ベイカー寮221B／Baker House 221B

After the Honnoji Incident, AKECHI Mitsuhide is defeated by HASHIBA Hideyoshi. TOKUGAWA Ieyasu knows it on his way to support Hideyoshi. Then he plans to invade the territory of Nobunaga and opposes the Hojo clan. O-Towa thinks to take Jinen to a hidden village but Manchiyo appears and tells her to hand over the boy to him. And O-Dai no kata, who also appears there (*) orders her to do so. But O-Towa and Ketsuzan resuse their request and tell them he is a son of Nobunaga. Besides they show a tea cup given by Nobunaga before and says it's in return to look after him. After that he becomes a monk and O-Towa still lives Ii-no-ya to take care of unfortunate people though many of her relatives left there. But she becomes to have a fit of coughing occasionally.


O-Towa visits Kondo Yasumochi and tells him to continue to have a relationship with him but becomes ill and is forced to be laid up with it. Nankei tells her that her cold gets worse and she tells him that she hopes to survive and see that Japan is united under the flag of Ieyasu and the Ii clan will unite under their flag again. One night she who cannot sleep hears the sound of a flute sound and goes to the well of Ryugu-kozo. There she finds young Naochika (Kamenojo) and Masatsugu (Tsurumaru). And young Ryuunmaru (**) appears there. They offer her who is also a girl now to join them. But she says she still has something to do more and then stopped by a man in yellow clothes (Ryugo-kozo?).  


Next morning Koten brings sake to the well and finds O-Towa dead. Koten knows that she suffers tuberculosis. There is a flute by the side of her and it is the one Manchiyo searched in the headquarter of Ieyasu. In her funeral, Nankei doesn't chant sutra for her because the order goes wrong. Her coffin is brought to a hidden village. Then Nankei gives Manchiyo a white stone of go to him and tells him never forget the spirit of the Iis. Then Manchiyo negotiates with the Hojo clan well and celebrates his genpuku at last. He calls himself Naomasa and many samurais concerned with the Iis rally round him. Takase gets married  and Naomasa distinguishes himself in the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute. The Ii clan becomes one of great daimyos under the Tokugawa shogunate (***).


The series finished last Sunday and I will write about "Sego-don", Taiga Drama series in 2018 in addition to other series includes "Furin Kazan" next year. Anyway this series seems to be far from what Taiga Drama series should be.

I will upload about what I felt or thought about the series later - maybe after Christmas.

(*) She appears there suddenly and it is not clear how she comes there.
(**) Needless to say, O-Towa gets to knows Ryuunmaru as an adult man and it's impossible for her to recognise him in his childhood. In the episode, the ship he goes aboard as interpreter wrecks and it kills him when O-Towa meets Kamenojo and Tsurumaru.
(***) Ii Naomasa was wounded in the Battle of Sekigahara and died of it in 1602.

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TOKUGAWA Ieyasu is informed that ODA Nobunaga will visit him on his way from Kai to Azuchi. Ieyasu then maintain roads, dams up a stream, and shows him sumo matches during his stay. Though the entertainment costs money, he is so satisfied with it and plans to invite him and his vassals to Azuchi castle to return a courtesy. But it means the defense of his territory become to be vulnerable. And IMAGAWA Ujizane also visits Ieyasu to meet Nobunaga to thank him the destruction of the Takeda clan but he has another reason. 

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The page who planned to assassinate TOKUGAWA Ieyasu is related to a vassal of Nobuyasu. So his vassals are ordered to live in their fiefs, not to live in the castletown around Okazaki Castle as punishment. Then Nobuyasu decides to achieve a military exploit to clear his name though SAKAI Tadatsugu is not keen to permit him. In Hamamatsu, one of the concubines of Ieyasu gives birth to a son and Manchiyo is sent to Okazaki Castle to tell it to Nobuyasu and Sena.  Sena feels unsafe because Nobuyasu has not had his heir yet. She searches a concubine for him and sends a letter to O-Towa about it. At the same time SETO Hokyu informs her about Ieyasu's new son. However, Toku hime, wife of Nobuyasu writes about the behaviour of Sena to her father ODA Nobunaga.


