Castle Under Fiery Skies (2009) - full transcript
An achievement-type of story: a builder/carpenter/architect goes through trials and tribulations to construct an impressive castle for his employer, the major Japanese historical figure, Oda Nobunaga.
Production: ION COSMETICS YOMIURI RENGO
ADVERTISING AGENCY TOEI CM FILM FACE CO, LTD.
Production Company: FILM FACE Produced in
Cooperation with: TOEI KYOTO FILM STUDIO
Executive Producer: KAWAHATA Susumu
CASTLE UNDER FIERY SKIES
(Katen no Shiro)
This is a tale from 500 years ago.
Japan was still in a time
of turmoil and war.
Oda Nobunaga, ruler of Owari Province,
built a type of castle
previously unseen to the world.
Its name, Azuchi Castle.
But, for vanishing in a mere three years,
it has come to be
called "The Phantom Castle."
The year 1576, Atsuta.
It's slipping!
It's slipping over here!
Kuma! Stop!
Kuma!
Kuma.
You cannot make the wood
listen to you by using brute force.
Handle it more gently
Like a woman, okay?
Dad!
The samurai are coming this way
it's the lord, Sir Oda!
What?
Okabe Mataemon!
Is Atsuta's shrine and palace
builder, Okabe Mataemon here?!
PALACE BOARD GROUP OF CARPENTERS Is Atsuta's
shrine and palace builder, Okabe Mataemon here?!
PALACE BOARD GROUP OF CARPENTERS
PALACE BOARD GROUP OF CARPENTERS
Yes, sir!
PALACE BOARD GROUP OF CARPENTERS
My lord, Mataemon at your service.
Mataemon...
I'm thirsty
If I may humbly ask...
Is there anything my lord,
still wishes from me?
Mount Azuchi.
Mount Azuchi?
All of it...
All of it?
Shall be made into a castle.
You aim to make an entire
mountain into a castle?
The main keep five floors high!
A main keep standing five floors high, that
is something I have not seen nor heard of.
Can you do it?
Does your silence mean you can't?
You may begin designing it now.
First of all,
whether you can build a
five storied building or not,
answer me this one thing!
I will build it.
Well said.
Magistrate.
It seems that Okabe Mataemon of
Atsuta's shrine and palace carpenters,
has happily undertaken building a
castle with a five story main keep.
What? Mataemon has?
A country carpenter who
doesn't know his place!
Magistrate of Castle Construction,
please tell me you're not
leaving this to Mataemon?
This was decided by the lord.
By the lord?
- Yes.
But it's impossible for that country
carpenter to erect a five floor castle keep.
If anyone can make him
do it, it's the lord.
Hey Chief!
Is the master serious?
A five floors tall keep?
Of course.
It'll be a once in a lifetime undertaking!
A five floor castle keep,
there's no way we can build that!
It's just too much for us.
Impossible, just impossible!
If we follow master, we can do it.
Master's hand is the hand of god.
One day I will be a carpenter
of the same caliber as Master.
Me 1100!
As if you ever could!
Dear.
Please, rest a little.
A five story tall castle keep,
sounds like a dream, doesn't it?
Yes, never and nowhere,
has a carpenter built a
main keep like this before.
Then you will be the first.
You'll say anything so lightly
You're really building
the castle, aren't you?
Oh, Tazu,
I'm going to Azuchi tomorrow,
please do the preparations.
Lake Nio (aka Lake Biwa).
Don't fall behind to the lord!
Over there!
You're too slow!
Drive the stake down!
String up the rope!
Don't fall behind to the lord!
You're too slow!
Hurry!
Hurry!
Sir Kimura!
Sir Kimura!
What is happening here?
Isn't it obvious?!
It's the territory for the castle!
What?
Hurry!
- The castle's?
From that mountain top...
To way over there?
- Yeah!
I've never heard of a castle this size!
The lord says outrageous things.
Hey! Hurry up!
You're too slow!
Over there!
My lord!
Hey!
I'm sorry to have kept you waiting.
Mataemon.
- Yes, sir!
What can you see?
Lake Nio.
Behind that is the Hira mountain ridges...
My lord...
At that mountains foot lies Sekigahara.
And behind that?
Owari...
Mikawa...
Totomi...
Suruga, Sagami and Musashi.
Over there is Osaka,
and the port town of Sakai.
Beyond that is the capital,
Kyoto, where the emperor lives.
This place...
in the heart of the nation of Japan.
That is why my lord is planning
Azuchi Castle here.
Are you truly building
this castle all the way
throughout the distant
roped off territory below?
Building earthen wall embankments,
I will protect the people
from this world of war.
The people living in
the nation of Japan...
who else will care for them?
The Japanese people.
Mataemon.
- Yes, sir!
This is the future of battle.
Yes, sir!
Fire!
My lord, I have a question.
What is that round thing?
"Mapa Mundo."
Wasn't it, Orugan?
- Yes, my lord.
Is it an explosive?
You guessed right.
You spin it like this...
and BOOM!
"Mapa" means "map",
"mundo" means "the world."
it's a "globe."
"Globe?"
The world is round like this.
Japan is right here.
This small island country
Mataemon.
- Yes, sir!
The faraway Western Christian's
castles, are apparently wide open,
all the way up to the roofs.
Let's build our Azuchi Castle
without floors and ceilings
up to the fourth floor.
Make it an atrium.
I'll have the main keep as my throne.
If I may..
The main keep, an atrium,
and my lord, do you intend to live there?
Of course.
That's...
I've changed my mind.
The one who'll build the castle,
shall be decided by a
blueprint competition.
BLUEPRINT DIRECTIVE
The lord is not a kind man!
In the end, it's too big a job for a
country carpenter like Mataemon.
Mataemon was just used to
get the competition's attention!
You are too loud!
Hey!
It's a treat from the high priest!
Dad!
Look, dad is back!
Here!
Rin, did you know?
This world is round, just like this melon.
Nonsense!
No matter how far you
go, the world is flat!
If it was round, the
ocean water would spill.
Lord Nobunaga said that it's round!
Lord Nobunaga...
Must be a liar then!
You're one to talk.
Making fun of the lord...
The builder will be decided with
a blueprint competition.
Blueprint competition?
The competition will be the
builder of Kinkaku-ji Temple,
Ikegami Goroemon of the Ikegami family
and the builder of a giant Buddha in Nara,
Nagai Magodayu of the Nagai clan.
You better not lose to them!
Leave it to us!
You lot!
Let's show them the power
and skill of the Okabe Clan!
Yeah!
We'll need 40,000 units of
lumber to build the main keep.
This castle is a monstrosity..!
We're making a small scale model.
First of all, these three main
pillars in the heart of the keep.
Around that, 30 cm squared
pillars to build upwards.
We're putting in the floors?
Yes.
Splendid, as always.
Hideyoshi.
- Yes, sir.
Aren't you hot?
Magistrate of Castle Construction,
aren't we excited about
the blueprint competition?
Yes.
Ikegami Goroemon of Kyoto,
Nagai Magodayu of Nara.
They are both highly skilled men.
Nagahide.
- Yes, sir.
Gather the leaders of all artisan
clans of the 66 provinces that day
All 66 provinces?
That's right.
Personalities.
Minds.
Manners.
Lacking any of these, my
expectations will not be accomplished.
Why didn't he make it an atrium?
I don't know either.
Dad.
Could he win the blueprint competition
with a model without an atrium?
I just follow Master's lead.
"Such an adorable smile...
"So adorable, our child..."
I wish I'd been born a man.
Rin.
If I was a man, I could have
gone to the competition.
Rin.
A woman must not let her smile fade.
Mataemon!
Seibei!
Finally we'll have the
blueprint competition.
Feeling confident?
Like a carp on the cutting board.
We Ano stonemasons
are going as spectators.
Raise the spears!
Presenting Nagai Magodayu
of Nara's blueprint!
Magodayu.
Yes, sir.
This keep looks very reinforced.
Thank you.
The largest building in Japan,
the great Buddha in Nara,
was built by my ancestors.
The great Buddha is 45 meters high.
There is nothing between
the floor and the roof,
it's vastly spacious.
This five story keep,
built by us, with the Nagai
Clan's skill and knowledge,
will stand stronger than
any stone keep ever has.
