Den Shichi of Kurodomon-chō, the best detective in Edo, captured members of a thief gang called "Kitsutsuki," but let three, including the rōnin Daikoku Yajūrō, Tengai Omachi, and Kasumi no Seiji, escape. Among the captured who were exiled, Genta and Kakuroku broke out and returned to Edo to...
Okazaki Domain samurai Inaba Gotaro accidentally killed a superior while trying to save his beloved geisha, Ko-en. On the run, they were rescued by the actor Nakamura Utaemon, but Ko-en was taken by the Hatamoto, Ono Issai. Gotaro, who fell off a cliff, was saved by the Dutch-trained doctor,...
Nakamura Yukinojō, Edo's most popular actor, discovered that his parent's enemy, Ohara Genba, had changed his name to Isshiki Kurōnosuke and become a hatamoto, a direct retainer of the shogun. Yukinojō's younger brother, Shingorō, traveling to Edo from their hometown, helped the town boy...
Chiba Sōsaku, whose childhood name was Otome, was raised by his father Yukiuemon, the successor of the Hokushin Ittō-ryū style, and his wet nurse in Rikuzen Onikobe, where he early on earned the nickname "Little Tengu of Chiba." One day, Otome heard a rumor that Arao Miyauchi, who once was an...
In Marugame Domain of Shikoku, a low-ranking foot soldier named Tagami Genbachi was envied for marrying Tsuji, the most beautiful woman in the domain. However, due to a personal grudge held by Horikawa Gentazaemon, the swordsmanship instructor, Genbachi met an untimely and bitter death through foul...
