Knightly Advice (天下の御意見番)

TOEI COMPANY LTD.

~ TENKA NO GOIKEN BAN ~

Screenplay Planning Hideo OGUNI Junichiro TAMAKI . Jishin NAKAMURA

CAST

Chiezo KATAOKA

Ryunosuke TSUKIGATA

Hiroki Satomi Kinya MATSUKATA OKA KITAOJI

Eitaro OZAWA, Kensaku HARA, Jotaro TOGAMI, Shin TOKUDAIJI, Kantaro SUGA, Masao MISHIMA

Akashi USHIO Sounosuke SAWAMURA Ryuji KITA Koinosuke ONOE Harue AKAGI Ryosuke KAGAWA Kyomi SAKURA Kyonosuke NANGO

Kenji Isao Isao SUSUKIDA KIMURA YAMAGATA

Utaemon ICHIKAWA

DIRECTOR Sadatsugu MATSUDA

This incident happened...

at 7 am, January 2nd, Kannei 6 (1629)...

in front of Edo Castle's main gate.

On January 1, the Shogun's relatives and liege lords...

had paid their New Year's respects.

And today was the non-liege lords and Shogun's knights turn.

Hurry. I musn't be late for the ceremony.

Yes, but there are others ahead of us, Sir.

It's just a lowly Shogun's knight. Go ahead of him.

How dare you. This is Samezu's procession.

Who are you?

I am Lord Horio Inaba. You're just a knight.

How dare you!

Horio Inaba?

You came over to the Shogun's side betraying your former lord, Toyotomi.

I hear you are despised by everyone.

Oh, you stink.

How dare you come to the castle smelling like this?

Go home and take a bath.

The knights have been acting deplorably.

To set an example, we should punish Samezu severely.

Let's put them both under house arrest for three days.

That's too lenient.

The non-liege lords will not like it.

But if we punish Samezu, the knights will revolt.

I, Honda, will take care of this matter.

The non-liege lords and Shogun's knights were treated very differently.

In the case of the non-liege lords...

The Shogun approaches.

Lord Shimazu...

I bid you a Happy New Year.

Happy New Year.

Lord Shimazu presents a sword and a horse.

The Shogun gives him a set of saké cups.

The non-liege lords are permitted to talk to the Shogun personally.

This is called the Individual Greeting...

I accept it with great gratitude.

In contrast, for the Shogun's Knights...

The Shogun approaches.

We all wish you a Happy New Year, Sire.

Happy New Year.

Thank you for your generosity.

This was it. No fuss, no time.

The Shogun does not even sit down. This was called the Passing Greeting.

They had to gratefully receive the saké that the Shogun had not even touched.

Thank you for the saké, Shogun Ieyasu.

Oh, no. I've had quite enough.

Oh, you say one more cup?

Then this is it. This is the last one.

Oh, no. I can't. I can't.

Sir, you always make me drink too much...

trying to make me look foolish.

If I drink more, I may fall into the moat.

Oh, the moat... that reminds me.

Speaking about the knights...

Today in front of the main castle gate there was an incident that gratified us...

Big News! Big, big news!

- Hey, watch out! - Oh, sorry.

Stop acting like our lord.

What? Did the cat steal a fish?

No.

Wait.

Stop. Wait.

You can't barg in like this.

Just watch me.

Boss!

Big news.

Big news?

Not a cat stealing a fish?

It's Juzaemon Samezu's punishment.

Three days house arrest for both Samezu and Horio.

Since they fought on the castle grounds, that's fair, I think.

Oh, you don't know a thing.

That was this morning.

Just now his confinment became 50 days and his territory will be confiscated.

And Horio?

After three days house arrest, he's free. The 80,000 Shogun's knights are furious.

Prepare my horse, Kinai!

SAMEZU

I am Okubo. I have urgent business with Samezu. Let me pass.

No, Sir.

He is confined. Even you may not see him.

Oh, look a falling star! An omen of something bad!