Splendid.
Magodayu.
Yes, sir.
Can you build it in three years?
Well...
It will take five years.
Presenting Ikegami Goroemon
of Kyoto's blueprint!
Azuchi's castle keep,
shall be painted all
over with white lacquer.
And the two top floor's walls
shall be covered with gold leaf.
It shall be more splendid
than the Kinkaku-ji temple
of the North mountain.
Just what I'd expect of Ikegami.
Oh, I'm grateful for your kind words.
As my lord requested, the
atrium goes up to the fourth floor.
I've placed the watchtowers
on the second floor.
Can you do it?
For the Ikegami family..
Nothing is impossible.
It seems the lord likes Ikegami's idea.
Yes.
I guess this decides it.
Presenting Okabe Mataemon
of Atsuta's blueprint!
Mataemon.
Yes, sir!
What's this?
It's the main keep.
I don't see it.
Explain this "keep."
The most important thing for
a keep is a strong foundation.
Even though it looks like five stories
from the outside, to place watchtowers,
another floor is needed
below the main roof.
Furthermore, for stability
a basement is needed.
Then you can have a stage at the
top from where you can rule the world.
In a five-layered, seven story castle keep.
That's it?
Yes, sir.
What about the atrium?
There is none.
Mataemon!
- Yes, sir!
Don't tell me you forgot what I said.
Do you bear some grudge against me?
Not at all!
If I have not pleased you,
I earnestly beg your forgiveness!
However, I Okabe Mataemon...
have one humble request to you, my lord.
It's regarding your life's safety!
Please, listen to what I have to say
I humbly beg of you!
Sir Ikegami, please forgive me!
What are you doing to my model!
Sir Okabe! Stop it!
Sir Nagai, forgive me!
What are you doing!
- Sir Okabe!
My lord...
If you build an atrium in the keep,
it will be the fire's path
throughout the keep.
You said you intended to live in the keep.
Therefore, building a keep
that protects the lord's life,
is our duty
A path for the fire...
Even if we are replaced,
it's something we cannot build.
Please, forgive us!
With Mataemon's keep,
even if the castle falls...
I can relax and watch the show, right?
Mataemon.
- Yes, sir!
Build it in three years!
Yes, sir!
Okabe Mataemon...
will be my master carpenter!
AZUCHI
Don't let your guard down!
My lord, Takeda's spies could be anywhere.
Moving about by yourself...
The women are working hard, aren't they?
Yes.
If the women are in good spirits,
the country will prosper.
Building a castle, is the
same as building a nation.
Good work!
Please, thank you.
Eat up everyone!
So you stay strong!
Thanks, you're pretty as always, Une.
You! Stop flirting!
Get over here!
Shut up!
You lot!
Don't just go line up for Une!
Line up for my wife as well!
Over here!
You're in the way!
Stop! Switch!
This is hard!
This wood is for the the
3rd of the north part,
and this is the 4th.
- Yes.
Heiji.
- Yes?
This wood goes to the south part.
Use the wood towards the
direction from whence it came.
Trees that grew on the south of the
mountain for the south side of the keep.
Trees that grew on the north
for the north side of the keep.
Master.
Why do you say these trees
are from the south hillside?
Trees from the south side of the
mountain have a lot of branches.
Look closely
The logs with a lot of knots...
are from the south slope.
Trees all have their own personalities.
If you set them in the
directions suited for them,
the keep will stand throughout the ages.
Forward!
Th rust!
Okabe Mataemon humbly requests.
I wish to go and search
for a hinoki cypress tree.
Hinoki cypress?
From Hida?
- Yes, sir!
Hidan hinoki cypress are exquisite.
Be that as it may to
erect a seven storied castle,
we need a main pillar 14.4 meters high,
and 75 centimeters squared wide.
Where is such a hinoki cypress?
In Kiso.
At Agematsu.
What?
Mataemon!
Have you gone mad?!
Kiso is our enemy
that's Takeda Katsuyori's territory!
That's right!
Are you proposing we
engage Takeda in combat?
For a peerless castle...
a peerless hinoki is needed!
If we don't get a hinoki cypress from Kiso,
we will not have a castle
that will last hundreds, nay
thousands of years.
A great time to request
something like that.
Mataemon.
I understand you in your request.
Interesting!
Go ahead!
Is Master going to Kiso?
- It's reckless!
He's going to get himself killed!
Get on with your work.
Get on with your work!
This will be a costly and risky ordeal.
Who decided the value?
My lord, if I may..
Regarding the life of Mataemon,
who went to Kiso...
You are rude!
Learn some manners.
Manners?
I don't care, speak.
If Sir Kiso Yoshimasa...
was to hand over the hinoki to us,
it will arouse Takeda's anger towards us.
If Sir Yoshimasa sides with Takeda...
Mataemon will be killed.
Which do you wish for?
War? r?
Or Mataemon's death?
When you truly wish for something,
you risk your life and go for it.
If you don't have the backbone
for that, you can't succeed!
Either way..
In the end it will be up
to me to settle the matter.
Stop! Hey!
Who goes there?!
Oh, please!
I seek an audience with Sir Kiso Yoshimasa.
You have nothing to fear from me.
I come bearing a message
from Sir Oda Nobunaga of Owari.
Oda you say!
Seize him!
Move it!
Hurry up!
Sir Okabe...
are you Oda's magistrate
of castle construction?
No...
I'm the master carpenter of the new castle.
Master carpenter?
What?!
A mere worker?!
When wishing for a hinoki cypress,
the one asking being a worker,
should only be natural.
This is Takeda's territory
You must understand you cannot
cut down a hinoki cypress from here.
Yes, I am deeply..
Deeply aware of that.
Even so...
I humbly request this, Sir Kiso Yoshimasa.
Please, I beg of you, listen to my request!
You...!
Coming here as a worker,
are you trying to stir
things up with Takeda?
No!
If this life...
can be used to trade...
I will gladly trade it.
I humbly offer you my life.
In exchange for your
revered Kiso's hinoki cypress.
Please consider letting us have it.
Sir Kiso!
Please, I humbly ask of you!
Please, I humbly ask of you!
Sir Kiso!
Please, I humbly ask of you!
Please!
Please, I humbly ask of you!
Sir Kiso!
Please, I humbly ask of you!
Please, I humbly ask of you!
Please, I humbly ask of you!
God of the mountains!
One of your trees,
goes to sleep!
How about it?
A fine hinoki cypress, isn't it?
It's no good.
Please, the next one.
It has to be cut as a 14.4 meters high,
and 75 centimeters squared
wide piece of lumber?
That's right.
The base needs to be...
maybe 150, 180 centimeters in diameter.
Don't be silly!
This hinoki cypress here must
have taken at least 100 years to grow.
One at 150 centimeters would
be a sacred tree 2,000 years old!
There's no such hinoki cypress.
If there is none that thick,
we cannot build a seven storied keep.
If there was one, you're going to build that?
- Yes!
I will build it.
Dad!
A real carpenter doesn't waste wood!
Pick it up!
I can't do anything right.
Hey
You're just like me when I was young.
I was clumsy as well.
Ichi.
- Yes?
Clumsiness is a treasure.
A clumsy man thinks about what he's doing,
he plans and works hard.
Day after day relentlessly going
to work, and before you know it,
he'll be able to plan with his heart.
He'll feel his work in his body therefore,
be glad you're clumsy
Okay?
Yes.
Well, this isn't really coming from me.
Long ago, the master
told me the same thing.
Master did?
- Yes.
You, brat!
Get over here!
What are you doing?!
Fool!
Aren't you going to apologize?!
What are you doing?!
Stop it!
- What?
Who do you think you are?!
What are you doing to Une?!
I won't forgive someone who
lays his hands on Une!
Fight me!
Stop this!
How about that!
The best hinoki cypress in Kiso.
What's so funny?
Are you making fun of me?!
The lumberjacks of Kiso are peerless.
This can't be a tree you've
brought up with your own hands.
It's done.
I don't care.
You eat.
Are you sure?
I won't hold back.
I'm in your debt.
Delicious!
Sir Jinbei.
Don't look down on me.
I don't need your leftovers!
Oh no, I'm not looking down on you.
I believe in sharing with everyone.
I've always lived like that.
Sir Jinbei.
