Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor Page #9

Tokugawa Yoshinobu...

...vacated Edo in the third

month, thirteenth day.

He has sworn allegiance

to the Emperor...

...so why do you still resist?

I was never under

anyone's orders.

Everything I did,

I did voluntarily.

Where is Hijikata Toshizo,

and the rest of your men?

They will not be handed over

to the lmperial forces.

How dare you!

Bring Hijikata!

Silence!

Are you saying that you, Kondo

Isami, are sacrificing yourself...

...so that the others

could escape?

Let my soldiers die in places

of their own choosing.

If a traitor must die,

let it be me alone.

As the Commander of the Shinsengumi,

it is my responsibility to do so.

Kill me!

What? Beheading?

Correct. Beheading

befits Kondo.

He's a traitor who defied

the lmperial army.

Please reconsider.

Granted, he is our enemy. But he was the

Commander of an army, and a samurai...

...so shouldn't he be granted

the dignity of seppuku?

Arima... it's out of the question to

allow a traitor to commit seppuku.

Tani... If the fortunes of war

had been reversed...

...it would be we who would be called

traitors, instead of Kondo.

His was a life of unwavering "makoto."

He is an extraordinary man.

Let the past be the past.

If possible...

...I want Kondo to be spared, so that he

can serve the new Meiji government.

Don't be absurd! Arima Tota, are you

a staff officer of the lmperial Army...

...or are you a traitorous spy?!

Choose your words

with care!

Oh yeah?

Granted, Kondo lead a group that killed

many of our finest comrades.

I realize that his actions are punishable

by death. And yet...

Japan, in order to compete

with foreign nations...

...must undergo a national

rebuilding!

We need all the exceptional

men that we can get.

Kondo is nothing

but a murderer!

He delayed the flowering

of the new Meiji era.

And what of the men he killed, who could have

contributed to the new Meiji government?!

He should be torn apart!

I'll kill him myself!

Control yourself!

Sakamoto Ryoma, Nakaoka Shintaro...!

Kondo murdered

them all!

No, he did not! Stop making

a scapegoat out of him!

This meeting is over. Kondo

will lose his head!

Behead him!

Behead him!

And so, "history is written

by the victors."

What?

You are a General of

the lmperial Army.

You ought to understand

the pain of others.

Kondo... do you have

any last words?

I bade my wife farewell before

leaving for Koshu.

Though I humbly admit, I do regret

that I did not see my daughter.

Your feelings are

very human.

Without true emotions, the greatest warrior,

or learned scholar, is nothing but a beast.

I was an irresponsible father

who neglected his family.

But I wish that my daughter may live

in an uneventful, peaceful world.

Arima...

These past six years have

felt like a hundred.

In these times, integrity

is a crippling burden.

Ironic, isn't it?

Kondo... I believe that

living with integrity...

...is the most important

thing that one can do.

You have hard times

ahead of you.

I've grown a beard. Since they're going

to display my head somewhere...

...l'd like to look my best. Could

you lend me your dagger?

There... that's better.

Farewell.

Please proceed.

I'll make it easier

for you.

Now!

In the 4th year of the Keio period, on April 25,

Kondo Isami was executed at Itabashi.

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