1864
With Japan now open to foreign trade,
some seek to end the Shogun's rule
and restore the Emperor's authority.
Ambitions swirl together with ideals.
Opposing factions face each other.
Fighting spreads through the land.
Trouble!
There's trouble!
Damn!
There's trouble!
KYOTO TSUSHIMA DOMAIN RESIDENCE
Open the gate! It's Hirata!
Quick!
So you made it, Hirata?
We're having a hard time making this man talk.
Was it him?
The one who attacked our men and cut off your arm?
It was dark.
Where did you find him?
He was wandering around outside last night.
Then it's not him.
That guy had a nasty look. A very dangerous character.
He'd have been harder to take.
I bear you no ill,
but for the new age…
What?
You must all die.
No!
My ear!
Someone!
Help!
Get him!
Anyone! Help!
It hurts.
A demon!
It's a demon!
Damn you!
You bastard! Who are you?
Soji.
The pro-shogun Tsushimas are dead.
Meaning now the Tsushimas are anti-shogun, Mr. Kondo?
Lord Katsui!
Describe the man.
All these men, in a flash.
You don't need to ask, Mr. Saito. It was Battosai the Killer.
Cold-blooded, emotionless. A killing machine.
Can you believe this guy is getting married in these crazy times?
Sorry!
Oh, why not?
He's a happy guy.
I'm jealous.
APRIL 5TH, KYOTO
SHIGEKURA DOMAIN RESIDENCE
Who's there?
Inspector Jubei Shigekura, I assume?
Who's there? State your name!
-Hey! -You're Battosai?
Bastard!
You Choshu rebel!
I don't want to die.
I can't die now. I can't.
There's someone I care for.
I can't die now!
There's someone I love!
I don't want to die!
I can't die!
I can't…
There's someone I love.
JUSTIFICATION FOR EXECUTION
KOHAGIYA INN
There are still lots of Shogunate men, even without the Tsushimas.
It'll be a while before we Choshu men can show our faces again.
But one day we will rule.
With swords in hand,
we'll show them who's loyal!
Yes!
But we have to be careful!
We'll take back what we've lost!
Step back!
-Stop Aizu and Satsuma! -We can't accept this!
-The Emperor will listen! -That's right!
What's all this noise?
Quiet down!
Here he is.
Been a while, Himura.
What's that cut?
A Shigekura man.
I see.
He must have been good to score a hit on you.
Not so much that.
He had a strong will to live.
After all the men you've killed, you're still not used to it?
Why did you call me here, Mr. Katsura?
Hey!
How dare you take that tone!
I've killed a hundred in six months.
I can hide, but one day the Shogun's men will find me.
I shouldn't be seen around here.
Then I'll make it short.
The Shogunate forces grow stronger by the day.
Especially the "Wolves of Mibu."
The Shinsengumi police?
They're probably the best men the Shogunate has.
Be very careful.
For them, Battosai the Killer is their biggest threat.
They'll try anything.
I understand.
This is
Furutaka of the Masuya. He does a lot for us.
At your service.
Leaving already?
You're probably thinking, this isn't the time for women.
Our movement exists so that a girl like this can be happy.
That samurai looked so sad.
I've known him for a year.
He acts all grown up, but he hasn't changed a bit.
Status means nothing here.
1 YEAR EARLIER AMIDAIJI TEMPLE, CHOSHU
What matters is skill with a sword. Anyone who has that is welcome.
Our strike force depends on the element of surprise.
DON'T FEAR TAKING A DIFFERENT PATH
Strike!
Hey, you.
Why do you want to join?
To overthrow the Shogun.
Are you some peasant's son?
"Skill with a sword", the man said.
Was he lying?
What did you say?
Then fight me.
Let's start by seeing how good you are.
I don't want to hurt someone I'll be fighting together with.
What did you say?
Don't worry.
Once he's drawn, he's ready for that.
Show us what you've got.
As you were.
-Back to work! -Resume!
-Now! -Hurry!
The quick draw.
But in a style I've never seen.
What's it called?
Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu.
Have you ever killed someone?
No.
Do you think you could?
If beyond the lives lost
lay a new age where all lived in peace of mind.
Drink!
Here. Sit here.
Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu.
I'd heard of it…
but I didn't believe it.
Shinsaku,
I want that man.
If you want assassins, why not be one yourself?