If I've insulted you, I'm sorry
Forgive me.
A seven storied keep?
It's something unimaginable.
If you really build it...
I want to see it for myself.
Jinbei...
Show him an adequate hinoki cypress,
and send him home empty handed.
Tomorrow we climb down the mountain.
It exists, I know it.
A divine giant tree, it must exist.
There it is!
I found it!
A peerless hinoki cypress!
I found it!
It's a peerless hinoki cypress!
Sir Jinbei.
Finally!
We finally found it!
A peerless hinoki cypress!
Please!
This divine tree is sacred to Ise...
an heirloom of our lands.
This tree...
This mountain...
It has raised this tree for 2,000 years!
Yes.
A keep that would survive
those 2,000 years of hardship...
that's what I wish to build.
That is all.
Sir Jinbei!
Please let me have it!
Please!
You can't have this tree!
Give up and go back!
Wait for the heavy rain.
I'll risk it on your dream.
Sir Jinbei...!
I'm in your debt.
Get out of my sight!
I'm in your debt.
You fool!
- I'm in your debt.
I'm in your debt.
Get lost!
Yakichi!
Yes, sir!
Get five skilled workers!
What is going on?
War!
We're building a stronghold!
Sir Nakagawa.
With all due respect...
We leave tomorrow!
This is an order!
Why does it have to be
while our master isn't here.
If we don't send anyone,
the Okabe clan will be shamed.
- We won't just be shamed!
If we don't obey Sir Nobunaga,
our master's head will fly
If we join the fighting, we might die.
Please! I don't want to!
I'll go!
Heiji, if you go we
won't make any progress!
Then who's going?
I'll go.
Ichizo.
Dad, it's all right.
Four more men.
Is it true you're going to war?
I don't want to run away from it.
Ichizo!
Building forts in war
zones is a part of our job.
If I don't make it through
a real fighting scene,
I'll never be a full fledged carpenter.
I'm indebted to my dad, Yakichi.
When I was starving to death
he adopted and raised me.
I want to repay him!
I'll come back as a carpenter
of the master's caliber.
Going to war is your
way of repaying him?
Do you want to die that badly?!
Whatever.
Go to war then!
Go do whatever you want!
Ichizo's finally all grown up, too?
He still has along way to go.
ICHIZO
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
- What are you doing!
Rin!
Ichizo!
Rin.
Ichizo!
Take this!
What?
Ichizo, let's go!
Rin.
Master!
Master!
You're okay!
I just got back.
Welcome back.
We...
We didn't come here to fight.
We came to build a castle.
Kumazo!
- It's okay Yakichi.
Everyone believed in you, master.
And came here from Atsuta.
But still...
Kuma...!
Hey Kuma!
Here we go!
Mataemon!
Oh! Sir Niwa.
The hinoki cypress isn't here yet?
When will it come?
When heavy rain falls, it will surely come.
Heavy rain?
- Yes.
I've made a promise
with a lumberjack of Kiso.
Can we trust him?
Yes, we can.
You have two years left.
If you break your promise
to the lord you'll be beheaded.
Don't forget that.
"Morning sun, evening sun, dokkoisho!
"The monk is hairy dokkoisho!
"The radishes grow fat, dokkoisho!
"Slender mountain potatoes, dokkoisho!
"Icky-sticky grinding
mortars are popular as well!
"Popular as well!
"Aryaryan-ryan!"
Une!
Come have a drink with me!
What are you doing?
When are Ichizo and Tasuke coming back?!
The war takes our men,
and the hinoki cypress doesn't come.
How can we build a castle like this?
Slowly slowly!
All right, pull!
Hey!
They're back!
They're back from the war!
Hey! We won!
Victory!
Tasuke, where's Ichizo?
Where's Ichizo?
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Thank you so much.
Excuse us.
Let's get going!
Yes, sir!
Rin.
Dad's a cruel man!
Castle, castle, castle...!
For the castle he'll even
throw away his friends!
People's lives mean nothing to him!
I won't forgive you for looking down on
your father like that.
ICHIZO
Do you believe the hinoki
cypress from Kiso will come?
You have too much faith in people.
Everyone cares about
their own people first.
The enemy's carpenter,
whom they owe nothing too;
Who would betray their own
lord for someone like that?
Kuma.
Kuma!
The size is wrong.
Pay attention.
This is exactly the same
as Master's blue print.
Do it over!
Master is wrong, not me!
What did you say?!
Kuma!
Chief!
Heiji!
Stop it!
What's this about?
Kumazo!
Master.
Can you really build the castle?
You were tricked!
No matter how long we wait,
the hinoki cypress won't come.
Kumazo!
If we can't build the castle,
what will happen to us?
Ichizo!
Ichizo will have died in vain!
I'm no good at managing people.
What's so funny?
It's not like you.
Why are you always smiling?
If you don't like it, I apologize.
I'm not asking you to apologize!
You're always like that!
No matter what happens you're smiling.
Am I that funny?
Failing at my job,
getting upset, do you
think I look like a fool?!
Absolutely not.
It's my father's teachings.
Women, are the main pillar of a household.
No matter what, they must keep
smiling, that's how I was raised.
You're a good daddy's girl, aren't you?
He taught me that a house without a woman's
smile is like a house without sunrise.
So I've tried to keep smiling.
If it was not to your liking,
I ask your forgiveness.
Laugh it up then!
Raise your voice and laugh!
Dear...
Don't you try to understand
other people's feelings?
Behind the smile,
just how much sadness a person is hiding,
is that something you cannot see?
I'm no different from you.
Men, women, everyone cries.
Showing those tears to others
or hiding them behind a smile...
is the difference.
Tazu.
Your father was a good man, wasn't he?
Mataemon.
Oh! Seibei!
It's moon watching sake?
Want some?
Sure.
Look, Mataemon!
This rock must be at least 1,100 tons.
This is a guardian of the mountain.
A guardian?
To me it just looks like a rock.
It's marble.
Marble?
Here, you see this snakelike pattern?
I see.
If you move this rock, you'll be cursed.
Mataemon, in this world,
no matter how hard you try
some things won't turn out
how you'd like them too.
That's why we Ano stonemasons,
fear the stone, and honor the stone!
We ask the stone to teach us.
And we believe in the
hidden powers of the rock.
Asking the stone to teach you.
I just learned something, from Tazu.
Women are strong.
Did you just figure it out?
We're no match to women.
No match!
No match!
Master!
Thank you!
Sir Jinbei!
The peerless hinoki cypress!
We humbly await its arrival!
Everyone!
Are you ready?
Yeah!
Master!
It's a raft!
It's a raft!
It's the hinoki!
It's the hinoki!
Une! it's here!
Finally it's time to build the main keep.
Yes, now it's my turn!
Sir Hashiba!
Hey! Mataemon!
I heard this was going to be
the main pillar of the keep,
so I brought it myself!
It's a magnificent giant piece of lumber!
Sir Jinbei!
Mataemon.
- Yes!
Will this hinoki cypress support
the world's greatest castle?
Yes.
By the spirit of myself,
carpenter Okabe Mataemon,
and the lumberjack Jinbei.
It will be built, you will see.
With the tree that reached for the skies,
it will definitely be built!
Why did you hand over
our divine tree to Oda?
Why?!
A mere lumberjack, betraying me.
A mere lumberjack?
What?!
That man doesn't
discriminate between people.
He understood the people of the mountain!
That made me so happy
Stop that nonsense!
Kiso's hinoki cypresses are divine.
They have no enemies nor allies!
Thousands of years old hinoki cypresses,
finding the most appropriate
place for them,
is our job as lumberjacks!
Take it back!
I'll have your head!
Go ahead and take it.
If you say so!
Wait.
Give him a respectful burial.
Yes, sir!
- Get to it!
I'm sending you the
hinoki cypress, as promised.
Sir Mataemon, I treasure my bond with you,
you who understood the
hearts of my mountain people.
I'm sad to part with you, Sir Mataemon.
I wanted to walk the
mountains with you one more time.
A peerless hinoki cypress,
for a peerless castle.
I wanted to see it with my own eyes.
You showed me a wonderful dream.
I leave the rest to you.
THE YEAR 1577, SUMMER
Are you ready!
Yes!
Pull the rope!
Yes!
Put it up!