Then AKECHI Mitsuhide, one of Nobunaga's vassals is sent to Okazaki Castle and recommends Nobuyasu to receive the official rank from the emperor to give consequence to himself. But he refuses it politely because he feels something suspicious from his words. After that Tadatsugu visits Nobunaga in newly constructed Azuchi Castle but is pressured by Nobunaga and Mitsuhide by showing the evidence that Nobuyasu communicates with the Takeda clan secretly. And his concubine is a daughter of former vassal of TAKEDA Katsuyori. Ieyasu worries about it but his mother O-Dai no kata who visits him tells him to kill Nobuyasu.


One day Nankei and O-towa who wears nun's hood visit Sena to pray for safe childbirth. She wonders that O-Towa has returned to secular life wearing the hood is convenient for her when she goes to somewhere. At that time, somebody make a noise outside. They see Ieyasu accompanied by Manchiyo and Manpuku there. And SAKAKIBARA Yasumasa is there also and declares that Nobuyasu will be executed because of commnucating with the Takedas. HIRAIWA Chikayoshi, moriyaku (tutor) of Nobuyasu asks Yasumasa to sacrifice himself for Nobuyasu but in vain. And IMAGAWA Ujimasu receives a secret letter from MATSUSHITA Jokei. The letter on a fan is invisible writing but can be revealed by applying heat. It's the request for cooperation from the Tokugawas. 


(*) It seems that she is an oppotunist.
(**) In reality, so-called aburidashi, revealing invisible words or pictures by applying heat is said to have become common under Tokugawa shogunate.

The images are from the official website of "Onna Joshu Naotora"

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By the well of Ryugu-kozo, O-Towa opposes Manchiyo who says that he could take back Ii-no-ya. But she does not accept it and says what he does is senseless. He gets angry and tells her that she always shirk her duty as former ruler. O-Towa becomes obstinate and declares that she never allows him to take over the Ii clan. Then she returns to the temple and talks about her old days. Soon after Yuchinni dies leaving the letters to whom she knows behind. In Hamamatsu Castle, Manchiyo becomes a vassal and shows his scar caused some vassals that he promoted himself by this, not pederasty. At the same time, there is a shadow over Sena and her son Nobuyasu.

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Manchiyo and Manpuku become pages though their colleagues ignore them. And Nobu is so busy with dealing with the vassals who rush into the castle for their rewards. Manchiyo gives them pieces of paper and asks them to write their names on them. Besides he recommends TOKUGAWA Ieyasu to try his medicine who concerns about his health and then organises the data of the exploits of his vassals. But his behavior makes other pages except Manpuku think that there is a “special” relationship between Ieyasu and him.


O-Towa is told by Jinbei that logging woods for the battle caused a landslide. She asks KONDO Yasumochi to plant trees to prevent landslide and says if he realises it, he will leave his name to posterity. MATSUSHITA Jokei tells Manchiyo about it when he visits Hamamatsu Castle and then he explains how to plant trees with a diagram (*). Instead he receives medicines from Ii-no-ya and a cake of soap from SETO Hokyu. Though being harassed by his colleagues, he declares that he wins Ieyasu's favour and brings the medicine to him. He accepts it saying that he believes the Ii clan. And then he is dispatched to Okazaki Castle with the soap.


Though the vassals in Okazaki Castle didn’t distinguished themselves in the battle, they served as mediator between the Tokugawa clan and the Oda clan. Nobuyasu, heir of Ieyasu and lord of the castle says that he doesn’t mind if they are not well rewarded and Sena is delighted with the soap imported from Europe. And O-Towa, OKUYAMA Rokuzaemon, NAKANO Naoyuki and the villagers of Ii-no-ya plant young pines on the mountain slope. Jinbei seems to be happy with the work. And three years later, the trees grow to a height of one metre but Jinbei has passed away at that time. Then Natsu visits Ryotanji temple that she decided to become a nun.


It seems this series is far from what the Taiga Drama series should be.  I will write about it after the broadcast of the final episode in mid-December.

