Hana yori mo naho (Hana) (花よりもなほ)

In the year 1701, in a royal hallway of Edo castle,

Lord Akou assaulted Kira, a nobleman, with his sword!

Lord Akou was made to commit hara-kiri

as his vassals scattered as ronin, disguised as merchants and doctors...

Our story begins one year later, in a poor neighbourhood in Edo

By this winter morning,

sword fighting has blown out of fashion with the wind

For Rent

Wake up!

Morning time... Wake up!

Quick, wash your face and get down to the fish market

Let me sleep a little longer, Onobu...

You took the day off yesterday

The sun's already up!

Hurry up! I'll leave you behind

All this noise every damned morning

Please let me escape this dump

Is master Soza up and about?

What's your business with him? I'm sure you're up to no good

Do you have to put it like that? He needs my advice, that's all

Hurry, Pa, or they'll close the fish market

I'm taking the day off

You took the day off yesterday

What are you still doing in bed?

Good morning, Osae san

Already off?

The weather's so fine, I'll deliver the sewing I've finished

Good for you Off you go

Did you hear that?!

Who cares

Ouch! What the hell

Can't be helped in such close quarters...

Watch yourself

How's things?

You know they're never good

Right

At this rate, I'll never get Onobu to marry me

Fool, you know Onobu's going to marry me

There you go again

Later

HANA

I envy you

If your revenge plan goes well,

you'll be a rich and respected man

You can leave this seedy life behind

Lucky your father left you a score to settle

My father died peacefully that's no use at all

Hirano san, where to, today?

To the castle

Oh, to see your friend, the retainer?

Enough of that ingrate

I've got a relative who's assigned to the study in Edo castle

I am off to petition him for an official post

A good position in contact with the Shogun

I once did this man a favor...

Off already?

I must be on my way

Hey, ronin If you want the castle, it's this-a-way

Excuse me

You heard? He knows one of the government retainers

And has a relative in the castle study

Oh, no, the tale keeps getting taller and taller

I found him, your enemy

Not, again...

This time, I swear it's him

The water's perfect

I know another guy...

"Height 175cm, fair skin with regular teeth

WANTED

Ah, the marked cheek is on his face, not his backside...

Yes

Age?

Thirty

Thirty...

Much older looking since I last saw him...

Don't lose heart, Soza

Finding a man in Edo's sprawl is like winning the lottery

It could take 10 years, no, 20...

Hey, sis, another sake

Patience...

But he's the right height, right?

I'll go over it once more so listen well

Our shit fertilizes the rice paddies and fields

That's why the farmer pays money to buy it from the rich landlord,

who owns this tenement

And that money pays for New Year's rice cakes for all of us

You mean, rice cakes come from shit?

Well, not quite, but you're not far off, either

Useless, it's damp!

That's a fine sum Don't be stingy with those rice cakes

Save that line for when you've paid your rent

And I don't recall letting a room to that prancing idiot beside you

I'll work hard for lots of rice cakes next year

Yeah, let's do that

Despite the passage of time you've yet to avenge your father

Our entire family struggles to sustain itself

My frugal housekeeping permits me to forward this sum,

but alas, there is no more...

The samurai goes to the bath house daily,

thanks to money made off peasants' backs...

I bet... You've never killed a soul

Just like you've never used that sword against anyone

How the hell are you ever going to avenge your father?

“How the hell..."

I'll strike him with all my might and if that's not sufficient,

I'll take my life gracefully just like the cherry blossoms

That's the Warrior's way of death

This, my father taught me

One rainy night last spring,

the man who lived here, was ruined and decided to end it all

He got as far as slashing his wife's throat,

but then his only kid

turned on him and stabbed him

Hearing the noise I rushed over, this place was a sea of blood

Right about where you're sitting now...

The old man was bleeding to death, guts spurting

I wouldn't call that graceful...

I'd call it a massacre

That's what a man's death means

Don't talk about living and dying,

without being ready for the worst

Good morning, Soza san

Good morning

Are you going out?

Just to the toilet You, Osae san?

We're going to pray at the shrine You should come, Soza san

No, Shinnosuke

He's a busy man

Mother

Good day

Good day

What did you pray for?

That I may find my enemy soon

Mother?

That you may stay a sweet-natured boy

And you?

That Father will return safely

How can one god answer so many prayers?

Come here, come here and buy

Take a look at these toys, very popular!

I've got every kind

We go this-a-way, we go that-a-way

My husband died of a lung disease

when our boy was only two

Today is his monthly anniversary

I see...

Time keeps passing by and I haven't yet told him the truth

What does that say?

No tabs

What's a tab?

A tab? A tab means...

You want to eat now but pay later

Sada san's always asking for that

Actually, he never, ever pays his tabs, so we call

someone like him "a deadbeat"

How do you write “run out on debts?"

“Deadbeat?”

The way you write it...

You write "step out"...

with "on your debts"

means “run out"

Let's try that again

Abacus and Writing Lessons Clear the abacus for the next calculation...

Abacus and Writing Lessons

That's 7 pence

Eight pence

Five pence

Two pence

Three pence

If you're going to teach, why not teach swordfighting?

What's the point in a world with no more war? Idiot

But a samurai teaching the abacus?

Got nothing to do with avenging...

As they say, “Hunger is a terrible master..."

"Hunger's the master"

The point is, a man

doesn't need to read if he's got the guts to fight

As they say here, “Only the countrymen keep their money"

We spend our money as soon as we make it. Who needs calculations?

You're not even from around here

You're in the way, move

What do you want in there?

Soza san to teach me how to write

You, too?

At least I'll learn how to write my own name

You have no guts You should learn, too

Damn it

"My own name" my ass!

I'll never write a single word, until the day I die

Everyone finished?

Can you believe Kenbo's learning to write?

He's smart

and good looking

Good bye

See you tomorrow

Clinic

Isn't he going to inherit the martial arts academy?

Yes, his father was a grand fencing master

A samurai teaching kids to write...

It's not right