Ito tries to kick up one of her geta (a kind of Japanese footwear) into the air to decide whether she should marry Shigekatsu or not (*). But it hits the head of Kichinosuke in Kōtsuki River. Kichinosuke gives his zori to her who loses one of her geta but it's too big. At last he carries her on his back and visits the Ōkubo family to give the eels he caught. And he makes a pair of zori for Ito. She still hesitates to marry EBIHARA Shigekatsu and Ōkubo Shōsuke loves her secretly. But he learns she loves Kichinosuke later.
Kichinosuke (Ryōhei Suzuki, left) participates in the sumo tournament
At that time, MURATA Shinpachi participates the sumo tournament held at Iso Goten in the presence of SHIMAZU Nariakira. But he is replaced by Kichinosuke because he has stomach trouble. Though Kichinosuke is not registered as a wrestler for the tournament, Nariakira permits it. O-Ichi (later Atsu hime) who is an adopted daughter of Nariakira cheers him up. Kichinosuke has a winning streak and meets Shigekatsu who injures his ankle but Kichinosuke beats him using a direct and fair attack.
Then Nariakira gets up from his seat and wrestle with him. Kichinosuke then beats him so he is imprisoned and sees a strange man and another man tries to kill him. He then saves the strange man and escape from the prison with him. To tell the truth, it's Nariakira who planned his imprisonment and escape with the strange man. Just as planned, Kichinosuke brings the strange man who wears Wertern clothes and speaks English. He is called John Manjirō (*) who was a fisherman and was rescued by an American ship in his teenage days.
In the prison, Kichinosuke (left) finds a strange man who is called John Manjirō (Gekidan Hitori)
He is from Tosa (Kōⅽhi) and was brought to the US and spent his days there. However he returned to Japan secretly to meet his mother. Manjirō who becomes to open his mind to the Saigō family and Shōsuke tells that in the US man and woman can marry the one whom he or she loves without the arrangement by his or her parents. It suprises Kichinosuke and Shōsuke. Shōsuke tells Kichinosuke to ask Ito not to marry Shigekatsu. But Kichinosuke is ignorant of the feeling of Ito. And he is told by his father Kichibei to marry Ijūin Suga.
Ito (Haru Kuroki, left) tells Kichinosuke that she has had a feeling of liking for him since her childhood
Though Ito loves Kichinosuke secretly, she marries Shigekatsu and Kichinosuke marries Suga in spite of the effort of Shōsuke. At that time, not only in Satsuma but in Japan also, marrying the one whom a man or a woman loves was not common unlike in the US. Ito tells Kichinosuke that she has had a feeling of liking for him since her childhood. Needless to say, the scenes may be fictional and other plans are progressing behind the scenes.
I'll write about the plans next time.
(*) A kind of divination or child's play.
(**) After having returned to Tosa (Kōchi), he called himself NAKAHAMA Manjirō and served the shogunate.
The images are from the official website of "Segodon".