Let's do it!
Here we go!
Here we go!
Here we go!
Here we go!
Here we go!
A demon!
A demon is heading this way!
A demon is coming!
A huge demon is coming!
I came when I heard
Sir Nobunaga's castle
building was making this a busy place!
I guess no one ever saw a
Southern barbarian before though?
Never in my life!
How beautiful!
Across the sea there are loads
of hopes and dreams to be found!
Everyone must find happiness!
Free markets and open
trading will change the world!
The world is a wide and wonderful place!
Watch your footing!
Listen to the voices of the trees!
Yes sir!
You're so lucky Rin!
Your mother said she's making
your wedding dress with that!
It's going to be a chilly night,
make sure you don't catch a cold.
Tazu.
You take care of yourself as well.
I'm fine.
No, I'm all right.
No, I'm fine.
- No, I'm all right.
Take care.
- I'll be going.
I'll go.
Thanks.
Missus!
Master!
Oh, Tomekichi.
Your missus is here.
- Oh?
Tazu.
You forgot this.
- Oh!
Thank you.
THE YEAR 1578, SPRING
This is a wonderful rock!
It's marble.
It's rare to find this serpent pattern.
I'm sure this will make the lord happy
Seibei, bring this to the
headquarters as soon as possible!
This marble is the incarnation
of the mountain's spirit.
If it was moved, we'll be cursed.
What?
What a sorry excuse for a stonemason!
Determination will let you move it.
Don't you have the guts?
It cannot be done.
What if we remove your head?
Sir Kimura!
Please stop.
Please, I beg of you!
One should trust the experts.
Matters of stone,
should be entrusted to Seibei,
that's what I believe.
Mataemon, you should be quiet.
Sir Niwa.
- Quiet!
You dare speak your mind to the
magistrate of castle construction?!
Know your place!
Please stop!
I, Tonami Seibei...
will handle the moving of this marble rock.
Mother!
It's nothing, don't worry about me.
I'm all right.
Rin.
Mother.
Tazu, what's wrong?
Welcome home.
It's nothing to worry about.
Mother.
- Really I'm all right.
Okay
We heard that weaving woolen's
hair into the rope makes it stronger.
This is from everyone.
Une.
Hair is a woman's life.
Still, you...
Here.
Hey!
Kumazo...
Is Sir Nobunaga coming
when the rock is lifted?
Yeah, I heard he'll be
leading his troops here.
Oh? I can't wait.
Une!
When we've built the keep...
Will you marry me?
We've been assigned to
move the 1,100 ton boulder!
Brace yourselves.
Yes, sir!
Mother, are you all right?
I wish father could be here,
at least at times like this.
Rin.
A woman must not let her smile fade.
Your father...
please understand him.
Rin.
Your father...
being with me...
has made me so happy
Mother...
Move!
Move!
Tazu!
Tazu?
Tazu!
Wake up!
Tazu!
Tazu!
Wake up!
Tazu!
Tazu!
Tazu!
Why aren't you breathing?!
Tazu! Wake up!
Wake up!
Tazu!
Tazu!
"This child, is my beloved.
"My beloved, this child is.
"Such an adorable smile.
"So adorable, our child."
Father.
Father!
At least stay next to
mother, just for today
Pull!
Put your backs into it!
Give it your everything!
Hey over there!
This way!
Don't stop!
Watch out!
My lord!
Une!
My lord!
Kumazo, wait!
Kumazo!
Une!
Une!
What are you doing to Une!
Kuma!
Anyone who lays a hand on Une...!
Kumazo!
I, won't forgive them...!
Kuma... zo...
Une...
All construction tomorrow will be halted.
The tile roofer, the plasterer,
please tell that to all the
leaders of the craftsmen.
My lord.
Mataemon.
- Yes, sir.
Call the workers back to construction.
I can't.
You go against my word?
Yes.
Who do you think you are?!
My lord.
Yesterday's bloodshed.
Just as you saw, my lord.
Listen Mataemon.
On a battlefield, thousands and tens
of thousands of soldiers lose their lives.
Construction is your people's battlefield.
With battle comes death,
there's no need for pity
Mataemon!
When did you become a coward?!
Get back to work immediately!
My lord...
Halting construction is not
for the sake of the dead,
nor to hold their funerals.
Above all...
the survivors, who will continue the work,
those workers, it's for their sake.
When building with lumber,
you listen to the wood...
and build.
Construction is,
putting all the workers'
hearts together, to build.
If the workers' hearts are
separated from their work...
My lord...
It just will not do!
Please!
I beg of you!
No!
Father!
Rin.
Father?
Something's wrong.
I'll look into it.
I'll get everyone!
- No!
No need, don't go.
Everyone's recovering.
I can do it alone.
Rin!
Don't come!
Rin.
I told you not to come.
Father.
Is the castle all right?
It's all right.
It's all right.
We've used a peerless hinoki cypress
and made a peerless main pillar.
And put it all together
with peerless craftsmen.
All of my carpenters have held it up.
Tazu held it up.
Rin...
You held it up.
Mother's feelings...
I understand them now.
Father.
Thank you.
Rin!
Master!
Master!
Don't distance yourself!
Father!
- We don't need no day off!
We all came here to build a castle!
That's right!
Master!
Everyone, listen.
The pillars...
around the main pillar have sunk.
And now the main pillar
alone is supporting the castle.
This storm...
If we leave it like this,
either the beams will fold...
or the main pillar will split.
Either way the keep
will come crashing down.
Don't panic!
Don't panic.
There is a way
This main pillar.
We cut it, by 12 centimeters.
Master, that's impossible.
It's impossible!
It's not impossible!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichi! You're alive!
Master's hand...
Is the hand of god.
Listen up.
This will require more lift than
anything we've ever done.
Hit the wedges hard.
Mataemon!
Mataemon!
- Seibei!
We've come to lend a hand!
Thank you.
Master!
Master!
Is there anything we can do to help?
Master!
Thank you!
With everyone's strength,
we'll lift up the main pillar
and cut off 12 centimeters.
In any previous construction,
you will not have known such
weight as you are about to.
Prepare yourself.
Yes!
Heiji.
Everyone, take a deep breath and let's go!
Yes!
Are you ready!
Yes!
Here we go!
Here we go!
Here we go!
Stop!
Hold it!
Everyone, hang on!
Tasuke.
One-two!
Please bear with it!
Everyone!
Please bear with it!
Endure!
Until our chief is finished!
Okay!
Please bear with it!
Bear with it!
Please bear with it!
You can't make it alone!
Ichizo.
Ichizo!
Please!
Everyone, please!
Bear with it!
Heiji!
- Okay!
All right!
Everyone!
Brace yourselves one more time!
Let's do this!
Here we go!
Here we go!
All of you...
you're the hands of god.
Mother...
Master!
Father!
It's a wonderful construction.
Construction isn't just
putting wood together
It's putting people's hearts together
That's what Mataemon said.
Ruling is the same thing.
Forgetting the people,
and running after your own interests,
will cause the country to go under.
Building a castle,
is the same as building a nation.
Purification is what's true in the world.
A chaste and calm person,
is one suited to rule.
This is the lesson I've learned.
In July of the year 1581...
Nobunaga had come to
appreciate the workers' labor
Always in dazzling light,
in five layers, with seven stories,
he erected Azuchi Castle.
Translated by Yukiko Subtitled and Mastered by
Ichiban Special Thanks to Ruronin, Katana & Shodan
NISHIDA Toshiyuki
FUKUDA Saki
SHIINA Kippei
TERAJIMA Susumu YAMAMOTO Taro
ISHIDA Takuya Ai Jyon Myon
MAEDA Ken UEDA Koichi
MIZUNO Miki KUMAGAYA Mami
NISHIOKA Tokuma WATANABE Ikkei
KAWAKI Junichi TAGUCHI Hiromasa
KISHIMOTO Kota FUKUMOTO Seizo
ENDO Shozo UCHIDA Asahi
ISHIBASHI Renji
SASANO Takashi
NATSUYAGI Isao
OGATA Naoto
OTAKE Shinobu
Executive Producer: KAWABATA Susumu
General Producer: KAWABATA Isao
Producer:
SHINDO Junichi, FUJIKAWA Shigeki
Original Story: YAMAMOTO Kenichi
(Bungeishunju Publication)
Screenplay: YOKOTA Yoshi
Director: TANAKA Miisutoshi
ADVERTISING AGENCY TOEI CM FILM FACE CO, LTD.
