「京都到着」 (Kyouto Tōchaku)
“Go to Kyoto”
The hits kept coming at this time. The Kyoto Arc is a complex yet extremely elegant and balanced piece of architecture, each main figure being a pillar. Sometimes it seems like there's no end to the new faces, but they never get along. They all do what they do for a reason, and Watsuki always makes sure we understand what that reason is. It is often imitated and never equaled for some reason.
It is also called the Kyoto Arc for a reason. And it's a pretty important moment when Kenshin – and the series – first arrives in the old capital. Kenshin himself mused that this was the only place in Japan he thought he would never return to. Kyoto is a land of beauty, scholarship and spirituality. But it's also filled with blood, rage, and tragedy—to say it has a checkered history would be unfair. And at this point in that history, the smell of blood is still thick in the air from the most recent events when the city divided itself and with it the entire country.
But Ken's first mission is to return Karenso safely to his people. She took him – surprisingly – to a restaurant, Aoiya. They meet an old man named Kashiwazaki Nenji (Chiba Shigeru, one of the better casting choices in the reboot). It's immediately clear that he and Misao share a familial bond, and Kashiwazaki – known to those around him as Okina – plays the hilariously eccentric card convincingly. But he is a very important man in Kyoto's dark history, and immediately recognizes Kenshin even though he has a bandage on his cheek.
It's not just these two people who came to Kyoto. The same goes for Yahiko and Kaoru. Kaoru is quite surprised to be in a strange city with strange customs, but Kaoru is worried about the practical obstacles they face in finding Kenshin. Tae offered to use her family's house, the house attached to the Beef Hot Pot restaurant called Shirabeko. It – and she – were big hits for their Edo counterparts. But another player has come to town – Aoshi. Kaoru doesn't know who he is but of course Yahiko knows very well. And that makes the mission of finding Ken even more urgent.
One thing that is absolutely certain in this section is that old loyalties no longer matter. The Boshin War ends – the Empire wins. Kenshin's new enemy fought for their cause. Most of the people he considered allies fought (fiercely) for the opposition. And that includes Okina and Oniwabanshu. But Okina doesn't seem like someone who holds a grudge. To thank Ken for escorting Misao home safely, he formally (and cheerfully) offers his services to Kenshin. And he almost immediately took up the matter, asking Okina to use her spy network to locate two people – Hiko Seijuurou and Arai Skakuu.
Now we hear nothing more of the first. But almost immediately, Okina's people brought him information about Arai. This causes him to cancel a proposed lunch at Shirabeko (and a possible surprise reunion with Yahiko and Kaoru) to take Kenshin to meet Arai Shakuu's son. A master swordsmith, Shakku passed away eight years ago, but his skills were passed on to his son Seiku (Hirose Yuuya). However, Seiku rejected his father's idea of ushering in a new era of killer blades, turning his talents to making kitchen knives and farming tools. Accompanied by his wife and young son, Seiku expressed his wish to maintain peace in the Meiji Era – and refused Kenshin's request to forge him a new sakabatou.
Okina urged Kenshin to follow the path of Kyoto with his head held high while trying to do good deeds there. But in doing so, he makes no difficulty for Shishio's men in finding him, which seems to cause trouble for Arai-san and his family. This was the cruel reality of the early Meiji period—the peace that the Boshin War heralded ended as fragile and was often subject to noisy and violent bloodshed. Shishio can afford to play the long game (even if Yumi isn't happy living in a cave, even a well-appointed one), which puts the onus on Kenshin and his compatriots. yours to take the first step.
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