Original subtitles

You've really hung in there.

What a healthy boy.

Yes.

In January of 1887...

Mine returned to Kyoto with Ise Tokio,

who was now a teacher at Doshisha School.

She gave birth to their first son, Heima.

You should rest a bit.

I'll take him.

Please stop crying.

It's a baby's job to cry.

He has a spirited cry.

I am grateful you allowed me to marry your precious heiress.

Hisae's husband will succeed the Yamamoto family.

Aunty, place your right hand higher.

By the head.

Like this?

Yes.

Kenjiro.

TOKUTOMI KENJIRO

Kenjiro, younger brother of Iichiro, was staying

with his cousin Ise Tokio while attending Doshisha.

Thank you for letting me borrow this. I enjoyed it.

Don't you have to go back?

It's all right. I'm just a troublesome daughter.

Miss Hisae.

What about you?

I'm a troublesome freeloader.

What shall I borrow next?

What's this one?

Future Japan?

My brother wrote it.

Rather than that political journalism...

A novel?

Yes.

Novels were becoming popular with the youths.

It was the dawn of modern literature.

YAE NO SAKURA

Episode 46: Elope

Screenplay: Yamamoto Mutsumi

Theme Music: Sakamoto Ryuichi Music: Nakajima Nobuyuki

Narrator: Kusabue Mitsuko

Niijima Yae: Ayase Haruka

Yamamoto Kakuma: Nishijima Hidetoshi

Niijima Jo: Odagiri Joe

Hinata Yuki: Gouriki Ayane

Yamamoto Tokie: Tanimura Mitsuki

Yamakawa Kenjiro: Katsuji Ryo

Tokutomi Iichiro: Nakamura Aoi

Niijima Tamiji: Shimizu Koji

Yamamoto Saku: Fubuki Jun

Executive Producer: Naito Shinsuke

Translation by MTI

Director: Kiyomizu Takuya

Jo, it's time for your medicine.

Yes.

You're concentrating hard again.

What are you writing?

I'm writing the preface for the next Future Japan.

For Iichiro's book?

Sales are good, so the next one will be the third issue.

Sales are that good?

Iichiro who advocates democracy is the leading polemic man.

Iichiro used to be such a rascal.

But he's not the only one.

What is this?

A magazine started by students who idolize him.

His brother's Kenjiro's novel is in it.

Novel?

The Tokutomi brothers have literary talent.

At this time, Iichiro published Japan's first

general news magazine, The People's Friend.

Iichiro, it's ready to be distributed nationwide.

The People's Friend would develop into a magazine

that towed journalism during the Meiji period.

What will happen to the student and the geisha?

He becomes a slave to love...

Do you think he'll choose his studies or love?

Stop talking nonsense.

Professor Yamakawa!

Our university's students shouldn't be reading novels.

You've no time for such vulgar entertainment.

University of Tokyo is now the Imperial University.

You must lead Japan in the right direction.

Yes, sir.

I refused to be drafted.

Draft and imprisonment are side by side.

China and Russia are keeping Japan in check over Korea.

We can't lose.

the great powers are occupying more of Asia.

If we're not prepared, we'll be usurped.

Thank you. I enjoy reading this novel.

Oh.

Are you reading an English book today?

It's Les Miserables.

What kind of story is it?

Come.

A sinful man devotes his life to a prostitute's daughter.

What is sin and love?

What is love?

I'm going to write novels.

I want to write about how people are.

I'd like to read your novels.

You can't even come close to Mr. Iichiro.

Stop talking big.

Don't disrupt the air in Doshisha School.

You read such unmanly books.

Aren't you ashamed of your bad grades?

What about your actions?

You shouldn't talk!

Your mother tainted the school's reputation!

Hey!

What?

There you are.

Miss Hisae, please come at once.

What are you doing? Hurry!

Mine...?

She just passed away.

She held Heima in her weak arms...

and smiled until the end.

She must have felt remorseful.

Mother...

After she survived that cruel war!

Just when she could be happy after Heima was born!

Why?

If there's a god, why didn't he take my life instead?

Don't say that!

That will sadden Mine.

Mine...

