Synopsis

July 12th, 1802, the 2nd year of the Kyowa Era in Feudal Japan, specifically, in the Yotsuya district of Old Edo amongst the tightly lined Samurai estates. The protagonist Furuta Kyuzo Masanari (hereafter Kyuzo) , a wealthy elite guard of the shogunate, was under house arrest for dereliction of duty by allowing an unauthorized person into Edo Castle. His fate was yet unknown.

As the story began, Kyuzo`s wife Yoshino had just been told by their son Komanosuke that a man had a message for her. Yoshino hurried to the gate and found no person but a voice reciting a poem. “Oh, Summer night, On the fleeting river of dreams, The warrior goes off into the brightening edge of the Clouds of the West”. The poetic message was from Kyuzo`s close friend Eto who was forbidden to tell Kyuzo directly about the Shogun`s decree that on the following day, Kyuzo would be sentenced to Seppuku -ritual suicide. It gave Kyuzo one night to prepare himself and his family for his death.

Kyuzo had Yoshino prepare his favorite meal. He shared rice wine with his eleven-year-old son for the first and last time. He and his wife talked late throughout the night. Kyuzo mentioned a particular folding fan he held in special regard as a gift from Yoshino and the one thing he wished to take with him to the afterlife. As his son peacefully slept, and the fateful morning inexorably approached, Kyuzo was forced to come to terms with his fear of death and what it meant to be a samurai. Thanks to his wife`s kindness and dignity, Kyuzo could overcome his weaknesses and calmly resigned himself to his fate.

The next morning, Kyuzo was officially told of his sentence by Eto. Eto also asked to adopt Kyuzo`s son, Komanosuke, for which Kyuzo was grateful and accepted. Komanosuke was not overly happy with this arrangement, wanting to remain affiliated with his father, but was ultimately convinced by Kyuzo. Yoshino was summoned to meet with the overseer Matsudaira. Without Kyuzo`s consent, she requested that her husband be allowed to commit seppuku not with a sword but with the folding fan she gifted him. (Seppuku is the act of cutting one’s own belly with a sword. It is extremely rare for someone to actualize the whole act without crying out or not being able to continue to the end. Which is why it was recognized as a suitably honorable way for a Samurai to end his own life. It is also why there was always a second present at the ceremony. His job was to behead the Seppukuist at the first signs of weakness. In the countryside, it was becoming common practice to not bother with the actual cutting of one’s belly belly but instead to ceremonially do it with a fan or “Sensu” and have the second behead that person, called “Sensu - bara”. It was considered a cowardly act.)

Yoshino was asked if her husband was scared to die, to which she replied that he was the bravest man she had ever known and at peace with his fate. She then added that it was just that he did not want to dirty his ceremonial clothes. Sensing that there was something deeper in the request of this most courageous wife, the overseer agreed to allow it.

The time had come for Kyuzo`s seppuku. Eto, his closest friend, was his second. Time slowed into eternity as Kyuzo purposefully brought the beloved fan so thoughtfully arranged by his Yoshino up to his belly...