOGENSHA PRODUCTION" "Starring" "Kiichi Nakai" "Mayu Tsuruta" "Riona Hazuki" "Takaya Kamikawa" "Toshiya Nagasawa Jinpachi Nezu" "Gaku Yamamoto Shohei Hino" "Shoichi Ozawa Takashi Tsumura" "Mako Iwamatsu" "Toshio Kakei" " Kinnosuke Hanayagi Nobuko Tanaka" "Akira Nakao Haruko Mabuchi" "Atsuo Nakamura" "Shima Iwashita" "Directed by Masahiro Shinoda" "Yodo Castle, August 1591" "Death of Tsurumatsu, aged 3, Hideyoshi's son and heir" "Lord Tokugawa will do anything to show loyalty to the Taiko!" "The old fox!" "And you will not, Lord Mitsunari?" "I suppose I must." "Summon Hattori Hanzo." "Hanzo?" "He's right there." "What use have we for a man of Iga?" "Did you see how the old man wailed when he lost his heir?" "Cutting his topknot!" "How can he rule the country if he can't rule himself?" "Who knows what he'll do next!" "September 1591" "Taiko Hideyoshi assembles lords from across the land and orders the invasion of Korea." "I have today resolved to send soldiers to Korea and thence to invade the land of the Ming Emperor!" "Appointing Nagoya, in Kyushu, as his army's headquarters Hideyoshi builds a castle there even larger than that of Osaka." "You there!" "Yonder priest!" "Go no further!" "Beyond there is no place for man to dwell!" "Come out, Tsuzura Juzo!" "It is Shimotsuge Jirozaemon." "Master!" "What brings you to a place even wild beasts shun?" "It will soon be ten years you've been hidden here." "I come with a task for you." "After ten years, you speak first of a task?" "It is no ordinary task." "It is to kill Hideyoshi." "Hideyoshi?" "Kill Hideyoshi?" "Might I ask why?" "Does it not please you?" "I have renounced the world." "Did you not come here to await revenge?" "In these ten years Akechi has killed Nobunaga and Hideyoshi has killed Akechi." "Kill Hideyoshi, and someone else will simply take his place." "Such wisdom you have found here?" "But I cannot let you live knowing what you now know." "Your skill has not left you." "You are truly the son of the greatest of ninja." "The rumors you had kept up your skills are true." "I am no match for you now." "Look at this." "There is a man with enough gold to move heaven and earth." "He wishes us to kill Hideyoshi." "Tsuzura Juzo... it is time to come down from the mountain." "Why not ask Gohei?" "You always said his skill exceeded mine." "That low-caste traitor!" "He has betrayed Iga and fled!" "He has?" "Have these years of carving Buddhas dulled your spirit, Juzo?" "What?" "!" "What enlightenment can you draw from a bandit's wisdom?" "Women, children..." "Nobunaga left hardly a blade of grass standing in Iga." "Where is the sin in killing his successor?" "Have you forgotten that vision of Hell?" "Mother!" "Shizu!" "Shizu!" "Juzo!" "Juzo!" "We must go!" "Juzo!" "Master, please!" "Let me take revenge!" "Fool!" "You carry the Tsuzura name now!" "You must not throw your life away!" "There will be time to take a ninja's revenge!" "Now go!" "Master Juzo!" "Kuroami!" "Where have you been hiding?" "Ten long years..." "it seems like yesterday." "Rin!" "Pyo!" "To!" "Sha!" "Kai!" "Jin!" "Retsu!" "Zai!" "Zen!" "We will open a sword-grinder's shop on Sanjo Street in Kyoto." "The name will be 'Iseya'." "The Master bids us wait there for you." "With you here, Iga can breathe." "It's as if spring has come again." "Even the fallen leaves will put forth flowers." "We await you in the capital." "Nara" "Samurai!" "Do you seek an inn for the night?" "You're as quiet as the Buddha!" "My saké loses its taste." "What is your name?" "Kohagi." "A beautiful name." "Are you from Nara?" "Yes." "And born here?" "Yes." "And silent you are!" "In Nara, the Great Buddha's city, a woman as silent as he!" "I am drunk." "What is it?" "That's funny." "What is?" "You say you're drunk when you haven't even taken a sip." "I am Juzo of Iga called here at the hour of the ox." "Will you not say your name?" "So this discourtesy is deliberate..." "I know you are hidden there!" "Show yourself!" "Who are you?" "We were paid by a treacherous woman to lie in wait here and cut down a man of Iga." "A woman?" "And what is to become of me?" "I do not kill without cause." "I regret the deaths of these men." "Take this for their funeral rites." "I am Kumobe." "I give you the life you have spared." "May I go with you?" "As you wish." "Sakai" "It's like a foreign land!" "A town grown rich making guns!" "Where do we go?" "You go to the capital." "There is a sword-grinder's called Iseya in Sanjo Street." "Lodge there, and enjoy the sights of Kyoto." "The guns of Sakai match even those of Europe." "No, they are even better." "Obrigado." "Look after him." "Sokyu..." "I don't believe I know you." "I have something to discuss with you." "Would you rob me?" "You will not leave here alive." "I am no thief." "I have also been told to expect one Tsuzura Juzo, of Iga..." "You have?" "It takes skill to penetrate my walls and appear thus before me." "I have something to ask you." "Will you take tea?" "Am I not Imai Sokyu, the tea-master?" "So