# 21 - Downfall and Tethers
Source: [Crunchyroll](https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G6NQJ2ZZ6/gifu-dodo-kanetsugu-and-keiji)
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(Please feel free to edit the speaker names if incomplete or inaccurate. Names are handled on a best-effort basis depending on the info on the source file. Dialogue is left as is.)
***SIGN*** July, 1590
**[00:03] Nar**
In the 6th month, 1590,
***SIGN*** Matsuida Castle
***SIGN*** Hachigata Castle
**[00:06] Nar**
Matsuida Castle was conquered
**[00:09] Nar**
by the allied forces
of Uesugi, Sanada, and Maeda
**[00:12] Nar**
which subsequently besieged
Hachigata Castle.
***SIGN*** Hachioji Castle
**[00:14] Nar**
Hachioji Castle was to be next,
the impregnable protective fortress of Odawara.
***SIGN*** Odawara Castle
***SIGN*** Downfall and Tethers
**[02:00] Nar**
The battle commenced
on the 23rd day of the 6th month.
***SIGN*** July 24, 1590
**[02:05] Nar**
The allied armies of Toyotomi
numbered approximately 15,000 troops.
**[02:09] Nar**
In contrast, approximately 3,000
men defended Hachioji Castle.
**[02:14] Nar**
Their troops consisted of several generals,
but the rest were inducted farmers.
**[02:19] Nar**
As a result, the battle
was over in a single day.
**[02:24] Ally**
Burn it!
**[02:26] Ally**
Burn it to the ground!
**[03:14] Maeda (Toshiie)**
What's the matter, Naoe-dono?
**[03:17] Maeda**
You don't kill women. Is that it?
**[03:20] Maeda**
Or have you forgotten our lord,
the Chief Advisor's command?
**[03:27] Kanestugu**
Our lord's command...
**[03:29] Maeda**
That's right.
**[03:36] Hideyoshi**
How do you like this castle, Kanetsugu?
**[03:40] Kanetsugu**
Yes.
**[03:41] Hideyoshi**
Look forward to it.
**[03:43] Hideyoshi**
Once we're done with this castle,
**[03:45] Hideyoshi**
Odawara Castle will quickly fall.
**[03:49] Kanetsugu**
Yes.
**[03:50] Hideyoshi**
Before that happens, however,
there must be a preliminary set-up.
**[03:57] Kanetsugu**
Set-up?
**[03:58] Hideyoshi**
Correct.
**[03:59] Hideyoshi**
Hachioji Castle,
the cornerstone of their defense,
**[04:05] Hideyoshi**
must be devastated.
**[04:08] Hideyoshi**
And in the meantime...
**[04:12] Hideyoshi**
everyone inside the castle must be killed.
**[04:24] Maeda**
Right, then.
**[04:25] Maeda**
Continue your military endeavors.
**[05:02] Mosuke**
Milord.
**[05:03] Mosuke**
This is a cruel siege.
**[05:05] Mosuke**
Most of the women
and children committed suicide.
**[05:14] Kanetsugu**
We, the men,
**[05:17] Kanetsugu**
have murdered them with our obstinacy.
**[05:24] Kanetsugu**
But these deaths...
**[05:27] Kanetsugu**
will bring an end to this war.
**[05:32] Sanada**
Once attacked, the purported
stronghold Hachioji Castle
**[05:35] Sanada**
wasn't much to speak of.
**[05:38] Kagekatsu**
Indeed.
**[05:39] Sanada**
Hojo's downfall is approaching.
**[05:43] Sanada**
But as they say,
it could be us tomorrow.
**[05:47] Sanada**
Who knows how this event
could lead to our own demise?
**[05:52] Sanada**
Let us beware.
**[06:04] Kagekatsu**
The consequences of the downfall...
**[06:09] Kanetsugu**
Lord.
**[06:11] Kanetsugu**
You need not worry.
**[06:13] Kanetsugu**
If my history were to bring
troubles to Uesugi...
**[06:19] Kanetsugu**
you must execute me as a criminal.
**[06:22] Kagekatsu**
What?
**[06:23] Kanetsugu**
That would be the best strategy
to eliminate the source of trouble.
**[06:37] Messenger**
Message!
**[06:38] Messenger**
Message!
**[06:41] Messenger**
Everyone on our side... in the castle...
**[06:45] Messenger**
has been destroyed...
and those who were captured...
**[06:49] Messenger**
of course... there is not
a single survivor among them.
**[06:53] Soldier**
Hey!
**[06:55] Ujinao**
D-Did Hachioji Castle f-finally fall, too?
