the hidden blade

had much to do but never thought i would actually spend a night before the tv.

it was a thought provoking programme, the Hidden Blade.

It talks about the samurai during the Edo period, where reformation was happening, guns were being introduced in Japan.
The cultural shock and the moods of the samurai... The man, Katagiri, was an honorable samurai who cared for others.

I caught the show as he went to rescue a girl. The girl used to work for his family, but ws married to a man who was to take good care of her. She was, however, mistreated by the mother-in-law, who ordered her to work ceaselessly till she fell ill. Even then, she was denied medical care.

He brought her to his home and got people to care for him till she was well. She then stayed on to serve as his maid. And the townsfolk started to gossip and he was minded by his friend to send her home. Which he reluctantly did.

He later received news that his friend, who was tutored in the way of the sword together with him, Hazamon, had conspired to overthrow the corrupt government.

Hazamon was incacerated while his co-conspirators were ordered to commit seppuku... ritual suicide.

Hazamon escaped and wrote a letter to his wife and the feudal lord, to the former, to commit suicide, to the latter, a challenge to the death.

Predictably, he was ordered to kill his friend, Hazamon. He went to seek his tutor, who had retired to be a farmer, who advised him about how to deal with Hazamon.

The wife of the doomed friend showed up, asking for mercy for the husband, which Katagiri cannot accede to, as Hazamon seeks to kill the fuedal lord or death. She highlighted to him that Hazamon was the best swordsman in the region, that if he lived, Katagiri would have advantage if Hazamon was in his debt. Katagiri, as a samurai, had to obey his lord.

She offered her body, which shocked him and he refused emphatetically refused. She then stated her intention to seek the fuedal lord for mercy towards her husband. Katagiri was shocked and iterated about the despicable nature of the lord. She did not heed his advice and went anyway.

in the showdown, Hazamon indeed had the upper hand, even though he was emaciated through starvation. Katagiri, however, won through his teacher's teaching. However, as he was trying to talk to Hazamon in a final plea, the riflemen under the instructions of the fuedal lord killed the rebel.

The wife showed up and was told the Katagiri did not receive word to spare the husband, even though the lord promised to do so.

Durinbg the report to the lord, he stated that she did visit him to ask for mercy for her husband. He refused her, but as she offered her body if the lord would spare her husband, he took advantaged of her beauty and bragged that she enjoyed herself to the fullest, even though she knew it was impossible that he would spare the husband.

the wife later committed suicide by slitting her own throat.

The friend, Katagiri, avenged them by assassinating the lord with a weapon that did not draw blood, stabbing him in the heart. The death was classified as supernatural death, as the doctor could not identify how the lord died.

The samurai later resigned from his post and went to a remote village to start a business... but along the way, he went to see his 'ex-maid' and asked for her hand in marriage. She asked if it was his command and when he said yea, she coyly assented.

it ws a good movie.