You're the portable shrine of our anti-shogun movement.
I guess no one will carry it for us if it's covered in blood.
But
you're going to ruin that kid's life.
Just make sure you keep yourself clean right to the very end.
You don't think I know that?
With all the men he's killed, he's still completely pure at heart.
But
that's all the more reason that killing is making him feel
uneasy.
NAGURA TAVERN
-Excuse me. -Yes?
-One more. -Okay!
I can't die!
There's someone I love!
Good evening.
What can I get you?
-A cold sake, please. -Okay.
This looks like fun.
She's gorgeous.
Yeah!
And alone.
I've never seen her before.
Here you go.
-Old man! -Yes?
Another!
Okay.
Hey, woman.
Pour us a drink.
We're Emperor loyalists from the Aizu Domain.
We're out day and night risking our lives for the likes of you.
You owe us, you know. You should be nice to us.
Aizu's pro-shogun, stupid!
What did you say?
That's better. Just keep your mouths shut.
That was close.
It sure was.
What?
I was about to draw on you.
What?
Take my advice.
Things are going to get worse.
Kyoto's no place for fake patriots.
If you value your lives, go back to your village.
What a pathetic pair!
Fake patriots!
I'll have my bill. Sorry about the trouble.
Okay.
You're really going to kill him?
Damn right! Nobody makes a fool of me.
Here he comes!
I would run if I were you.
Hey!
I don't run.
Battosai, huh?
You're mine!
I thought I'd come out and say thank you.
A rain of blood is a cliché in tragic plays.
But you really
make it rain blood.
KOHAGIYA INN
Thank you.
Not at all.
You Choshu men seem busy.
Mr. Himura, this isn't a brothel, you know.
But I'll admit she works hard.
Hey.
You're better now?
Thank you. I'm sorry about last night.
It seems you looked after me.
Hey.
Your name?
Tomoe.
Yukishiro Tomoe.
What are you doing here?
As you can see, I'm helping in the kitchen.
Coming right up.
You're looking cheerful today.
How do you do? My name is Tomoe.
I'll be working here.
She's Himura's?
I guess there's more to him than meets the eye.
Can I have more?
Me too.
She’s no friendlier than he is!
Settle down.
Me too.
I'll have some too.
I'm first.
This is good!
Is something wrong?
You're a problem.
Please forget what you saw last night and leave.
Is me being here a problem?
Your family will be worried.
If I had a family to go back to, I wouldn't have been drinking alone.
I don't know your story, but right now we can't really have you here.
Then will you kill me? Like you did that samurai in black last night?
Think whatever you want about me.
But I kill to bring about a new age of peace.
I don't kill just anybody.
Only the Shogun's swordsmen.
I don't kill townsfolk or anyone with no sword.
So killing depends only on whether or not they have a sword?
If I drew a sword right now,
would you kill me?
Well…
When you find the answer to that, come and tell me.
I heard you were attacked.
An ambush.
Shinsengumi?
No.
Someone underground, like me, who'd kill any way he could.
A secret agent of theirs? Or perhaps…
Only a few of us know about Himura.
But he was ambushed.
You mean to say we have a traitor in our midst?
You're still up?
When you go out at night, I can't sleep.
Don't get involved with me.
For the blood.
Do you intend
to go on killing forever?
Thank you.
-Help with the firewood, will you? -Yes, ma'am.
Over there.
Careful, it's heavy.
-Those men get their clothes so dirty! -Right.
We can't keep up!
-Here we go. -Take those too.
Thanks, Tomoe.
Thank you.
Hey, Tomoe.
Thanks a lot.
Don't leave any.
She's like a wife!
They suit each other!
The perfect pair!
That woman never smiles.
She's a strange one.
Give me some tea.
Really? With Himura?
Are you sure she's not a spy?
I don't know.
Himura said she saw him kill, so he had to keep her close.
Where's she from?
From her accent and bearing, she's obviously not from Kyoto.
She can read and write, so she's probably the daughter of a samurai.
Maybe a poor samurai's daughter had to work as a whore.
There's been no sign of her trying to contact anyone.
The only thing that worries me is how Himura looks now.
Himura, about tonight…
Mr. Himura is asleep.
Asleep?
In plain view?
I guess maybe he's mellowing.
Tell Battosai
to cut down anyone standing in the way of the new age.
He can come to me for swords.
I'll make all he wants.