**[07:04] Ujinao**
D-Damn you, Hideyoshi!
**[07:25] Hideyoshi**
Well done, Kanetsugu,
for bringing down Hachioji Castle.
**[07:32] Hideyoshi**
It was greatly honorable.
**[07:35] Hideyoshi**
Hm?
**[07:36] Hideyoshi**
What's the matter?
**[07:37] Hideyoshi**
Don't like my shoulder massage?
**[07:41] Kanetsugu**
Hojo...
**[07:43] Hideyoshi**
Hm?
**[07:44] Kanetsugu**
has crumbled, within and without.
**[07:47] Hideyoshi**
So?
**[07:49] Kanetsugu**
There were excessive
betrayals among their clan.
**[07:52] Kanetsugu**
The insurrection of their most
prominent vassal since Hojo Soun,
**[07:57] Kanetsugu**
Matsuda Norihide...
**[07:59] Kanetsugu**
was especially devastating.
**[08:01] Kanetsugu**
And now, Hachioji Castle has fallen...
**[08:03] Kanetsugu**
I see no reason to compound
their losses with more death.
**[08:09] Kanetsugu**
At Hachioji Castle,
many of the women and children
**[08:13] Kanetsugu**
had turned the blade upon themselves.
**[08:16] Hideyoshi**
I see... so they've been slaughtered,
every one of them.
**[08:20] Hideyoshi**
Which means...
**[08:23] Hideyoshi**
the time has now come.
**[08:26] Hideyoshi**
As I had promised you...
**[08:29] Hideyoshi**
that if you bring down Hachioji Castle...
**[08:32] Hideyoshi**
I would show you
my ingenious resourcefulness.
**[08:36] Hideyoshi**
Now is a good time to fulfill that promise.
**[08:50] Hideyoshi**
Observe well, Kanetsugu!
**[08:57] Kanetsugu**
That is...
**[09:06] Hojo soldier1**
Huh?
**[09:08] Hojo soldier2**
What is that?
**[09:20] Kanetsugu**
What is this?
**[09:21] Hideyoshi**
Go!
**[09:22] Hideyoshi**
Let Hojo get an eyeful of this!
**[09:53] Soldier1**
Lord!
**[09:56] Ujinao**
What now?
**[10:12] Ujimasa**
I heard they were building
a fortress on Mount Kasakage...
**[10:18] Ujimasa**
Who'd have thought it would be so big?
**[10:27] Ujimasa**
Damn you and your
ostentatious antics, Hideyoshi!
**[10:33] Ujinao**
Father...
**[10:36] Ujinao**
I think we're doomed.
**[10:37] Ujimasa**
Hm?
**[10:39] Ujinao**
I think we're doomed.
**[10:41] Ujimasa**
What?
**[10:42] Ujinao**
Hideyoshi is showing off his
"overnight castle"...
**[10:46] Ujinao**
not to us, but to the soldiers
and people in our castle.
**[10:51] Ujinao**
Our castle might be impregnable,
but it's people who defend it, after all.
**[10:58] Ujinao**
That overnight castle...
is enough to demoralize our troops.
**[11:10] Hideyoshi**
Kanetsugu.
**[11:11] Hideyoshi**
Let this sight impress itself upon your eyes.
**[11:15] Hideyoshi**
Takeda Shingen, Lord Nobunaga,
**[11:18] Hideyoshi**
and even Uesugi Kenshin
couldn't pull it off...
**[11:25] Hideyoshi**
But I have conquered Odawara Castle!
**[11:39] Nar**
Hojo Ujinao made a plea to have
the lives of his troops spared,
**[11:43] Nar**
in exchange for performing seppuku.
**[11:46] Nar**
Hideyoshi consented, and thereby,
Odawara came to an end.
**[11:52] Nar**
But Ujinao was given amnesty
and banished to Mount Koya.
**[11:57] Nar**
His father, Hojo Ujimasa,
and others committed seppuku.
**[12:02] Nar**
Beginning with Hojo Soun,
the Hojo clan reigned over the Kanto area
**[12:06] Nar**
for five generations, but now
their lineage had reached its end.
**[12:23] Kagekatsu**
Such unbearable sadness...
**[12:27] Kanetsugu**
Yes.
**[12:28] Kanetsugu**
Odawara Castle,
said to be impregnable...
**[12:31] Kagekatsu**
devastated so easily.
**[12:34] Kanetsugu**
Lord.
**[12:35] Kagekatsu**
Hm?
**[12:36] Kanetsugu**
This soundscape resembles human screams,
but what is it that you hear?
**[12:45] Kanetsugu**
Do you hear the commotion of troops
and people who were in the castle...