Don't be hasty.

Juzaemon.

What?

This is the will of our first Shogun. Listen carefully.

The first Shogun Ieyasu appeared in my dream and told me...

you disagreed with the verdict...

and proposed to commit seppuku.

"It would shame the Shogun's clan to lose a loyal vassal like Juzaemon", he said.

He told me to hurry and stop you.

Everyone!

Hold on a second.

Please...

I said please!

Please, Sir Jinjuro.

Don't 'sir' me.

I'm not a sir.

Then prince?

Not even close.

Please pay attention.

I'll call you anything you want.

Anything? If I get my license...

I'd be Lord Kagazume Kai Jinjuro.

But the way I'm going, I'll never get a license.

As the pop song goes... "who goes there in the night"?

"Is it Kagazume Kai, a stray dog or Sanjuro Sakabe?"

A pop song shouldn't lie.

I, Sakabe, never prowl around at night.

That's true. He's always in bed with a prostitute.

I'm not here to stop you all from attacking the Horio mansion.

If I could, I'd go with you.

But I'm just asking you to wait till my boss gets here.

Tasuke. Do you know why we are called the 6th Law?

Sure. There are five laws of the land; you're the sixth.

You go outside the law to put things right.

That's right. They call us stray dogs and we've done our share as outlaws.

But tonight, we can take action for justice and a good cause.

Can't let the old man talk us out of it.

Sir Okubo is here.

He's here?

Hey Boss.

You're all here.

You all look ready for a fight.

Hey, you. Put your back into it.

Oh, it's you, Hanzo. Can't kill a fly like that.

Your father was famous as Hanzo, the Spear.

If you want to put a hole in Horio... this is how.

The Shogun's clan won over Lord Toyotomi because we sided with him.

But now we're baggage.

So they ridicule us and call us non-liege lords.

This third shogun is a small fry.

I want that in writing.

Sirs, Councilor Takeuchi is here on behalf of Sir Honda.

Call him in.

In 1576 at age 16, I accompanied Lord Ieyasu, the first Shogun to be...

to my first battle at Nagashino.

I killed the enemy general, Wada.

Since then I've been in 66 battles.

I have 88 wounds on my body to prove it.

I will never forget the battle of Sumonjiyama.

That day I was wearing...

an armor without a helmet... just a bandana.

My banner was brown with white lettering.

With a sword in my belt and a spear in my hand

I rode on a silver saddle on a brown horse.

I was a sight to behold... and called out to everyone...

"Come see this courageous warrior".

They can't see a thing if they're sleeping.

Old man.

Your cunning plot has succeeded.

Plot?

Just look... there'll be no raid on Inaba tonight.

So. No night raid?

But you haven't heard the last of this.

Fool! Do you think I'm satisfied with this?

I was appointed by the first Shogun as the Shogun's Advisor.

Looking good, Boss!

Sir Hikozaemon Okubo is here.

I, Okubo, have come to see the Shogun.

Please tell his secretary that I am here.

Sire, does Okubo still come to see you?

I'm worried... He hasn't been around lately.

He doesn't come to advise you?

He's getting old. Perhaps he's not up to it.

If he does come... he's stubborn and righteous.

I too know... how righteous he can be.

You, too, Uncle?

Yes.

But when he doesn't come, I worry that he may be ill.

He will appreciate your kind thoughts.

Lord Honda...

Tell Okubo what the Shogun said.

Tell him to come see the Shogun.

Since the Shogun wishes to see him...

we can't block Okubo from seeing him much longer.

But he's here to plead Samezu's case.

If the Shogun pardons Samezu, we councilors will be humiliated.

Our humiliation is beside the point.

Our priority is peace for our country.

If non-liege lords decide to take up arms...

Lord Izu, you are a renowned strategist...

What are your thoughts?

Councilor Lord Izu is here to see you.

Good evening. I see that you are working late.

I simply do... what my job requires of me.

But why are you here so late at night?