Synopsis

Set in the seventh year of Ansei during the final days of the Tokugawa shogunate, the story follows Shimura Kingo, a Hikone domain samurai who served as a close attendant responsible for his lord Ii Naosuke‘s palanquin escort. When Ii is assassinated before his eyes at the Sakuradamon Gate incident, Kingo fails to prevent his master’s death.

 

Forbidden from committing seppuku and instead ordered to hunt down his lord’s killers, Kingo continues his relentless search for the assassins even as the era transitions from the Edo period to the Meiji Restoration. Eventually, Kingo tracks down Sahashi Jubei, the last surviving member of the Mito domain ronin who killed Ii, now living under the assumed name Naokichi and working as a rickshaw puller. However, on the very day Kingo finally locates his target, the Meiji government issues a decree banning private revenge killings.