the ninja know how to drink tea..." "Why would one enjoying the Taiko's favor plot against him?" "Hideyoshi has gone mad." "He would close off our trade with Korea and the Empire of Ming." "The money he spends will go south to Hakata closest to the mainland." "To do nothing will ruin us here in Sakai." "Hideyoshi has no successor." "His death will bring civil war again." "And wealth to Sakai." "And what of the people war will ruin?" "It is because of those war will ruin that Sakai must lead the land to peace." "And with whom have you joined to set in Hideyoshi's place?" "That is no concern of yours!" "Perhaps we should drink saké" "There happens to be a beautiful woman here." "You two have met." "She has made mock of me several times." "My adopted daughter." "She is?" "She is the daughter of a vanquished noble house." "She will deliver my instructions to you." "A banquet stands ready." "Kyoto" "Gojogawara" "The arts of stealth brought the ninja of Iga their daily bread." "But Kuroami and his followers now had a different aim:" "By slipping into the mansions of the noble and the great and stealing the gold and treasure there they sought to damage the authority of the Taiko and destabilize his rule." "Wait!" "But a powerful enemy appeared against them." "Charged by the City Commissioner with controlling these robberies he was able to anticipate even the ninja of Iga." "He called himself Gero Shobei." "Iseya Sword Grinders" "Are you hurt?" "!" "May I help you?" "Is there a Tsuzura Juzo lodged here?" "'Tsuzura'?" "We are sword-grinders." "The inns are in Kawaramachi." "If you don't know perhaps your master might." "Sir..." "Show her inside." "Welcome." "Sir!" "A customer!" "How may I help you?" "Could these be done by the 20th?" "An excellent blade..." "Boy... go tell Squire Yamagata his sword is ready." "What happened to your leg?" "We were surprised last night." "A man better than you?" "Gero Shobei." "I had not thought the City Commissioner would have a man like that." "I lost many good men." "There was a woman here to see you." "A very beautiful woman?" "Who is she?" "The daughter of a vanquished warlord adopted by Imai Sokyu of Sakai." "That's a lie." "She is a ninja." "Kill her." "That I cannot." "We have lain together once." "Yours is an evil star." "Your 'princess' left you a letter." "'For the next ten days, at the hour of the ox.'" "Hmm... she says she awaits me on the roof of the Jurakudai." "Hideyoshi's palace?" "The time has come to act!" "No." "She still wants to test my skill as a ninja." "Kazama Gohei!" "Tsuzura Juzo?" "Master Juzo!" "Kisaru!" "Wait!" "I'm following someone." "When did you come here?" "Keep away." "Keep walking." "That was Kazama Gohei, no mistake." "He is a bad enemy to have." "Your father always said he was better than me." "I haven't seen my father for a while." "If Gohei has betrayed Iga I'll stab him with my own hands." "How fierce you are!" "You were raised almost as brother and sister!" "I feel nothing for him!" "That's harsh!" "'Hell hath no fury'..." "I'd better go." "Wait!" "Have you further use of me?" "I want to help you." "No." "Why not?" "I need no help from a woman." "Do I lack in skill?" "I might lose control." "Were it Tsuzura Juzo, I would not protest." "You disconcert me!" "Shall I do so now?" "It's you I've always loved." "This body I will give you." "Make me your wife." "Ah, the palace of the Taiko!" "'Tis a wonderful view!" "'Tis wonderful indeed!" "That is the voice of Kazama Gohei." "You're late, Tsuzura Juzo." "I've been waiting." "Who said you would see me here?" "A woman calling herself a messenger." "Whose side is she on?" "Mine?" "Yours?" "I know not." "She surely picked a fine place to juggle the two best ninja of Iga." "One of us is a ninja of Iga no more." "'Gero Shobei'... an official of the City Commissioner!" "You know that, do you?" "My ninja skills have made me a samurai with a 100-koku stipend with former ninjas at my command." "I was always good at transforming myself." "Gohei do you know my task here?" "No." "To kill the man whose roof this is." "That Noh chanting below may be that same man." "He is said in these days to be crazed for it." "And?" "Who hired you?" "The ninja do not say who hires them." "That is the truth." "A 100- koku samurai forgets." "Come back to Iga." "We will work together again." "I will never return to Iga." "The ninja are bandits." "They are demons who bury their children, demons in human form." "I have had enough." "I will use my demon's learning to raise myself to a better place." "And to he who interferes I will show no mercy, Iga man or no." "Juzo..." "Tonight, as Kazama Gohei, I will overlook what I see." "Tomorrow, as Gero Shobei, the Taiko's enemy is mine." "Fire!" "An intruder!" "Farewell." "They are blamed for the fire at the Taiko's palace." "But crucifixion?" "!" "I hear things are worse down in the south." "When that castle's finished, he'll send all the workers to Korea!" "With that war over there, they'll never see