About this season
Zankuro Matsudaira (Ken Watanabe) is a low-grade vassal of the Tokugawa Shogun, forced to moonlight as a bodyguard and executioner to make ends meet. He also has a drinking problem, an overeating mother, and a propensity to protect the oppressed, all of which eat into his finances. His confident mother Masajo (Kyoko Kishida) is the descendant of a famous family of shogunate retainers and a mistress of the pen and sword, who regards her son as a failure.
Episodes (10)
1
E1
1. Mother
Aired 17 March 1999
2
E2
2. The Man Who Went Away
Aired 24 March 1999
3
E3
3. The Otone Moon
Aired 31 March 1999
4
E4
4. Love Letter
Aired 7 April 1999
5
E5
5. Trap Within a Trap
Aired 14 April 1999
6
E6
6. Prison Break
Aired 21 April 1999
7
E7
7. Samurai Training
Aired 28 April 1999
8
E8
8. Woman in Sight
Aired 5 May 1999
9
E9
9. Persecuted Outcast
Aired 12 May 1999
10
E10
10. Being a Man
Aired 19 May 1999