Production Company: FILM FACE Produced in
Cooperation with: TOEI KYOTO FILM STUDIO
Executive Producer: KAWAHATA Susumu
CASTLE UNDER FIERY SKIES
(Katen no Shiro)
This is a tale from 500 years ago.
Japan was still in a time
of turmoil and war.
Oda Nobunaga, ruler of Owari Province,
built a type of castle
previously unseen to the world.
Its name, Azuchi Castle.
But, for vanishing in a mere three years,
it has come to be
called "The Phantom Castle."
The year 1576, Atsuta.
It's slipping!
It's slipping over here!
Kuma! Stop!
Kuma!
Kuma.
You cannot make the wood
listen to you by using brute force.
Handle it more gently
Like a woman, okay?
Dad!
The samurai are coming this way
it's the lord, Sir Oda!
What?
Okabe Mataemon!
Is Atsuta's shrine and palace
builder, Okabe Mataemon here?!
PALACE BOARD GROUP OF CARPENTERS Is Atsuta's
shrine and palace builder, Okabe Mataemon here?!
PALACE BOARD GROUP OF CARPENTERS
PALACE BOARD GROUP OF CARPENTERS
Yes, sir!
PALACE BOARD GROUP OF CARPENTERS
My lord, Mataemon at your service.
Mataemon...
I'm thirsty
If I may humbly ask...
Is there anything my lord,
still wishes from me?
Mount Azuchi.
Mount Azuchi?
All of it...
All of it?
Shall be made into a castle.
You aim to make an entire
mountain into a castle?
The main keep five floors high!
A main keep standing five floors high, that
is something I have not seen nor heard of.
Can you do it?
Does your silence mean you can't?
You may begin designing it now.
First of all,
whether you can build a
five storied building or not,
answer me this one thing!
I will build it.
Well said.
Magistrate.
It seems that Okabe Mataemon of
Atsuta's shrine and palace carpenters,
has happily undertaken building a
castle with a five story main keep.
What? Mataemon has?
A country carpenter who
doesn't know his place!
Magistrate of Castle Construction,
please tell me you're not
leaving this to Mataemon?
This was decided by the lord.
By the lord?
- Yes.
But it's impossible for that country
carpenter to erect a five floor castle keep.
If anyone can make him
do it, it's the lord.
Hey Chief!
Is the master serious?
A five floors tall keep?
Of course.
It'll be a once in a lifetime undertaking!
A five floor castle keep,
there's no way we can build that!
It's just too much for us.
Impossible, just impossible!
If we follow master, we can do it.
Master's hand is the hand of god.
One day I will be a carpenter
of the same caliber as Master.
Me 1100!
As if you ever could!
Dear.
Please, rest a little.
A five story tall castle keep,
sounds like a dream, doesn't it?
Yes, never and nowhere,
has a carpenter built a
main keep like this before.
Then you will be the first.
You'll say anything so lightly
You're really building
the castle, aren't you?
Oh, Tazu,
I'm going to Azuchi tomorrow,
please do the preparations.
Lake Nio (aka Lake Biwa).
Don't fall behind to the lord!
Over there!
You're too slow!
Drive the stake down!
String up the rope!
Don't fall behind to the lord!
You're too slow!
Hurry!
Hurry!
Sir Kimura!
Sir Kimura!
What is happening here?
Isn't it obvious?!
It's the territory for the castle!
What?
Hurry!
- The castle's?
From that mountain top...
To way over there?
- Yeah!
I've never heard of a castle this size!
The lord says outrageous things.
Hey! Hurry up!
You're too slow!
Over there!
My lord!
Hey!
I'm sorry to have kept you waiting.
Mataemon.
- Yes, sir!
What can you see?
Lake Nio.
Behind that is the Hira mountain ridges...
My lord...
At that mountains foot lies Sekigahara.
And behind that?
Owari...
Mikawa...
Totomi...
Suruga, Sagami and Musashi.
Over there is Osaka,
and the port town of Sakai.
Beyond that is the capital,
Kyoto, where the emperor lives.
This place...
in the heart of the nation of Japan.
That is why my lord is planning
Azuchi Castle here.
Are you truly building
this castle all the way
throughout the distant
roped off territory below?
Building earthen wall embankments,
I will protect the people
from this world of war.
The people living in
the nation of Japan...
who else will care for them?
The Japanese people.
Mataemon.
- Yes, sir!
This is the future of battle.
Yes, sir!
Fire!
My lord, I have a question.
What is that round thing?
"Mapa Mundo."
Wasn't it, Orugan?
- Yes, my lord.
Is it an explosive?
You guessed right.
You spin it like this...
and BOOM!
"Mapa" means "map",
"mundo" means "the world."
it's a "globe."
"Globe?"
The world is round like this.
Japan is right here.
This small island country
Mataemon.
- Yes, sir!
The faraway Western Christian's
castles, are apparently wide open,
all the way up to the roofs.
Let's build our Azuchi Castle
without floors and ceilings
up to the fourth floor.
Make it an atrium.
I'll have the main keep as my throne.
If I may..
The main keep, an atrium,
and my lord, do you intend to live there?
Of course.
That's...
I've changed my mind.
The one who'll build the castle,
shall be decided by a
blueprint competition.
BLUEPRINT DIRECTIVE
The lord is not a kind man!
In the end, it's too big a job for a
country carpenter like Mataemon.
Mataemon was just used to
get the competition's attention!
You are too loud!
Hey!
It's a treat from the high priest!
Dad!
Look, dad is back!
Here!
Rin, did you know?
This world is round, just like this melon.
Nonsense!
No matter how far you
go, the world is flat!
If it was round, the
ocean water would spill.
Lord Nobunaga said that it's round!
Lord Nobunaga...
Must be a liar then!
You're one to talk.
Making fun of the lord...
The builder will be decided with
a blueprint competition.
Blueprint competition?
The competition will be the
builder of Kinkaku-ji Temple,
Ikegami Goroemon of the Ikegami family
and the builder of a giant Buddha in Nara,
Nagai Magodayu of the Nagai clan.
You better not lose to them!
Leave it to us!
You lot!
Let's show them the power
and skill of the Okabe Clan!
Yeah!
We'll need 40,000 units of
lumber to build the main keep.
This castle is a monstrosity..!
We're making a small scale model.
First of all, these three main
pillars in the heart of the keep.
Around that, 30 cm squared
pillars to build upwards.
We're putting in the floors?
Yes.
Splendid, as always.
Hideyoshi.
- Yes, sir.
Aren't you hot?
Magistrate of Castle Construction,
aren't we excited about
the blueprint competition?
Yes.
Ikegami Goroemon of Kyoto,
Nagai Magodayu of Nara.
They are both highly skilled men.
Nagahide.
- Yes, sir.
Gather the leaders of all artisan
clans of the 66 provinces that day
All 66 provinces?
That's right.
Personalities.
Minds.
Manners.
Lacking any of these, my
expectations will not be accomplished.
Why didn't he make it an atrium?
I don't know either.
Dad.
Could he win the blueprint competition
with a model without an atrium?
I just follow Master's lead.
"Such an adorable smile...
"So adorable, our child..."
I wish I'd been born a man.
Rin.
If I was a man, I could have
gone to the competition.
Rin.
A woman must not let her smile fade.
Mataemon!
Seibei!
Finally we'll have the
blueprint competition.
Feeling confident?
Like a carp on the cutting board.
We Ano stonemasons
are going as spectators.
Raise the spears!
Presenting Nagai Magodayu
of Nara's blueprint!
Magodayu.
Yes, sir.
This keep looks very reinforced.
Thank you.
The largest building in Japan,
the great Buddha in Nara,
was built by my ancestors.
The great Buddha is 45 meters high.
There is nothing between
the floor and the roof,
it's vastly spacious.
This five story keep,
built by us, with the Nagai
Clan's skill and knowledge,
will stand stronger than
any stone keep ever has.
Splendid.
Magodayu.
Yes, sir.
Can you build it in three years?
Well...
It will take five years.
Presenting Ikegami Goroemon
of Kyoto's blueprint!
