Synopsis

During the reign of the third Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, a plague that only affects males spreads throughout the country, reducing the male population to just one-quarter of the female population. Iemitsu himself succumbs to this disease and dies young. Fearing the extinction of the Tokugawa bloodline, Kasuga no Tsubone disguises a girl as a male and secretly raises her as the shogun within Edo Castle’s Ooku. This girl (Iemitsu, played by Tabe Mikako) reaches the age of 16 when a beautiful monk named Arikoto arrives from Kyoto as the new head priest of Keikouin Temple to pay his respects.

 

Upon seeing Arikoto during his audience with the shogun, Kasuga no Tsubone becomes infatuated and confines Arikoto and his entourage. She forces Arikoto to return to secular life and become a page serving Shogun Iemitsu. After much anguish, Arikoto succumbs to Kasuga no Tsubone’s threats and returns to secular life together with his disciple, a young monk named Gyokuei, entering Edo Castle to serve in the Ooku.