My swords will change history.
Excuse the late hour. May I come in for a minute?
Mr. Himura goes out at night.
I know.
Do you have some business with me?
There's something
I'd like you to know.
"Gentlemen, go mad."
Our mentor Shoin Yoshida said this to us just before he was beheaded.
We must go mad to end the rot of a 300-year-old Shogunate.
And as the spearpoint of mad justice that will bring this about,
Himura has the harshest role to play.
Please do nothing to blunt his sword.
May I come in?
Mr. Katsura left this for you.
Do me a favor.
Come out with me.
Isn't he cute?
His parents must be so proud he was chosen for that role.
Will he make a wrong move? Will he fall?
I'm sure they're here watching, feeling very nervous.
Everyone here is someone's child.
Everyone here has someone they love.
And they all take it for granted that their lives together
will go on and on.
Is there really such a thing as
fighting for peace?
If it's for us all,
do ideals mean
that little things
must fall victim?
And aren't you
a victim too?
With a sword,
that boy cuts the rope
dividing this world from the next.
Only then does the parade begin.
For times to change, someone must use a sword.
That just happens to be me.
SHINSENGUMI HEADQUARTERS
You piece of crap!
Saito.
Look.
Everything else was burned, but we found that in a shed.
When the wind rises on Festival Eve, they plan to burn the palace…
and take the Emperor to Choshu.
We'll look good if we can stop it.
And we'll pay them back for what they did to the Tsushimas.
Is there really such a thing as
fighting for peace?
If it's for us all,
do ideals mean
that little things
must fall victim?
Takeda Kanryusai, Nagakura Shinpachi,
Todo Heisuke, and Soji.
You ten form the Commander's unit.
The rest will follow me.
Mr. Kondo.
Based on our inspectors' evidence, we will search inns in Kawaramachi.
Detain any Choshu men you find.
If they resist,
kill them.
Follow the Commander!
Let's go!
Inoue squad!
Himura!
It's Mr. Katsura!
What's wrong?
The Shinsengumi arrested our agent, Furutaka!
At your service.
The patriots have a plot that happens tonight.
They'll set fire to the palace,
kidnap the Emperor, and take him to Choshu.
Mr. Katsura wants to stop them.
Where are they?
At the Ikedaya Inn.
If Furutaka talked, the Shogun's men would get Mr. Katsura along with them!
Where's the owner?
IKEDAYA INN
Yes?
Police!
Everyone upstairs!
It's a raid! Go!
Police!
Kondo!
Run!
Get them!
Go!
Get them all!
Run!
Hands off me!
Run, Kameyata!
Quick!
One's getting away!
Don't worry.
I'll make it look like suicide.
What do you want?
Leave him.
Are you Battosai?
This should be fun.
Okita Soji, 1st Unit Captain of the Shinsengumi.
I can't let you reach the Ikedaya.
Is this Battosai, Okita?
Yes.
He's not so tough as the stories.
The Ikedaya's secure. I'll handle this.
That won't do.
You can't take him now.
Himura, no!
It's all right. Mr. Katsura got away.
The Aizu men are coming. There's no point in fighting now.
Come on.
Himura!
You're turning tail, Battosai?
Come on, Himura!
That's an order from Mr. Katsura!
Stop.
No matter how outnumbered, you are no match for him.
Make way!
The Shinsengumi will bring order to the streets of Kyoto!
Those are our orders!
JULY 19, 1864
KINMON INCIDENT
What could those idiots have been thinking?
Damn it!
Now what?
There are even more Shogun's men around since the Ikedaya.
Our Choshu Restoration Patriots have been destroyed.
And since they burned the city, we've been condemned as rebels!
Rebels
against the Emperor!
Damn it!
It sticks in my throat!
We need to pull out.
The Shinsengumi could come any time.
Mr. Katsura's safe.
That's good enough.
I'm sorry.
I boast about never killing townsfolk
and now look at me.
Leave, please.
I'll stay with you
a while longer.
Right now, you need something to help you restrain your madness.
In answer to your question,
I would never kill you, even if you had a sword.
No matter what,
I would never kill you.
Not you.
Never.
Shinsengumi!
This way. Hurry!
Quick!
Out the back!
Hurry!
What would the Shogun's Shinsengumi want with us?
-Search the place! -Yes, sir!
What do you think you're doing?
Look again!
Mr. Katsura.