Azuchi's castle keep,
shall be painted all
over with white lacquer.
And the two top floor's walls
shall be covered with gold leaf.
It shall be more splendid
than the Kinkaku-ji temple
of the North mountain.
Just what I'd expect of Ikegami.
Oh, I'm grateful for your kind words.
As my lord requested, the
atrium goes up to the fourth floor.
I've placed the watchtowers
on the second floor.
Can you do it?
For the Ikegami family..
Nothing is impossible.
It seems the lord likes Ikegami's idea.
Yes.
I guess this decides it.
Presenting Okabe Mataemon
of Atsuta's blueprint!
Mataemon.
Yes, sir!
What's this?
It's the main keep.
I don't see it.
Explain this "keep."
The most important thing for
a keep is a strong foundation.
Even though it looks like five stories
from the outside, to place watchtowers,
another floor is needed
below the main roof.
Furthermore, for stability
a basement is needed.
Then you can have a stage at the
top from where you can rule the world.
In a five-layered, seven story castle keep.
That's it?
Yes, sir.
What about the atrium?
There is none.
Mataemon!
- Yes, sir!
Don't tell me you forgot what I said.
Do you bear some grudge against me?
Not at all!
If I have not pleased you,
I earnestly beg your forgiveness!
However, I Okabe Mataemon...
have one humble request to you, my lord.
It's regarding your life's safety!
Please, listen to what I have to say
I humbly beg of you!
Sir Ikegami, please forgive me!
What are you doing to my model!
Sir Okabe! Stop it!
Sir Nagai, forgive me!
What are you doing!
- Sir Okabe!
My lord...
If you build an atrium in the keep,
it will be the fire's path
throughout the keep.
You said you intended to live in the keep.
Therefore, building a keep
that protects the lord's life,
is our duty
A path for the fire...
Even if we are replaced,
it's something we cannot build.
Please, forgive us!
With Mataemon's keep,
even if the castle falls...
I can relax and watch the show, right?
Mataemon.
- Yes, sir!
Build it in three years!
Yes, sir!
Okabe Mataemon...
will be my master carpenter!
AZUCHI
Don't let your guard down!
My lord, Takeda's spies could be anywhere.
Moving about by yourself...
The women are working hard, aren't they?
Yes.
If the women are in good spirits,
the country will prosper.
Building a castle, is the
same as building a nation.
Good work!
Please, thank you.
Eat up everyone!
So you stay strong!
Thanks, you're pretty as always, Une.
You! Stop flirting!
Get over here!
Shut up!
You lot!
Don't just go line up for Une!
Line up for my wife as well!
Over here!
You're in the way!
Stop! Switch!
This is hard!
This wood is for the the
3rd of the north part,
and this is the 4th.
- Yes.
Heiji.
- Yes?
This wood goes to the south part.
Use the wood towards the
direction from whence it came.
Trees that grew on the south of the
mountain for the south side of the keep.
Trees that grew on the north
for the north side of the keep.
Master.
Why do you say these trees
are from the south hillside?
Trees from the south side of the
mountain have a lot of branches.
Look closely
The logs with a lot of knots...
are from the south slope.
Trees all have their own personalities.
If you set them in the
directions suited for them,
the keep will stand throughout the ages.
Forward!
Th rust!
Okabe Mataemon humbly requests.
I wish to go and search
for a hinoki cypress tree.
Hinoki cypress?
From Hida?
- Yes, sir!
Hidan hinoki cypress are exquisite.
Be that as it may to
erect a seven storied castle,
we need a main pillar 14.4 meters high,
and 75 centimeters squared wide.
Where is such a hinoki cypress?
In Kiso.
At Agematsu.
What?
Mataemon!
Have you gone mad?!
Kiso is our enemy
that's Takeda Katsuyori's territory!
That's right!
Are you proposing we
engage Takeda in combat?
For a peerless castle...
a peerless hinoki is needed!
If we don't get a hinoki cypress from Kiso,
we will not have a castle
that will last hundreds, nay
thousands of years.
A great time to request
something like that.
Mataemon.
I understand you in your request.
Interesting!
Go ahead!
Is Master going to Kiso?
- It's reckless!
He's going to get himself killed!
Get on with your work.
Get on with your work!
This will be a costly and risky ordeal.
Who decided the value?
My lord, if I may..
Regarding the life of Mataemon,
who went to Kiso...
You are rude!
Learn some manners.
Manners?
I don't care, speak.
If Sir Kiso Yoshimasa...
was to hand over the hinoki to us,
it will arouse Takeda's anger towards us.
If Sir Yoshimasa sides with Takeda...
Mataemon will be killed.
Which do you wish for?
War? r?
Or Mataemon's death?
When you truly wish for something,
you risk your life and go for it.
If you don't have the backbone
for that, you can't succeed!
Either way..
In the end it will be up
to me to settle the matter.
Stop! Hey!
Who goes there?!
Oh, please!
I seek an audience with Sir Kiso Yoshimasa.
You have nothing to fear from me.
I come bearing a message
from Sir Oda Nobunaga of Owari.
Oda you say!
Seize him!
Move it!
Hurry up!
Sir Okabe...
are you Oda's magistrate
of castle construction?
No...
I'm the master carpenter of the new castle.
Master carpenter?
What?!
A mere worker?!
When wishing for a hinoki cypress,
the one asking being a worker,
should only be natural.
This is Takeda's territory
You must understand you cannot
cut down a hinoki cypress from here.
Yes, I am deeply..
Deeply aware of that.
Even so...
I humbly request this, Sir Kiso Yoshimasa.
Please, I beg of you, listen to my request!
You...!
Coming here as a worker,
are you trying to stir
things up with Takeda?
No!
If this life...
can be used to trade...
I will gladly trade it.
I humbly offer you my life.
In exchange for your
revered Kiso's hinoki cypress.
Please consider letting us have it.
Sir Kiso!
Please, I humbly ask of you!
Please, I humbly ask of you!
Sir Kiso!
Please, I humbly ask of you!
Please!
Please, I humbly ask of you!
Sir Kiso!
Please, I humbly ask of you!
Please, I humbly ask of you!
Please, I humbly ask of you!
God of the mountains!
One of your trees,
goes to sleep!
How about it?
A fine hinoki cypress, isn't it?
It's no good.
Please, the next one.
It has to be cut as a 14.4 meters high,
and 75 centimeters squared
wide piece of lumber?
That's right.
The base needs to be...
maybe 150, 180 centimeters in diameter.
Don't be silly!
This hinoki cypress here must
have taken at least 100 years to grow.
One at 150 centimeters would
be a sacred tree 2,000 years old!
There's no such hinoki cypress.
If there is none that thick,
we cannot build a seven storied keep.
If there was one, you're going to build that?
- Yes!
I will build it.
Dad!
A real carpenter doesn't waste wood!
Pick it up!
I can't do anything right.
Hey
You're just like me when I was young.
I was clumsy as well.
Ichi.
- Yes?
Clumsiness is a treasure.
A clumsy man thinks about what he's doing,
he plans and works hard.
Day after day relentlessly going
to work, and before you know it,
he'll be able to plan with his heart.
He'll feel his work in his body therefore,
be glad you're clumsy
Okay?
Yes.
Well, this isn't really coming from me.
Long ago, the master
told me the same thing.
Master did?
- Yes.
You, brat!
Get over here!
What are you doing?!
Fool!
Aren't you going to apologize?!
What are you doing?!
Stop it!
- What?
Who do you think you are?!
What are you doing to Une?!
I won't forgive someone who
lays his hands on Une!
Fight me!
Stop this!
How about that!
The best hinoki cypress in Kiso.
What's so funny?
Are you making fun of me?!
The lumberjacks of Kiso are peerless.
This can't be a tree you've
brought up with your own hands.
It's done.
I don't care.
You eat.
Are you sure?
I won't hold back.
I'm in your debt.
Delicious!
Sir Jinbei.
Don't look down on me.
I don't need your leftovers!
Oh no, I'm not looking down on you.
I believe in sharing with everyone.
I've always lived like that.
Sir Jinbei.
If I've insulted you, I'm sorry
Forgive me.
A seven storied keep?
It's something unimaginable.
If you really build it...
I want to see it for myself.