Japan again!" "Any man who flees dies right then and there!" "I managed to get away..." "Fight and die, or run and be killed." "We're dead either way!" "Who would live in a world under the Taiko's rule?" "!" "It's cruel!" "Not me!" "I don't want to!" "Who would not live under the Taiko?" "It is being said that the fire at the Taiko's palace last night is part of a plot against him." "Commissioner Maeda, what do you say?" "We know because they take poison when caught that the thieves infiltrating the city are from Iga." "But why, when it was Nobunaga who laid waste to Iga?" "They harbor the same hatred for his successor." "When men fallen in the world see a gold palace they want to burn it." "Lord Maeda feigns ignorance to mock us." "These rumors that fly about are aimed at the Taiko." "But who is it that employs these people of Iga?" "You disguise yourself so well you almost fooled me." "No." "The others are far better." "But it's interesting work, this skulking." "But it might not go well for you if Gero Shobei strikes again." "Certainly a man who can wound even Kuroami is no ordinary samurai." "His Lordship returns!" "Milord!" "Call Gero Shobei!" "Gero Shobei... how long has this office employed you?" "Six months, sir." "And why have you infiltrated here?" "You cannot hide it." "None but a man of Iga could accomplish what you have." "As you say." "I was a bandit of Iga." "My name is Kazama Gohei." "I came to hate life in the shadows." "I wished through my exploits to rise to the status of samurai." "It is not unheard of." "I am told Lord Tokugawa makes use of an Iga man named Hattori Hanzo." "I ask again." "Was it men of Iga like yourself who set fire to the Taiko's palace?" "Yes... but..." "The truth!" "Don't forget that now you belong to the ancient house of Maeda!" "Yes, Milord!" "Isn't Dogen here yet?" "He is here, Milord." "Where?" "He is before the lord Maeda Gen'i." "Why must everyone mock me!" "If you are Dogen, approach." "They say you are the finest ninja of Koga." "You are aware of the movements of the men of Iga here in Kyoto?" "You seek to test me." "You have a man of Iga named Gero Shobei here in your own house." "So you knew that?" "I am, after all, a ninja of Koga." "Well who is the better man, you or Gero Shobei?" "Milord, you are as those walnuts." "What do you mean?" "Round and round they turn in your hand until they are smooth enough to roll in any direction." "Such insolence!" "Kusunoki?" "Are you here?" "Kusunoki?" "Where are you?" "Milady!" "I'm sorry!" "Kisaru!" "A guest?" "Yes." "Someone of our land." "A very handsome man!" "But a bore." "You redden!" "Who is that?" "The Saint of the Bamboo." "The Saint of the Bamboo?" "Where?" "What are you doing there?" "Watching the bamboo... very closely." "I don't understand." "You need not." "Bamboo grows straight and tall." "You have not." "Yours is a handsome face, but an evil one." "Do you mock me?" "He will keep you talking all day." "Why did you betray Iga?" "!" "No!" "No!" "When will you marry me?" "One day." "Liar!" "I can see it in your face." "Why did you discard Iga, and me?" "I have dreams." "I have the wisdom and strength to make them come true." "I will not die a low-caste ninja." "If you won't have me, I'll kill you." "Isn't it Juzo you really want?" "He won't have me." "He cannot love." "Your face is red." "Whenever I think of him, I blush." "Ah, me!" "But my task now will not leave Juzo unscathed." "This is more than a mere contest between us." "Leave Kyoto until this is over." "Then be wife to whoever is left alive." "Do you hear me?" "Gohei!" "Not even Kisaru saw through his Saint's disguise..." "This is no laughing matter!" "The Master has betrayed us!" "When it comes to a daughter, he is still a father." "He is thinking of Kisaru." "He is our leader!" "He cannot have feelings of his own!" "To give his daughter to Gohei, our enemy..." "Enough!" "Firewood!" "Firewood for sale!" "Leave here, Juzo." "Master!" "This the work of Koga." "What?" "!" "Brutality like this can only be Dogen of Koga." "Marishiten Dogen..." "Who has set him against Iga?" "I do not know." "The only thing is to leave." "I will tell Sokyu." "March 1592 Hideyoshi leaves Kyoto for Nagoya." "Look!" "You can all but see the vigor of our soldiers!" "It is truly the sight of a lifetime!" "April 13, 1592" "Taking Pusan Castle, Japanese forces push north to the capital, Hansong." "No enemy can stand against their firearms and with the Korean people also in revolt against their king Hansong falls only 20 days later." "But by the early summer of 1592 the Japanese forces are over-extended and short of supplies." "...and resistance by the Korean people brings the advance to a halt." "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." "You did this..." "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?" "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!" "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!" "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."