Rurouni Kenshin Manga Translations
Volume Seven--May 14, 1878
Part 56--May 14, 1878--Morning
One week from now . . . I'll come back to hear your answer.
(Kaoru tears a page off the calendar, revealing May 14. Kenshin is scrubbing busily at the well
.)
Kaoru (thinking): It’s been a week . . . the day he has to give an answer has come, but
Kenshin’s just acting like normal.
Kenshin (holding up a cloth): There. Pure white!
(Sanosuke kicks him into the well.)
Kenshin: .......!! (I thought I was going to die . . . )
Sanosuke: This is no time to do laundry. What about your answer? I can't believe you would,
but you're not going to accept, are you? Leave this alone. You can’t trust the man in charge
of the government that only works for its own selfish gain.
Kenshin (clambering out): Sano, you’re just prejudiced against the Meiji government.
Sanosuke (pushing him back down): Yeah? That’s bad? (I’m from the Sekihoutai.)
Kenshin: No . . . . (climbing out) If Governor Okubo worked only for his own profit like the
other low-level Ishin Shishi, Saitou probably would have already cut him down.
Yahiko: That rotten cop? That government dog?
Kenshin: No . . . before he fought me, he spoke of justice.
Kill. Evil. Instantly. That was the one truth we shared with the Hitokiri.
Kenshin: One whose heart and mind had been reduced to that of a dog could not speak such words.
He is still the Wolf of Mibu . . . From a darkness that will never see the sun, the fangs of
"Kill Evil Instantly" stab-- (darkly) That’s why he’s not someone you can get along with.
Yahiko: Yeah!
Sanosuke: You said it.
Kaoru: I hate him!
(Four huge sneezes rock the soba house.)
Waitress: Yuck, that’s dirty, Mr. Fujida.
Saitou: Excuse me. (Four sneezes . . .) It seems I am hated. Well, it is natural for one of
the Shinsengumi to be hated in these times. (he glances at a calendar) Well, what's it going
to be, Battousai?
(Kenshin stands up, adjusting his sword.)
Kenshin (banging Yahiko cheerfully with a basket of laundry): Hang these up, Yahiko. I'm
going to Governor Okubo now.
Kaoru: Why? He’s coming here.
Kenshin: But Governor Okubo is a very busy man. It’ll be quicker if I go to him.
Megumi (hurrying up): Oh, you’re here, you’re here. Good morning, Ken-san.
Sanosuke: What’s the vixen doing up so early?
Megumi: How dare you speak like that to the one who saved your life?
Sanosuke: I saved yours too.
Megumi: That's different for men and women.
Kaoru: What on earth is it?
Megumi: Today’s the day of the reply. I brought something useful for this day.
Kenshin: Oro.
A COLLAR
Megumi: Special Technique "Ken-san Capture"! (whispering to Kaoru) Now he definitely can't
go to Kyoto, and if necessary I brought some sleeping powder--
Kaoru: Go home!!!
Yahiko: Hey, now you’re the dog, Kenshin. C'mon, shake.
(Sanosuke: Women . . .)
Kenshin (removing the collar): Anyway, I'm leaving.
Kaoru: But do you know where Okubo’s mansion is?
Kenshin: No, I heard he’s going to the Cabinet in Akasaka. If I go to Kioizaka I can probably
meet up with him.
Kaoru: Well, then we’ll go with you--
Kenshin (smiling): No . . . things could get complicated, so it’s better if I go alone.
(They watch him walk out the gate.)
Yahiko: It’s all right. Kenshin wouldn’t go off to Kyoto and leave you.
Sanosuke: Yeah . . . Kenshin wouldn’t have any part of an assassination in this day and age.
Megumi: I won’t let him go, even if I have to use force to stop him.
Kaoru (thinking): But . . . if Governor Okubo’s story is true, then Kenshin can’t leave
Shishio Makoto alone if he’s going to cause another war. Then Hitokiri Battousai will have to
kill Shishio Makoto. Kenshin . . . .