Jinbei...
Show him an adequate hinoki cypress,
and send him home empty handed.
Tomorrow we climb down the mountain.
It exists, I know it.
A divine giant tree, it must exist.
There it is!
I found it!
A peerless hinoki cypress!
I found it!
It's a peerless hinoki cypress!
Sir Jinbei.
Finally!
We finally found it!
A peerless hinoki cypress!
Please!
This divine tree is sacred to Ise...
an heirloom of our lands.
This tree...
This mountain...
It has raised this tree for 2,000 years!
Yes.
A keep that would survive
those 2,000 years of hardship...
that's what I wish to build.
That is all.
Sir Jinbei!
Please let me have it!
Please!
You can't have this tree!
Give up and go back!
Wait for the heavy rain.
I'll risk it on your dream.
Sir Jinbei...!
I'm in your debt.
Get out of my sight!
I'm in your debt.
You fool!
- I'm in your debt.
I'm in your debt.
Get lost!
Yakichi!
Yes, sir!
Get five skilled workers!
What is going on?
War!
We're building a stronghold!
Sir Nakagawa.
With all due respect...
We leave tomorrow!
This is an order!
Why does it have to be
while our master isn't here.
If we don't send anyone,
the Okabe clan will be shamed.
- We won't just be shamed!
If we don't obey Sir Nobunaga,
our master's head will fly
If we join the fighting, we might die.
Please! I don't want to!
I'll go!
Heiji, if you go we
won't make any progress!
Then who's going?
I'll go.
Ichizo.
Dad, it's all right.
Four more men.
Is it true you're going to war?
I don't want to run away from it.
Ichizo!
Building forts in war
zones is a part of our job.
If I don't make it through
a real fighting scene,
I'll never be a full fledged carpenter.
I'm indebted to my dad, Yakichi.
When I was starving to death
he adopted and raised me.
I want to repay him!
I'll come back as a carpenter
of the master's caliber.
Going to war is your
way of repaying him?
Do you want to die that badly?!
Whatever.
Go to war then!
Go do whatever you want!
Ichizo's finally all grown up, too?
He still has along way to go.
ICHIZO
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
- What are you doing!
Rin!
Ichizo!
Rin.
Ichizo!
Take this!
What?
Ichizo, let's go!
Rin.
Master!
Master!
You're okay!
I just got back.
Welcome back.
We...
We didn't come here to fight.
We came to build a castle.
Kumazo!
- It's okay Yakichi.
Everyone believed in you, master.
And came here from Atsuta.
But still...
Kuma...!
Hey Kuma!
Here we go!
Mataemon!
Oh! Sir Niwa.
The hinoki cypress isn't here yet?
When will it come?
When heavy rain falls, it will surely come.
Heavy rain?
- Yes.
I've made a promise
with a lumberjack of Kiso.
Can we trust him?
Yes, we can.
You have two years left.
If you break your promise
to the lord you'll be beheaded.
Don't forget that.
"Morning sun, evening sun, dokkoisho!
"The monk is hairy dokkoisho!
"The radishes grow fat, dokkoisho!
"Slender mountain potatoes, dokkoisho!
"Icky-sticky grinding
mortars are popular as well!
"Popular as well!
"Aryaryan-ryan!"
Une!
Come have a drink with me!
What are you doing?
When are Ichizo and Tasuke coming back?!
The war takes our men,
and the hinoki cypress doesn't come.
How can we build a castle like this?
Slowly slowly!
All right, pull!
Hey!
They're back!
They're back from the war!
Hey! We won!
Victory!
Tasuke, where's Ichizo?
Where's Ichizo?
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Thank you so much.
Excuse us.
Let's get going!
Yes, sir!
Rin.
Dad's a cruel man!
Castle, castle, castle...!
For the castle he'll even
throw away his friends!
People's lives mean nothing to him!
I won't forgive you for looking down on
your father like that.
ICHIZO
Do you believe the hinoki
cypress from Kiso will come?
You have too much faith in people.
Everyone cares about
their own people first.
The enemy's carpenter,
whom they owe nothing too;
Who would betray their own
lord for someone like that?
Kuma.
Kuma!
The size is wrong.
Pay attention.
This is exactly the same
as Master's blue print.
Do it over!
Master is wrong, not me!
What did you say?!
Kuma!
Chief!
Heiji!
Stop it!
What's this about?
Kumazo!
Master.
Can you really build the castle?
You were tricked!
No matter how long we wait,
the hinoki cypress won't come.
Kumazo!
If we can't build the castle,
what will happen to us?
Ichizo!
Ichizo will have died in vain!
I'm no good at managing people.
What's so funny?
It's not like you.
Why are you always smiling?
If you don't like it, I apologize.
I'm not asking you to apologize!
You're always like that!
No matter what happens you're smiling.
Am I that funny?
Failing at my job,
getting upset, do you
think I look like a fool?!
Absolutely not.
It's my father's teachings.
Women, are the main pillar of a household.
No matter what, they must keep
smiling, that's how I was raised.
You're a good daddy's girl, aren't you?
He taught me that a house without a woman's
smile is like a house without sunrise.
So I've tried to keep smiling.
If it was not to your liking,
I ask your forgiveness.
Laugh it up then!
Raise your voice and laugh!
Dear...
Don't you try to understand
other people's feelings?
Behind the smile,
just how much sadness a person is hiding,
is that something you cannot see?
I'm no different from you.
Men, women, everyone cries.
Showing those tears to others
or hiding them behind a smile...
is the difference.
Tazu.
Your father was a good man, wasn't he?
Mataemon.
Oh! Seibei!
It's moon watching sake?
Want some?
Sure.
Look, Mataemon!
This rock must be at least 1,100 tons.
This is a guardian of the mountain.
A guardian?
To me it just looks like a rock.
It's marble.
Marble?
Here, you see this snakelike pattern?
I see.
If you move this rock, you'll be cursed.
Mataemon, in this world,
no matter how hard you try
some things won't turn out
how you'd like them too.
That's why we Ano stonemasons,
fear the stone, and honor the stone!
We ask the stone to teach us.
And we believe in the
hidden powers of the rock.
Asking the stone to teach you.
I just learned something, from Tazu.
Women are strong.
Did you just figure it out?
We're no match to women.
No match!
No match!
Master!
Thank you!
Sir Jinbei!
The peerless hinoki cypress!
We humbly await its arrival!
Everyone!
Are you ready?
Yeah!
Master!
It's a raft!
It's a raft!
It's the hinoki!
It's the hinoki!
Une! it's here!
Finally it's time to build the main keep.
Yes, now it's my turn!
Sir Hashiba!
Hey! Mataemon!
I heard this was going to be
the main pillar of the keep,
so I brought it myself!
It's a magnificent giant piece of lumber!
Sir Jinbei!
Mataemon.
- Yes!
Will this hinoki cypress support
the world's greatest castle?
Yes.
By the spirit of myself,
carpenter Okabe Mataemon,
and the lumberjack Jinbei.
It will be built, you will see.
With the tree that reached for the skies,
it will definitely be built!
Why did you hand over
our divine tree to Oda?
Why?!
A mere lumberjack, betraying me.
A mere lumberjack?
What?!
That man doesn't
discriminate between people.
He understood the people of the mountain!
That made me so happy
Stop that nonsense!
Kiso's hinoki cypresses are divine.
They have no enemies nor allies!
Thousands of years old hinoki cypresses,
finding the most appropriate
place for them,
is our job as lumberjacks!
Take it back!
I'll have your head!
Go ahead and take it.
If you say so!
Wait.
Give him a respectful burial.
Yes, sir!
- Get to it!
I'm sending you the
hinoki cypress, as promised.
Sir Mataemon, I treasure my bond with you,
you who understood the
hearts of my mountain people.
I'm sad to part with you, Sir Mataemon.
I wanted to walk the
mountains with you one more time.
A peerless hinoki cypress,
for a peerless castle.
I wanted to see it with my own eyes.
You showed me a wonderful dream.
I leave the rest to you.
THE YEAR 1577, SUMMER
Are you ready!
Yes!
Pull the rope!
Yes!
Put it up!
Let's do it!
Here we go!
Here we go!
Here we go!
Here we go!
Here we go!
A demon!
A demon is heading this way!
A demon is coming!
