"You must be joking!" "Get down!" "I see it!" "Take this!" "Take that!" "Forgive me, Rikichi..." "I won't be able to go with you to the capital..." "Samurai-sama..." "Your life... has been purchased." "You must... be joking..." "Being able to understand each other, and to share with each other, are both as short-lived as a bubble on the water." "Obscured by the sands of time, unable to hold on," "I gave up, until I saw you again, asking" ""How much pain have you been carrying, all alone?" "And how much loneliness is hidden behind your eyes when you smile?"" "Embrace this miracle of an encounter now," "By gazing upon each other, we can become stronger." "And if this isn't what you call love, then what is it you call love now?" "♪ When the golden ears of rice bow their heads, ♪" "♪ come on out, everyone, and bring your sickles. ♪" "♪ Grab a stalk, and harvest it. ♪" "♪ Then grab another stalk, and harvest it. ♪" "It's finally time, huh?" "Mm-hmm." "This is good." "Hey!" "Don't laugh at me!" "Nunky, you should give this up." "Listen, despite how it may look, I used to be a farmer!" "Back home, I was a quick-harvesting farmboy!" "Farmboy?" "Farmboy... you say?" "It's nothing really." "It's this sickle that doesn't work!" "The sickle!" "They're all too small for me!" "Nunky, you're just too big." "Yep." "Samurai-sama?" "We'll take care of this." "How come?" "Even if you used to be a farmer, that body of yours is made for fightin'." "It ain't made to be used for harvesting'." "Please, Samurai-sama." "At this pace, this is the only area that ain't gonna be finished." "Harvestin' the rice got put off so we could beat the bandits, so we'd like to get it done quickly." "Bummer." "Goro-noji, it sure is a nice day today." "Heh, I sure do hate farmers." "They say that our job here is done." "I bet you must hate having to lie there, too." "These farmer guys worry about nothing but their rice and the weather, same as always." "You may have died for nothing." "That's something for Gorobe-san to decide." "Yeah, but, this is too much, isn't it?" "I mean, Kanbe is being just like Kanbe." "He just up and left, without even offering a single stick of incense." "Everybody is acting so heartless!" "He will come back." "How do you know that?" "!" "He will come back." "He is a samurai, after all." "Say, what is a samurai?" "Look in the mirror." "You'll see a samurai." "Ready, set...!" "They're workin' well." "That's because they're working in teams." "Workin' in teams?" "Yes." "In order to fight the bandits, we divided the men into several teams." "They are still working in the same lineups that they were in up until yesterday." "The rhythm that they developed during their training seems to be coming in handy as they build their houses, as well." "The acumen that Hei-san has as a combat engineer is really shining through for them." "Pull!" "Pull!" "All right, next!" "Ready!" "Fire!" "Could Kanbe-dono have seen this far ahead, to leave you behind here?" "Yes." "Defeating the bandits was only the beginning." "Now that we are eating your rice, we will have to rebuild this village into a place where you can grow your rice without worry." "Forgive me for helping myself..." "Is that a book on war?" "The sense of loss is so great, I can't stand it." "I wanted so badly to have the smell of the battlefield." "Once upon a time, there were wars." "One war would end, and then another would start." "And then another war would start." "The days when one war would lead to another went on for many ages." "The wars gave rise to a culture, where one's entire life was about war." "It was an era when one's worth was determined by war." "Winning did not call for those who had weak bodies." "Those who had the means became machines, and became as large as their accomplishments would allow them to grow." "The size of their bodies was a mark of their success in life." "The size of their decorations was a mark of their authority." "Being a samurai was absolute." "One was not a man if he was not a samurai." "However, wars end." "There was nothing that remained for the people." "All that was left was scorched earth, broken houses, and sooty faces." "The culture had been lost." "The wars were necessary for the samurai to continue clinging to their power." "As long as there was war, the samurai were the favored children of the age." "Everyone wanted to be a samurai." "Even as they served the samurai, the ones who put an end to the wars were the ones who furnished the weapons for the wars, polishing their crafts, and becoming proficient at reading the times ahead." "They were called merchants." "Out of nothing, the merchants built cities, and erected houses." "They converted those sooty