Heima...

and Hisae were all...

separated from their mothers!

Mine's funeral service was held at Doshisha.

It's a keepsake of hers.

Please give this to Hisae.

Hisae is exceptionally smart.

I want her to study hard and live as she pleases.

Mine...

Hisae suffered greatly.

I know how she feels.

Aunty...

Please take care of Hisae.

I'll do anything I can for you.

I do not intend to ask for your help.

Hisae...

I can't rely on someone who kicked out my mother.

Hisae!

She's not your mother!

She's not related to the Yamamoto family!

Leave quickly!

Stop it!

Don't be mean to Mother!

Were you told something unpleasant?

I am the heiress.

But I want to leave.

I'll be criticized for life because of my mother.

Mothers are humans too.

They get tempted.

We all hide that in life.

I think that your mother is humane.

TOKUTOMI

ROKA

I read your novel.

Isn't this your pen name?

Tokutomi Roka.

A reed is not promising...

by Seishonagon?

Yes.

I'm like a reed compared to my brother.

But that suits me better.

What is it?

From the day after Mine's funeral...

Tamiji was in bed with an aggravated cold.

Here you are.

Thank you, Yae.

I'm sorry to trouble you at this difficult time.

He got wet from the rain at Mine's funeral service.

Eat a lot and gain strength.

Thank you very much.

How is Ise doing? He has an infant to care for.

Hisae is helping with the housework.

I heard she's very smart.

Yes. She's one of the top two in girls' school.

Smart means sensitive.

She must be hurt by her parents' divorce.

I want to raise her properly like a mother.

But it's not that easy.

You can't control your child.

I'm sorry.

I'm glad you went off to America on your own.

Had you confided in me, I'd have objected to it.

It's hard for a father to have complete faith in his child.

Father....

When a Christian college is established in Kyoto....

it should be amusing.

Shimeta...work hard at it.

I will.

A few days later, Tamiji also passed away.

Is that your father's?

Then in June...

Mr. Niijima's relative is violating the rules.

She's that woman's daughter.

Who are you talking about?

There were rumors that Hisae and Kenjiro were dating.

They aren't false rumors, but the truth.

What?

Kenjiro gave me this.

Let us endure through tribulations and pain.

To my future wife, from your future husband.

Wife?

We are getting married.

Don't be ridiculous.

Kenjiro is quitting Doshisha to be a novelist in Tokyo.

I'm going to Tokyo with him.

You're still a student. You can't get married.

I'm the daughter of the woman you kicked out.

You'll get rid of the nuisance.

Please kick me out too.

You're not a nuisance!

I'm objecting as your family!

This marriage isn't good for you.

You have no right to object!

Don't act like my mother!

In Les Miserables...

there's a mother staking her life for her child.

If you read it, you should know how it feels.

I'm just worried about you.

Novels are just fantasy.

Novels aren't fantasy.

They depict the true human nature.

That is why I'll write novels and earn a name for myself.

You say that, but...

But I can't get married yet.

Kenjiro?

This is not the right time.

Hisae got carried away?

Yes. Kenjiro talks big.

He's acting like a child.

A Meiji generation.

Unlike the past, status and family means nothing.

Survival on one's ability alone can be frightening.

Still, he's too weak-kneed.

At that age, you were studying hard for the clan.

Youngsters these days!

You've reached the age to say these things!

When I was yet a young girl,

I used to be told, "Youngsters these days!"

Hisae should calm down during the summer break.

In July, Jo and Yae went to Hokkaido to relax.

Did you sneak on board the American ship from here?

It was the most exciting travel in my life.

Yae and Jo headed to Sapporo.

They heard Hinata Yuki, Yae's childhood friend,

lived in Sapporo now.

Hello.

Who are you?

I'm Niijima Yae.

I heard Hinata Yuki lives here.

She's my mother.

What?

I'll go and get her.

She has a grown son.

Yae!

Yuki!

You look good.

So do you!

It's good to see you.

My wife has told me a lot about you.

He's my husband, Naito Kanetomo.

Are you from Satsuma?

Nice to meet you. I'm Niijima Yae.

I haven't seen you since that day.

