Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai (燃えよ剣)

Hakodate, winter 1868 Near the Russian consulate

I was a Baragaki A wild child of the village

Baragaki, as in a thorny hedge Touch me, you'll get hurt

Isami used to call me “Toshi”

“What d'we do with dem sumabitches Toshi?” Always a thick country accent

Even when it was do or die

We lived near each other

Toshi, see dem sumabitches?

We'll teach 'em a lesson

In early summer, the air would—

Reek of snakes hiding in the bushes

Better get help

Always gotta shine, Gen

Always 'bout “the shine”

Just get Gon-zo The four of us can do that

The guys who just joined are Ryugo dojo

They'll strike our shins

Soji's right. We need shin guards

Damn right

Isami, our style's made for street fightin'

Let's do it

Bushu Tama included the shogun's own territory

We were farmers who answered directly to the shogun

We were proud

Naturally, more and more of us Started aping samurai

we rushed to learn swordsmanship

Every village had strong swordsmen

They took care of business if there was a dispute over water

No snakes for me, thank you very much

So dirty and slimy How can you even touch them?

Okita Soji was the only samurai among us by birth

He lost his father at three. At nine, he moved in to Tennen Rishin-ryu dojo

We met there. The kid followed us everywhere

Tennen Rishin-ryu was an unpolished fighting style

But nothing beat it in real fights

Isami, you focus on Gon-zo

I'll kill the sumabitch

The baragaki, always getting in fights, dreamed of becoming samurai

You sumabitches! This is our water!

Leave!

An' what if we don't!?

Y'get this, ya dumb-ass!

March 1860, Chief Councillor Ii was killed at the main gate of Edo Castle

The Tokugawa shogunate and its 300-year reign began to crumble

In Japan, when the shogunate weakens, the Mikado gains influence

Momentum shifted to Kyoto

And this emperor couldn't stomach “foreign savages”

We shall rename this era of our reign and, thus—

Purify our realm of the plague—

That hath tormented us since the arrival of the Black Ships

O, how I pray—

That the foreign savages in our ports—

Would vanish into thin air

That's when jo-i philosophy took off

Foreigners were killed everywhere

Here, Sis

Isami married Tsune, the daughter of a shogunate retainer

He eventually became the fourth head of our dojo

A good match

They lived in Edo

His dojo only had a few students. All commoners

Soon, though, legitimate samurai joined the dojo, drawn by his character

The well-rounded Yamanami

Master swordsman Pachi

Sano, any more sake?

Todo, the rumored bastard of a daimyo

Sano bragged about a seppuku attempt

They all came to Edo seeking action Our dojo became their base

Those savages are irritating just to look at

No wonder the emperor is despairing

Let us raise our flag of jo-/ We will restore Japan as the land of gods

Indeed. Kill the savages

We'll do it!

Right, Toshi?

Don't be a bore

Dance!

This is fun

I hate fads

I hated Yamanami and his 0- philosophy

Partly because of my teacher Honda Kakuan

Spring 1862, Bushu Tama

Thank you

Dr. Kakuan

Hi, Toshi

Thank you

Come on in

Thank you for today

Very well

Practicing, or selling medicine?

Both

How are things in Edo?

We keep getting more guests but no students

I have to practice in public to make ends meet

Lord Mito, an isolationist, approached the Mikado

Alliance of any lord with the court is forbidden

Thus, Lord Mito was forced into retirement, and the court—

Is being monitored by the shogunate

So, Mito men killed Chief Councillor Ii in retribution?

The shogunate will still open the country

It has no choice

America, Russia, England, France—

The Great Powers are too strong

Even the emperor does not want war

How will you live?

By my sword

Which is?

I'll spread Tennen Rishin-ryu with Isami

You're not a child

I'm a wild child—a baragaki/

The Battle of 1600 changed Japan

It's about to change again

Who will you fight?

You think I should kill the savages?

Idiot. The opposite

Don't kill them. Jo-/ is no good

Go to Kyoto, the center of change

Live by your sword

You win

baragaki!

Finish 'em! One more!

Sake!

Got it!

This medicine is from Is hid a village

Take Wt with a cup 0 hot sake Two days and you're better

Good for broken bones and bruises Buy yers now!

Buy yers now!

You're to give lessons

No students And the dojo stinks from all the miso

Nose pinched / Practice at dawn / In a pile of miso

What a bad poem

It sure is. What a bad poem

I wonder if our dojo's famous in Edo

There are countless schools 600 just within the city limits

Our school easily misses the top 50—

It's punch less in protected practice

We should go to Kyoto

- Toshi, you eta yin' at yer sister's? - Yep

- All right, I'll go see my folks - OK

I'll go if you go

Where?

To Kyoto

Neither of us knows our mother Our sisters—

Were our mothers

You visit women at night I hate the act

Not because I like it I'm building my manhood

Imagine how the women feel “building your manhood”

Hey, Toshi

See ya tonight?

I'm going back to Edo from here

Tonight's the Night Festival Come

No. I won't copulate like an animal

We were all like this ages ago

Mating with whomever you see You're animals

I need only one partner

As if there's a one

There is. Somewhere in Japan

See ya

Rokusha dojo

To know is to wander / To not is to find / The way of the sword

Uncle, there is an unmannered churl—

Peeking in

Apothecary?

This guy's a baragaki from Is hid a

A strong face

What school of sword?

Tennen Rishin-ryu

Practice with us

Next

Not yet!

Next

Next!

Toshi's here!

This is awful

We'll keep going

Yes, of course

Toshi!

Fighting again?

Too loud, Sis You're hurt in” my wounds

You only have a topknot because my husband is an official

Once a farmer, always a farmer Know your place

The British legation was attacked and burned again

The shogunate's losing face

We, the shogun's farmers, will hoist up the shogunate

Listen to yourself

You're a sex-crazed baragaki

They say he's a serious man

He's a tomcat

He slinks around womanizing in the shadows

Take a bamboo stick to ward off snakes There's lead inside

- Who are— - Hi, Rokusha

Wait, wait!

Who knew murder was so easy

Isami and I—even Soji—killed so many people

We wouldn't have killed so many had there been no Shinsengumi

And that Shinsengumi—

Would not have been had Lord Aizu not gone to Kyoto

Protector of Kyoto

Lord Shungaku, a proponent of opening Japan—

Became the fop administrator The boy shogun—

Was given a guardian, Lord Yoshinobu, who later became the /last shogun