faces into smiling ones." "When the wars ended, the samurai became idle." "The more this tune played out, the more the times changed." "Here it is, the age of the merchant, and I become a samurai." "Why won't you let me see it?" "I am embarrassed." "Especially since I am the one who put you through these bitter experiences, Katsushiro-sama." "This book is a testament to my naïveté." "Don't blame yourself." "I chose to become a samurai of my own will." "You just set me on the path that I had to walk along." "Do not neglect your sword's care." "I've sharpened it for you." "Killing a man truly makes you a samurai." "What did you come here to do?" "To save the village..." "Then, see your task through to the end." "If you wish to be a samurai, you must strengthen your resolve to bear the sin of killing others." "We are just scarecrows, here to drive off the bandits that throng to the ears of rice." "Take up your sword, Katsushiro and eat your rice." "You will have to kill again." "I want to be proud of my choice to become a samurai." "Jump!" "I thought I told you to go home." "I was sure..." "I was sure that you would save me." "I believed it." "I have accepted that you have placed your resolve in my skill." "I will go to your village." "I shall not eat this rice uncaringly." "Oh, you're calling on me to be a multitude of reinforcements, then?" "It is a battle with utterly no chance of distinction or prize." "The only reward to speak of will be a full stomach." "Let's do it." "For better or worse, I survived through it, covered in dirt." "That's great." "To die is to lose, but to survive is to win." "Is that right?" "It's what I believe." "I'm most grateful." "By the way, how would you feel about cutting down forty or so bandits?" "♪ Bandits of the world..." "cut them, cut them, ♪" "♪ be cut by them, be cut by them, for naught... ♪" "I'll come with you." "It will be a difficult battle, and will earn you neither money nor land." "Right." "You could really die this time." "Sensei, really, go on ahead, please." "All I'm doing is slowing you down like this." "You're just trying to come across as heroic." "That's not my intent." "It's frustrating, isn't it, Katsushiro?" "That's good." "These people are also grateful to you." "That's what it takes to be a warrior." "You are the fifth." "Why..." "Kyuzo...?" "I wanted to try living." "You miserable fool...!" "Can I ask you to come with us?" "When do we leave?" "Right now." "He just weighed the differences between the samurai and the bandits, and chose the bandits." "The fact that I'm risking my life for people like this is laughable enough to make me cry." "But we samurai are going to carry through!" "We're going to cut down every last one of those bandits!" "That makes all seven of us." "This sense of loss" " I think I understand what Kyuzo-dono meant when he said he wanted to try living." "Katsushiro-sama..." "So, Kanna Village won, huh?" "Way to go, Kirara-kun!" "Begging your pardon, Young Lord, but it was the samurai who accomplished this, not the peasants." "Give her some credit!" "It was Kirara-kun that brought the samurai together." "Don't you think she knows how to pick them?" "According to our findings, their leader is a samurai named Kanbe." "It doesn't matter who it is." "After all, the important thing is that the peasants hired samurai to defeat the bandits." "Yes..." "Let the other villages know what happened, too." "Huh?" "Tell the other peasants that they have nothing to fear from the bandits anymore." "To what end?" "Look, just do as I tell you." "Young Lord..." "There is a rapidturtle from the capital." "Fine, come on in." "His Excellency has been relieved of his post in Kogakyo." "He is currently being charged for the murder of the imperial envoy, and is awaiting a decision as to how he is to be treated." "What?" "!" "Looks like Father had some tough luck." "Some are calling for the young lord to be nominated as the next minister over Kogakyo." "Nominations or not, I will be the next minister." "Could there be anyone else?" "Let me borrow your katana." "Huh?" "Stop saying "huh?" after every little thing!" "I beg your pardon." "Hey, everyone!" "Do you not want this?" "I'm sorry you have to be cooped up in a place like this." "I'll let you out of here right away." "Nunky, you've got a bite." "Look in the mirror." "You'll see a samurai." "What's the matter, groupie?" "What are you apologizing for?" "What is a samurai?" "That's what you are." "Nunky is lonesome, huh?" "How come?" "Because Kanbe isn't here." "Ah, that explains it." "Oh, shut up!" "But Nunky, you've been following Kanbe this whole time." "Have you forgotten my face?" "My name is Zaemon Yoshichika, the Peaceable." "For