Kioisaka--This hill’s name comes from the neighboring Houses of Kishuu, Bishuu and
Ii. It originated with the wall built around the daimyos’ mansions, and both long ago and
today is one of the best districts in Tokyo. Okubo Toshimichi, the most powerful man in
the Meiji government, was traveling along this road by coach on the morning of May 14, 1880.
Unknowingly awaiting his destiny.
(Inside the coach)
Okubo (thinking): Today’s meeting will be long. And there’s still work to be done at the
department . . . I'll meet with Himura this evening.
(Lightning-fast footsteps chase after the coach)
Okubo: He’ll probably do it. No . . . he has to. If Himura doesn’t act,
(the footsteps gain on him)
Okubo: The country will be destroyed.
(A young man opens the door of the moving coach. His name is Soujirou; he is well dressed and
has a pleasant face.)
Soujirou: The dead don’t need to worry about the future of the country.
(He smiles, clamping a hand over Okubo’s mouth.)
Soujirou: I have a message from Mr. Shishio. "It was a good idea to send Himura Battousai to
assassinate me, but in the end it will only be struggling in vain. This country will be mine."
(He draws a short blade. Outside, a group of armed men stop the carriage.)
Shimada: I am the samurai Shimada Ichirou of the Ishikawa province!
Chou: Chou Tsurahide of the same! Okubo you scoundrel, prepare yourself!
(A scream)
Shimada: All right, the coachmen is no more!! Come on!
(They open the carriage. Okubo’s corpse falls out.)
Samurai: He . . . he’s dead . . .
Someone got here before us . . .
What happened . . . what are we going to do?
We already sent the death-threats to the government and the newspapers . . .
Shinada: No matter what, we brought Okubo down.
Chou: Shimada . . . ?
Shimada (hacking at the corpse): There were no witnesses! We killed Okubo!!
May 14, 1880--The Incident at Kioisaka. Japanese history states that the
most powerful man in the Meiji government was assassinated in broad daylight. The assassins
were seven discontented Ishikawa samurai. And so, the existence of Shishio’s faction, who took advantage of the prior
notice of the assassination attempt, was never revealed.
(A crowd gathers as the police deal with the aftermath. Kenshin is among them.)
Soujirou (appearing behind Kenshin): If you don’t to die too, for your own sake, don’t defy
Mr. Shishio.
(Kenshin whirls around; there is no one there.)
Kenshin (thinking): Shisho Makoto . . .
the Making of the Characters--Okubo Toshimichi
As it says in the story, he was a real person, one of the Ishin Sanketsu. Like the
other real characters, I drew my own image of him.
Okubo is famous as being a close friend of Saigou, but possibly because of the Japanese
fondness for Saigou, Okubo is thought to be an evil man, sly and deceitful, which I think is too bad.
It's true that Okubo was the one who made the plots of the Bakumatsu, but after the Restoration,
he was above all an honest man, in national affairs unswayed by not only his own self-interest
and greed, but his feelings as well (which is how he would sentence his close friend Saigou to
death). My image of him is an ideal politician. After the assassination at Kioizaka, his
estate was appraised, and all of Japan was eager to see how great the fortune of the most
powerful man in the Meiji governement was. But he had only five hundred yen (now, about twenty
million yen, or two hundred thousand dollars) and he was six thousand yen in debt (240 million yen,
or $2,400,000). Moreover, this debt was incurred to cover the government's lack of money...
Since then, it's been natural for politicians much lower than Okubo with connections to the
zaibatsu to have a fortune, and it's unlikely to see any other politician who so completely
threw away his own interest. After death, he was hated by the people of his birthplace as
the man who killed Saigou and refused to allow his remains to be taken home. He was not taken
back until very recently, in the Heisei era. The man who wagered all and threw all away for his
dream of hundreds of years of Japanese prosperity was not allowed to return home even after
hundreds of years had passed. I think Okubo Toshimichi could be more loved by the people.
I thought originally that I would do the design from a photograph of his portrait, but I couldn't
find it, so I used a photo of his statue. So he really doesn’t look like this at all. Oh
well . . . Looking over it I realized he kind of looks like President Lincoln (whom I also
like) so I think it turned out all right.