**[12:49] Kanetsugu**
or is it the sound of their souls departing?
**[12:58] Kanetsugu**
What would Lord Kenshin
have said about this?
**[13:11] Kagekatsu**
Lord Kenshin.
**[13:18] Kanetsugu**
This is, indeed, the wail of souls,
of the five generations of Hojo.
**[13:39] Suibara**
Why the hell is he so stubborn?
**[13:43] Kanetsugu**
What's the matter, Suibara-dono?
**[13:48] Suibara**
I'm talking about our lord.
**[13:51] Kanetsugu**
Our lord?
**[13:53] Suibara**
Well, you see, he's frustrating me to no end.
**[14:01] Kanetsugu**
He's frustrating you?
**[14:02] Suibara**
Mmm.
**[14:03] Suibara**
He's been married to Kikuhime-sama
of the Takeda clan for eleven years...
**[14:12] Suibara**
and not a single offspring to show for it!
**[14:19] Suibara**
So I told him...
Find a concubine!
**[14:25] Suibara**
In the best interest of Uesugi.
**[14:27] Suibara**
But he said... but he said...
**[14:30] Suibara**
to mind my own business.
**[14:39] Suibara**
He was so angry that he could've killed me!
**[14:45] Suibara**
The downfall of the Hojo clan...
It could happen to us!
**[14:52] Suibara**
What if he has no heir?
**[14:58] Suibara**
There's bound to be internal strife
as to who will be Uesugi's successor!
**[15:03] Suibara**
I can't forget the Battle of Otate,
which happened after Lord Kenshin died.
**[15:11] Suibara**
Arrgh... What will become of Uesugi?
**[15:15] Suibara**
I'm so worried, I can't stand it.
**[15:22] Kanetsugu**
I could understand why
Suibara-dono felt the way he did.
**[15:27] Keiji**
As I recall, Kagetora-dono fought
Kagekatsu-dono for successorship...
**[15:33] Keiji**
as he, too, was an adopted
son of Lord Kenshin.
**[15:36] Kanetsugu**
Thus, the Uesugi were split right in half...
**[15:40] Kanetsugu**
and blood was spilled.
**[15:42] Keiji**
In reaction to Hojo's downfall,
anxieties arose about Uesugi's future...
**[16:14] Kanetsugu**
Lord.
**[16:15] Kanetsugu**
Suibara-dono acted strictly out of loyalty.
**[16:20] Kanetsugu**
Perhaps finding a concubine is a good idea?
**[16:23] Kakegatsu**
How could I do such a thing?
**[16:26] Kagekatsu**
The Takeda clan...
Kikuhime's home was destroyed.
**[16:32] Kagekatsu**
When I think
**[16:35] Kagekatsu**
of Kikuhime's sadness...
**[16:38] Kagekatsu**
I cannot conceive of finding a concubine.
**[16:41] Nar**
It could be said that
in the civil war era, Kagekatsu's
**[16:45] Nar**
compassion for Kikuhime was extraordinary...
**[16:50] Nar**
but Kagekatsu was that kind of man.
**[16:55] Kanetsugu**
Lord...
**[16:56] Kagekatsu**
When Lord Kenshin died,
if it weren't for Takeda's support...
**[17:02] Kagekatsu**
we would've been killed
in the Battle of Otate.
**[17:08] Kagekatsu**
I am indebted to Takeda's honor.
**[17:12] Kagekatsu**
Indeed...
**[17:15] Kagekatsu**
I am undeserving of it.
**[17:18] Kanetsugu**
What are you saying?
**[17:19] Kagekatsu**
I had a vision.
**[17:21] Kagekatsu**
Lord Kenshin is still with you.
**[17:29] Kagekatsu**
Kanetsugu.
**[17:31] Kagekatsu**
You know the truth about me.
**[17:34] Kagekatsu**
How can you not hate me?
**[17:37] Kanetsugu**
Then let me ask you, Lord.
Did you not hate me?
**[17:43] Kagekatsu**
What?
**[17:44] Kanetsugu**
Or were you lying when
you spoke those words?
**[17:49] Kagekatsu**
"Those words"?
**[17:51] Kanetsugu**
Yes.
**[17:52] Kanetsugu**
Sentoin-sama told me...
**[17:55] Keiji**
"Those words"?
**[17:57] Kanetsugu**
Back in the day when
Kagekatsu-sama was still called Kiheiji...
**[18:01] Kanetsugu**
the Uesugi clan was split into two factions,
**[18:04] Kanetsugu**
and there was internal strife.
**[18:07] Kanetsugu**
Lord Kenshin adopted Kiheiji-sama
in the hope of quelling the discord.