(*) In reality, systematic tree planting started under Tokugawa shogunate, not in this period.

The images are from the official website of "Onna Joshu Naotora".

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O-Towa visits the well of Ryugu-kozo and prays for TOKUGAWA Ieyasu's winning the battle. There she finds Nankei who drinks sake secretly and tells her that Toramatsu (Manchiyo) will participate in a battle soon. At that time, Manchiyo, Manpuku and Nobu make a new shoe box but then Manchiyo is ordered to take care of the arms in Okazaki Castle. And in Shitaragahara, the major battlefield of the Battle of Nagashino, Tokugawa Nobuyasu is given a tenmoku, a kind of tea bowl by ODA Nobunaga but he refuses it.


The vassals of Ieyasu and Nobuyasu get anger that Nobunaga ignores the Tokugawas and decides everything on his own authority. And OKUYAMA Rokuzaemon and NAKANO Naoyuki, who now serves KONDO Yasumochi and make umase, a kind of frise de chevaux for the Tokugawa Army. As they are short of woods, they log a forest near them without permission. Then TAKEDA Katsuyori, general of the Takeda Army is taken in by SAKAI Tadatsugu and he is badly defeated in the battle. In it, he loses many vassals and it weakens the power of his clan.

 
Ieyasu decides to attack the rulers in Totomi who take the side of Takedas and the pages in Okazaki Castle supply the arms. But a page called Kogoro steals Manchiyo's thunder and it offends Manchiyo but Nobu tells him to use this experience as a springboard to be promoted to a higher position. After that he is called by Ieyasu who returns to Okazaki and thinks it's pederasty (*) though Ieyasu plans to praise him because he knows everything. In Ii-no-ya, O-Towa sees a tenmoku tea bowl that is given to Rokuzaemon and Naoyuki and is surprised at its value. Then she goes to Nagashino with Ketsuzan and they chant a sutra for the dead.


It is strange that nobody takes the care of the arms in Okazaki Castle regularly in this period.

(*) Some of daimyos in this period are said to have intersted in pederasty.
(**) The bowl is said to be worth a castle in the episode.

The images are from the official website of "Onna Joshu Naotora".

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A middle age man called Nobu joins Manchiyo and Manpuku but he is HONDA Masanobu, falconer of Ieyasu in reality. He once betrayed TOKUGAWA Ieyasu and participated in ikko-ikki (*) until a while ago and is disliked by HONDA Tadakatsu though they are from the same clan. Nobu is a slow worker at first and it makes Manchiyo angry but Manpuku is close to him. And in Ii-no-ya, MATSUSHITA Gentaro decides to adopt NAKANO Naohisa because Toramatsu (Manchiyo) returned to the Ii Family.


In April 1575, TAKEDA Katsuyori takes up arms and Manchiyo hopes to participate in the battle. He plays cheap tricks to approach Ieyasu but he penetrates his wiles. And Nobu gets the knack of his work and becomes to place zoris in front of the vassals timely. One day OKUBO Tadayo, one of the vassals who doesn't appear the entrance at the usual time. He worries about preparing wood for umase, a kind of chavel de frise used in battlefield and Manchiyo offers his help to Tadayo to realise his wish to join the battle.


Manchiyo thinks that he can provide the wood from Ii-no-ya but there is ruled by KONDO Yasumochi now. O-Towa apologises to Ieyasu about it in her letter and then Ieyasu orders Yasumochi to provide the wood. And OKUYAMA Rokuzaemon, who now serves Yasumochi directs logging. Though he is not thought well by Yasumochi because of the dullness, he is eager to distinguish himself. So he seems to be so happy at the cutting site. But Manchiyo is ordered to remain in the castle and  he loses his control and shouts "That rotten nun!* Hang it all!" 


I think Manchiyo is too emotional while Manpuku is calm.

(*) Needless to say, it's O-Towa though she is not a priest now.
(**) The uprising of the believers of Jodo Shinshu, one of the schools of Buddhism in the 16th century Japan.
(***) It reminds me of SANADA Daisuke who compares go board to battlefield in "Sanada Maru".

The images are from the official website of "Onna Joshu Naotora".

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