The alarm sounded.

Yuki!

Yae, why are you dressed like that?

Hurry! Everyone is heading to the castle!

Alright. We'll leave soon.

We missed our chance to enter the castle.

We were running about in the mountains.

After the war, we couldn't earn a living in Tonami.

So we came to work in Hakodate.

You must have suffered a great deal.

It's nothing compared to you, who fought with a rifle.

I didn't expect to see you 20 years later.

We both survived well.

You seem happy now.

He must be kind to you.

Everyone objected to my marrying a Satsuma man.

It was a hard decision but he's a good man.

I've been married for 15 years now.

Oh!

Go and get the bath ready!

Yes!

You're a scary mother now.

What about you?

I wasn't blessed with any children.

I see.

I'm taking care of my 16 years old niece now,

who is Mine's younger sister.

She wants to quit school and get married.

He's a student who wants to be a novelist.

I objected out of concern.

But she said I'm not her mother.

How do I become motherly?

That's unlike you.

When I was in Tonami...

when I thought of getting married or was in pain...

I'd think of what you would do.

Even if there is an obstacle, you would pave your own way.

You practiced shooting against your father's will.

And you married a missionary.

Yuki...

When in doubt, don't try to act motherly.

Just be yourself.

You may be right.

You seem like the senior.

You're absorbed in your reading.

What book is it?

Les Miserables.

The English words are hard.

I may have been...

over-eager to be Hisae's mother.

Yae.

We have over a thousand children now.

They are our students.

Thanks to your being with me...

I was blessed with many children.

Jo...

Yae and Jo spent their summer in Hokkaido...

and returned to Kyoto to prepare for the new fall semester.

How did you get all these books?

I bought them cheaply in bulk from Tokutomi.

From Tokutomi?

I want this.

Alright.

Miss Hisae, I've sold all my household effects.

I now have money to go to Kyoto.

Please come with me.

Kenjiro?

He didn't show up this morning.

When I checked his room, it was empty.

Yae!

Mother, what's wrong?

Is Hisae at school?

What?

I didn't see her from morning so I thought she might be here.

Are they together?

Let's search for them.

I'm sorry for asking you to come here.

I wanted to say goodbye to my sister before we leave.

Hisae!

Why did you skip school?

We are going to Tokyo from now.

Are you leaving without a word because we objected?

Kenjiro.

Didn't you want to write about true human nature?

Do you have confidence to make it as a novelist?

Yes, I have.

Are you sure?

I'm terrified.

I don't have any confidence.

No...

I'm pathetic.

I tell lies.

I am not brilliant like my older brother.

I despise my brother.

But I also envy him.

Kenjiro...

But isn't that human?

Isn't everyone struggling to become decent people?

I...

I want to write about that true side of people.

I have to, to stay true to myself.

I'm not writing novels to eat.

I eat to write!

When you do something out of the ordinary...

that may be how it is.

All right.

Hisae.

If that's what you want, I'll give you my support.

Don't elope though.

You won't be able to come home.

Aunty...

You'll surely face hardships in Tokyo.

But hardships don't equate to unhappiness.

Kenjiro, please do make Hisae happy.

Okay...let's go back.

A few days later...

Yae!

Jo, what's the matter?

It's a letter from Kenjiro.

He went to Kyoto alone.

I cannot stop this feeling anymore.

I am ashamed of my selfishness.

TOKUTOMI ROKA

Kenjiro?

Thank you for everything.

Sincerely, Tokutomi Roka.

I knew it would come to this.

He's a selfish person.

Hisae...

But he was very honest.

I just wasn't in the path he chose.

I love to study.

I want to study more.

Aunty.

Thank you very much.

She'll be fine.

This hurts more than my own pain.

That's how it is for all mothers.

Understand?

You suffer when you have a tomboy daughter.

Mother...

I guess you are right.

END OF EPISODE 46

I heard you were soliciting donations.

Why didn't you come to me?

It's a college for the people. Ask the people for support.

It's a manifesto for a new Japan.

It may be the end if he has another attack.

I have things to do.

I am so close!

Death is catching up to me!

You're more important than the college!