**[18:14] Kanetsugu**
In the meantime, however,
Kiheiji-sama's father died...
**[18:20] Kanetsugu**
the event made him
suspicious of Lord Kenshin.
**[18:24] Kanetsugu**
It was at such a time that
Kiheiji-sama's mother, Sentoin-sama,
**[18:29] Kanetsugu**
informed him that I was
the true son of Lord Kenshin.
**[18:33] Keiji**
How did Kagekatsu-dono react?
**[18:36] Kanetsugu**
I was told that he said...
**[18:41] Chibi-Kagekatsu**
I vow to tether myself
to Higuchi Yoroku, Lord Kenshin's son...
**[18:44] Chibi-Kagekatsu**
and we together shall be
the guardians of Echigo.
**[18:48] Kanetsugu**
He said he suspected no one of wrongdoing.
**[18:52] Keiji**
Such immaculate innocence.
**[18:55] Kanetsugu**
Kagekatsu-sama was only
nine years old at the time.
**[18:58] Kanetsugu**
But I was told, that ever since then...
**[19:02] Kanetsugu**
he became prone to extreme introversion.
**[19:06] Keiji**
Perhaps his innocent heart grew cold,
**[19:10] Keiji**
from all the sorrows he was trying to hide.
**[19:15] Kagekatsu**
...tethered as guardians of Echigo...
**[19:18] Kagekatsu**
I do remember...
**[19:21] Kanetsugu**
So go ahead and slug me,
if it makes you feel better.
**[19:23] Kanetsugu**
Lord, you are always slow to speak.
**[19:26] Kanetsugu**
That's why you always become quiet.
**[19:27] Kanetsugu**
When you're bottled up,
it makes your stomach turn.
**[19:29] Kagekatsu**
What?
**[19:31] Kanetsugu**
Go on.
**[19:32] Kanetsugu**
Throw a punch.
**[19:33] Kanetsugu**
Let your fist communicate your true feelings.
**[19:43] Kagekatsu**
All right.
**[19:54] Kanetsugu**
Th-That was a good one...
**[19:59] Kagekatsu**
Now it's your turn.
**[20:03] Kanetsugu**
I must warn you that I've got an iron fist.
**[20:06] Kagekatsu**
I am commanding you.
**[20:08] Kanetsugu**
In that case, pardon me.
**[20:14] Suibara**
Wh-What was that noise in there?
**[20:21] Suibara**
Well, well, well.
What on earth is happening here?
**[20:30] Suibara**
L-Lord!
**[20:34] Suibara**
H-He's laughing.
**[20:36] Suibara**
The lord is laughing.
**[20:39] Nar**
Kagekatsu laughed.
**[20:42] Nar**
Perhaps no one had ever
seen him laugh before.
**[20:47] Nar**
It was a most refreshing sight to see.
**[20:52] Kanetsugu**
Lord.
**[20:56] Kagekatsu**
How could I ever hold a grudge against you...
**[20:59] Kagekatsu**
You have always been my little brother
**[21:04] Kagekatsu**
and brothers do punch
each other occasionally.
**[21:08] Kanetsugu**
I now know your true feelings.
**[21:13] Kagekatsu**
Then you should know,
that I don't want an heir.
**[21:17] Kagekatsu**
Kanetsugu.
**[21:18] Kagekatsu**
It is you who must produce an heir.
**[21:21] Kagekatsu**
And it is he who shall be
the successor of Uesugi.
**[21:25] Suibara**
Huh?
**[21:26] Kanetsugu**
L-Lord...
**[21:28] Nar**
Subsequently, Kagekatsu and his wife, Kikuhime, never had a child.
**[21:35] Nar**
But to enforce his will,
Kagekatsu nonetheless took a concubine,
**[21:39] Nar**
who bore him a son.
**[21:42] Nar**
Kagekatsu was fifty years old at the time.
**[21:46] Kanetsugu**
Kagekatsu-sama...
**[21:48] Kakegatsu**
There'll be no more talk from
you about dying as a criminal.
**[21:56] Kanetsugu**
Ordering a samurai to not die...
now that's a harsh command.
**[22:06] Suibara**
Oh?
**[22:08] Suibara**
Huh?
***SIGN*** Episode 22 The Whereabouts of the Bodhisattva Statue
**[23:40] Nar**
Next time on *Gifuu Doudou:
Kanetsugu and Keiji*:
**[23:44] Narr**
Episode 22
"The Whereabouts of the Bodhisattva Statue."
**[23:49] Narr**
Let us discuss the path
of righteousness next time, as well.