I have to make myself scarce.
I can't go to Choshu, but I'll get caught if I stay here.
Does it all end here?
We wait for our chance. Now is not the time.
And me?
There's a village outside Kyoto.
Hide there until we start again.
Iizuka or Katagai will bring you what you need.
All right.
Tomoe,
could you go and stay with Himura?
A woman will make it easier for you to hide.
You only need
to pretend.
Look after him.
Well?
I have nowhere else to go.
I'm sure there's somewhere.
I'm sorry.
It's not fair to force the decision on you.
Live with me.
Being who I am, I can't say how long it will last.
Not just pretending.
For real.
Yes.
I'll go with you.
Smell that earth!
Thank you.
You got lots.
You're eating with an appetite.
I've realized something here.
I've been fighting to bring a new age of happiness
for as many people as possible.
But now I know it was conceit.
What is happiness?
I didn't understand anything about it.
I feel like living here with you has answered that question for me.
You smile a lot more lately than you used to.
Hi.
Thanks.
You're coming to look like a real married couple.
I'll go outside.
Did I say something?
No. Why are you here?
Well.
Things aren't good.
To please the Shogunate, our domain conservatives
are ordering men to commit suicide.
They say there's not a day that goes by without one.
And Mr. Katsura?
In the domain, they're calling him "Runaway Kogoro."
Choshu's finished.
You can't mean that.
That's how it is now.
All we can do is wait.
Here's some expense money.
From Mr. Katagai.
And
I'll leave this.
Sell potions.
No one will suspect you if you're out doing business.
See you, Tomoe.
Now you're a peddler's wife.
The look in Battosai's eyes has changed in the past few months.
Now's your chance.
This is quite the armory your Shadow Warriors have laid in here.
Iizuka, you traitor!
Looks like you were followed. You're slipping up, Iizuka.
Katagai! He's Katsura's right-hand man!
When they find out he's missing…
In that case,
let's get started on the operation to eliminate Battosai.
Enishi, you're on.
Enishi?
Enishi!
What a surprise! It's been so long!
You're all grown up!
When did you come from Edo?
Is Father well?
I don't know.
I left for Kyoto right after you did.
What do you mean?
What are you doing?
Helping you.
Enishi, how did you find me here?
Easy. I'm a messenger, after all.
Good news, Tomoe.
It's finally time for heaven to levy judgment on Battosai.
Enishi!
Welcome home. That was my brother, Enishi.
Oh, you have a brother?
Please excuse his behavior.
Well, I've stolen his big sister.
It's getting cold.
Could I talk to you a little?
My parents' home is in Edo.
We weren't rich
but my father, my brother, and I lived peacefully there.
My father is a low-ranked samurai, good with neither pen nor sword,
but a kind man.
My mother was frail and she died just after Enishi was born.
He never knew her.
He jumps to conclusions, and that gets him in trouble,
but he's dear to me.
I was
engaged to be married.
He was the second son of a family of the same status as ours.
A childhood friend.
For my sake, he said he wanted to rise in the world.
He volunteered for the Watch, and came to Kyoto.
Before the wedding,
in the unrest in Kyoto, he made the ultimate sacrifice.
If only I'd clung to him in Edo
and stopped him from coming…
If only I'd said I was happy whether he rose in the world or not…
Why didn't I?
The more I think about it…
That's enough.
No more.
When I first met you,
you said I could make it rain blood.
You asked if someone could really fight for peace.
Yes.
I'm sure
I'll end up killing again
until the new age is here.
But when that day comes,
although this may sound foolish,
I'll start looking for a way
to defend, not kill.
A way to preserve the happiness of all,
to bear the weight of my sins, and atone for them.
Tomoe,
the happiness you've lost once,
you will never lose again.
Yes.
Mr. Iizuka?
We found our spy.
It's Tomoe.
What?
There's proof. Look in her diary.
If you want revenge,
get close to Battosai and find out all you can about him.
Find his weak points.
Why drag Enishi into this?
We didn't do that.
He was asking about you in Kyoto. The Shogun's men brought him here.
Where's everyone else?
At their posts.
Without hearing my report?
Report?
On Battosai's weak points?
We don't need that.
It's faster to make one than look for one that might not even be there.
No matter how cold-blooded,
no man is without feelings.
When he finds out you're a spy,
he'll be too torn up to think straight.