many years, I have sought to avenge my parents." "How fortunate for me that I should happen to meet you here." "As my foe, prepare yourself to come forward to cross me and my blade!" "Hey, hold on!" "Hey!" "Go to their village!" "You're the one who saved the girl." "Is that what you call a losing battle?" "!" "If you still won't go after that, then I will cut you down right here!" "When I give the signal, wind this up as fast as you can." "Oh." "I don't know what you're up to, but leave it to me!" "Withdraw!" "Kikuchiyo!" "No you don't!" "Guys!" "Make sure you save those farmers!" "Kikuchiyo, you come from a family of farmers, huh?" "Excuse me for being a farmer." "I thought that if I became a samurai, I'd have a little better time of it." "Fight hard." "Sure!" "You can count on me!" "Kanbe is the only one continuing the fight, and everyone else stayed behind." "Maybe he did stay behind, but Shichi-san and Hei-san told him to do some work." "Groupie used to be a farmer, so they meant for him to work in the village." "But Nunky can't even harvest rice." "Why did you throw that away?" "I quit!" "I quit!" "I'm a samurai!" "As a samurai, it's obvious what I should be doing!" "I..." "I sold my wife... to the bandits!" "What?" "Rikichi..." "Rikichi, what is your wife's name?" "Sanae." "Then I swear to you, we are going to rescue Sanae-dono." "How come?" "Then, does that mean the story about your family being killed was a lie?" "That was true." "But..." "But what?" "The bandits have my sister!" "Honoka-dono..." "We will reunite you with your sister." "All things considered, why did Sensei leave all alone?" "He's going to the capital." "It would be far too reckless to take the attack to them all by himself." "There's no reason why Kanbe-sama would do anything rash." "I think he has something in mind." "I think so, too." "Kyuzo-sama probably disappeared with the same idea." "He went along to finish what he and Sensei started." "Now that Sensei isn't here, there was nothing more for him to do." "That does sound like him." "The seven gods that dwell within the rice have all gone their separate ways." "Gods?" "Ah, I remember." "Have you ever heard of the tradition that says there are seven gods that dwell within the rice?" "Seven gods?" "Good rice has seven gods within it to protect it." "That's how gracious a blessing from heaven it is." "Rikichi!" "I'm going!" "I'm not about to let Kanbe be the only one who comes out looking heroic!" "Kikuchiyo-sama..." "You're going to rescue Sanae-dono?" "But the reason that Sensei left us behind here was so that the farmers could" "You've got to be thinking "give me a break" too, right?" "Are you a samurai?" "I am a samurai." "Then stop playing the good little boy!" "You know what the most samurai-like thing to do is!" "That bastard Kanbe is still treating us like we're less than men!" "Let's go save Rikichi's wife ourselves!" "We'll show that bearded jerk!" "You haven't had enough action yet, have you?" "!" "Kanbe-sama!" "What's the matter?" "Where are the others?" "How is Gorobe-sama doing?" "Gorobe... is dead." "I see." "Then Kanna Village has been..." "The bandits have been defeated." "Now, I will fulfill the oath I made to you." "As with Rikichi's wife, your sister is most likely in the capital." "The capital?" "The old man merely gazed off into the distance from the hideaway in which he lived." "The baby cries, seeking only for the warmth of his mother." "We are born paying the price for someone's punishment, for someone's sins, but there is no such thing as a future without salvation, and the present slips quietly into the past." "We string together nothing but hollow ideas, and tell nothing but hollow lies." "And as the rain falls down upon us, something appears and then fades away." "It's Okara." "The war has passed, and the sun is setting." "The samurai are going off in all directions." "Kanbe went to go rescue Rikichi's wife." "Shichi-don' and Hei-don' are on village reconstruction duty." "Katsu-noji and Kiku-noji were left empty-handed." "Maybe the way Kanbe sees it is that the happy-go-lucky Katsu-noji and the former farmer Kiku-noji have had their fill of dreams of being samurai, and out of concern, he's telling them to go back to their former lives." "But that would be kind of a cruel thing to do." "Those guys have gotten a taste of being samurai." "What's more, they're still kids." "Kids are infatuated with the city, and with Kanbe-sensei going to the city alone, it's no wonder they'd be mad at him." "There's no telling what those two are going to do." "Those guys really need me along with them, the whole lot of them!" "Well, that's it for my part." "I'm going back to the rice paddies."