A huge demon is coming!
I came when I heard
Sir Nobunaga's castle
building was making this a busy place!
I guess no one ever saw a
Southern barbarian before though?
Never in my life!
How beautiful!
Across the sea there are loads
of hopes and dreams to be found!
Everyone must find happiness!
Free markets and open
trading will change the world!
The world is a wide and wonderful place!
Watch your footing!
Listen to the voices of the trees!
Yes sir!
You're so lucky Rin!
Your mother said she's making
your wedding dress with that!
It's going to be a chilly night,
make sure you don't catch a cold.
Tazu.
You take care of yourself as well.
I'm fine.
No, I'm all right.
No, I'm fine.
- No, I'm all right.
Take care.
- I'll be going.
I'll go.
Thanks.
Missus!
Master!
Oh, Tomekichi.
Your missus is here.
- Oh?
Tazu.
You forgot this.
- Oh!
Thank you.
THE YEAR 1578, SPRING
This is a wonderful rock!
It's marble.
It's rare to find this serpent pattern.
I'm sure this will make the lord happy
Seibei, bring this to the
headquarters as soon as possible!
This marble is the incarnation
of the mountain's spirit.
If it was moved, we'll be cursed.
What?
What a sorry excuse for a stonemason!
Determination will let you move it.
Don't you have the guts?
It cannot be done.
What if we remove your head?
Sir Kimura!
Please stop.
Please, I beg of you!
One should trust the experts.
Matters of stone,
should be entrusted to Seibei,
that's what I believe.
Mataemon, you should be quiet.
Sir Niwa.
- Quiet!
You dare speak your mind to the
magistrate of castle construction?!
Know your place!
Please stop!
I, Tonami Seibei...
will handle the moving of this marble rock.
Mother!
It's nothing, don't worry about me.
I'm all right.
Rin.
Mother.
Tazu, what's wrong?
Welcome home.
It's nothing to worry about.
Mother.
- Really I'm all right.
Okay
We heard that weaving woolen's
hair into the rope makes it stronger.
This is from everyone.
Une.
Hair is a woman's life.
Still, you...
Here.
Hey!
Kumazo...
Is Sir Nobunaga coming
when the rock is lifted?
Yeah, I heard he'll be
leading his troops here.
Oh? I can't wait.
Une!
When we've built the keep...
Will you marry me?
We've been assigned to
move the 1,100 ton boulder!
Brace yourselves.
Yes, sir!
Mother, are you all right?
I wish father could be here,
at least at times like this.
Rin.
A woman must not let her smile fade.
Your father...
please understand him.
Rin.
Your father...
being with me...
has made me so happy
Mother...
Move!
Move!
Tazu!
Tazu?
Tazu!
Wake up!
Tazu!
Tazu!
Wake up!
Tazu!
Tazu!
Tazu!
Why aren't you breathing?!
Tazu! Wake up!
Wake up!
Tazu!
Tazu!
"This child, is my beloved.
"My beloved, this child is.
"Such an adorable smile.
"So adorable, our child."
Father.
Father!
At least stay next to
mother, just for today
Pull!
Put your backs into it!
Give it your everything!
Hey over there!
This way!
Don't stop!
Watch out!
My lord!
Une!
My lord!
Kumazo, wait!
Kumazo!
Une!
Une!
What are you doing to Une!
Kuma!
Anyone who lays a hand on Une...!
Kumazo!
I, won't forgive them...!
Kuma... zo...
Une...
All construction tomorrow will be halted.
The tile roofer, the plasterer,
please tell that to all the
leaders of the craftsmen.
My lord.
Mataemon.
- Yes, sir.
Call the workers back to construction.
I can't.
You go against my word?
Yes.
Who do you think you are?!
My lord.
Yesterday's bloodshed.
Just as you saw, my lord.
Listen Mataemon.
On a battlefield, thousands and tens
of thousands of soldiers lose their lives.
Construction is your people's battlefield.
With battle comes death,
there's no need for pity
Mataemon!
When did you become a coward?!
Get back to work immediately!
My lord...
Halting construction is not
for the sake of the dead,
nor to hold their funerals.
Above all...
the survivors, who will continue the work,
those workers, it's for their sake.
When building with lumber,
you listen to the wood...
and build.
Construction is,
putting all the workers'
hearts together, to build.
If the workers' hearts are
separated from their work...
My lord...
It just will not do!
Please!
I beg of you!
No!
Father!
Rin.
Father?
Something's wrong.
I'll look into it.
I'll get everyone!
- No!
No need, don't go.
Everyone's recovering.
I can do it alone.
Rin!
Don't come!
Rin.
I told you not to come.
Father.
Is the castle all right?
It's all right.
It's all right.
We've used a peerless hinoki cypress
and made a peerless main pillar.
And put it all together
with peerless craftsmen.
All of my carpenters have held it up.
Tazu held it up.
Rin...
You held it up.
Mother's feelings...
I understand them now.
Father.
Thank you.
Rin!
Master!
Master!
Don't distance yourself!
Father!
- We don't need no day off!
We all came here to build a castle!
That's right!
Master!
Everyone, listen.
The pillars...
around the main pillar have sunk.
And now the main pillar
alone is supporting the castle.
This storm...
If we leave it like this,
either the beams will fold...
or the main pillar will split.
Either way the keep
will come crashing down.
Don't panic!
Don't panic.
There is a way
This main pillar.
We cut it, by 12 centimeters.
Master, that's impossible.
It's impossible!
It's not impossible!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichizo!
Ichi! You're alive!
Master's hand...
Is the hand of god.
Listen up.
This will require more lift than
anything we've ever done.
Hit the wedges hard.
Mataemon!
Mataemon!
- Seibei!
We've come to lend a hand!
Thank you.
Master!
Master!
Is there anything we can do to help?
Master!
Thank you!
With everyone's strength,
we'll lift up the main pillar
and cut off 12 centimeters.
In any previous construction,
you will not have known such
weight as you are about to.
Prepare yourself.
Yes!
Heiji.
Everyone, take a deep breath and let's go!
Yes!
Are you ready!
Yes!
Here we go!
Here we go!
Here we go!
Stop!
Hold it!
Everyone, hang on!
Tasuke.
One-two!
Please bear with it!
Everyone!
Please bear with it!
Endure!
Until our chief is finished!
Okay!
Please bear with it!
Bear with it!
Please bear with it!
You can't make it alone!
Ichizo.
Ichizo!
Please!
Everyone, please!
Bear with it!
Heiji!
- Okay!
All right!
Everyone!
Brace yourselves one more time!
Let's do this!
Here we go!
Here we go!
All of you...
you're the hands of god.
Mother...
Master!
Father!
It's a wonderful construction.
Construction isn't just
putting wood together
It's putting people's hearts together
That's what Mataemon said.
Ruling is the same thing.
Forgetting the people,
and running after your own interests,
will cause the country to go under.
Building a castle,
is the same as building a nation.
Purification is what's true in the world.
A chaste and calm person,
is one suited to rule.
This is the lesson I've learned.
In July of the year 1581...
Nobunaga had come to
appreciate the workers' labor
Always in dazzling light,
in five layers, with seven stories,
he erected Azuchi Castle.
Translated by Yukiko Subtitled and Mastered by
Ichiban Special Thanks to Ruronin, Katana & Shodan
NISHIDA Toshiyuki
FUKUDA Saki
SHIINA Kippei
TERAJIMA Susumu YAMAMOTO Taro
ISHIDA Takuya Ai Jyon Myon
MAEDA Ken UEDA Koichi
MIZUNO Miki KUMAGAYA Mami
NISHIOKA Tokuma WATANABE Ikkei
KAWAKI Junichi TAGUCHI Hiromasa
KISHIMOTO Kota FUKUMOTO Seizo
ENDO Shozo UCHIDA Asahi
ISHIBASHI Renji
SASANO Takashi
NATSUYAGI Isao
OGATA Naoto
OTAKE Shinobu
Executive Producer: KAWABATA Susumu
General Producer: KAWABATA Isao
Producer:
SHINDO Junichi, FUJIKAWA Shigeki
Original Story: YAMAMOTO Kenichi
(Bungeishunju Publication)
Screenplay: YOKOTA Yoshi
Director: TANAKA Miisutoshi