He won't be able to fight at his best.
Was that the plan all along? To use me?
The man who gave you that scar,
Tomoe was supposed to become his wife.
April 5th.
Before our wedding, Kiyosato made the ultimate sacrifice.
I can't die!
There's someone I love.
I was
engaged to be married.
He was the second son of a family of the same status as ours.
A childhood friend.
Rejoice.
You'll have your revenge…
and you'll be free.
You won't kill him!
Your heart's ruling your head!
They're at an old temple in the hills. Tomoe's probably there too.
Finish her off.
That's an order.
The happiness you've lost once,
you will never lose again.
Listen.
In the end, love and hate are two sides of the same coin.
And that coin is karma.
My task, if I can't bring you down myself,
is to send you on to our next man.
Now
all that's left is to die and become divine.
You're worried about him?
Don't forget how this started.
You must have meant everything to that guy Kiyosato.
Why else would he come to Kyoto to join the Watch?
He wanted to make you happy, even if it meant risking his life.
To make a woman happy,
a man must defend his family, his village, and the Shogunate itself.
Without peace, without the Shogun,
there is happiness for no one.
And thus,
no matter how small they are,
any shoots of resistance to the Shogun must be pulled out by the roots.
That caution is why these Shoguns have brought 300 years of peace!
That we must support, and that we must preserve!
We must preserve that happiness
with our lives.
Understand?
That is a warrior's destiny.
We are all
sinful creatures.
Battosai!
You forgot this!
Sumita
and Mumyoi?
To defend our world, and preserve the Shogun,
I will stop this man myself.
That is the only way to honor those who have died for the Shogun!
Lie there
and watch.
Can you hear me, Battosai?
Can you see me?
Well, Battosai?
How does it feel to love a woman who came only to kill you?
You don't have a chance.
Why keep fighting?
For who?
For what?
Do you want to die bit by bit, or do you want it all at once?
The choice is yours.
I'm sorry
my love.
Tomoe.
Katagai's dead.
Iizuka was the spy.
We've sent someone after him.
I see.
The man we've sent is as good with a sword as you.
He'll do our assassinations from now on.
And as for you, Himura,
it might not be fair to you now, but I'll need your sword
even more from now on.
The Shogun's patriot hunt gets worse every day.
If we don't fight back, we'll be wiped out.
If I hang up my sword now,
all the lives I've taken so far will have been a waste.
Until the new age comes,
I will wield my sword.
But the moment it arrives…
You'll throw your sword away?
I don't know.
But I will never kill again.
Not again.
Never.
I see.
April 5th.
Before our wedding, Kiyosato made the ultimate sacrifice.
I cannot believe he is no longer with us.
The childhood days we spent together seem like only yesterday.
April 14th.
I have learned the truth.
I do not know what I should do.
Should I just accept that it was fate?
The rain goes on.
I want to avenge Kiyosato.
I wasn't there when he died.
My happiness died with him.
I could not catch and hold
the happiness I saw before me.
If only
I had begged him not to go.
I have given myself to schemes to kill that man.
Otherwise, I would go mad.
And yet you say
you'd protect
a woman like me.
I will leave Kyoto, and live with him.
When did he become
so dear to me?
He is still not used to it, but he seems to enjoy fieldwork.
I am glad to see that the lines of his face have softened.
December 26th.
The rain has turned to snow.
I feel that winter is here.
He is the man who robbed me of my happiness,
whom I hated enough to kill.
But the way things are going, I will fall truly in love with him.
He will kill again.
But after all his killing is done,
I am sure he will preserve many more than he has killed.
I must not let him die now.
I will preserve him
though it means my life.
Goodbye
to the second man
I loved.
Well,
I'll be on my way, Tomoe.
THE BATTLE OF TOBA-FUSHIMI JANUARY 1868, KYOTO
Saito! The Shogunate dog!
Ready!
We've won!
It's the Emperor's banner!
Victory!
So it has come, hasn't it?
The new age.
At last.
Battosai!
It doesn't end here.
Some 160 years ago,
the black foreign ships led to the Shogun's fall.
Out of the resulting maelstrom came a warrior, Battosai the Killer.
When calm was restored, he vanished
and became a lone wanderer.
It would be ten years before he appeared again.
Subtitle Translation By Ian MacDougall Provided By Phat Huu
Improved By Namikage
NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS MOVIE