Well, let’s start this episode with Konatsu and the 8th Generation Yakumo Yurakutei sitting together at a park.
And speaking of Yakumo, he thinks about his retirement from rakugo as his age caught up with him. His voice is shriveled that it’s reduced to a whisper and he contemplates of accepting death in his bed. Naturally, Konatsu called it pathetic by she still cares for Master Yakumo.
Meanwhile, the 3rd Generation Sukeroku and Matsuda-san went to the countryside together with Eisuke Higuchi, where they visit the Kame-ya inn where both the 2nd Generation Sukeroku and the 8th Generation Yakumo performed there.
By the way, Eisuke Higuchi’s grandfather owned the Kame-ya inn and he knows Miyokichi or should I say Yurie as she worked there as a maid before moving to Tokyo.
In fact, Eisuke-san have fond memories with Yurie-san due to her beautiful looks.
Too bad that she became a courtesan and her heart was broken when Yakumo or Kikuhiko rejected her. Poor Yurie-san…
But let’s go back to their visit at Kame-ya inn as the 3rd Generation Sukeroku and Matsuda-san are here to watch rare footage of the 2nd Generation Sukeroku and the 8th Generation Yakumo’s performance, under their respective name of Hatsutaro and Kikuhiko.
Anyways, Eisuke Higuchi wanted to show Kikuhiko and Hatsutaro’s performance to the 3rd Generation Sukeroku so he can understand how these two became legends.
Even though the footage is old, you can see how Kikuhiko and Hatsutaro performed at their best.
Someday, I hope these footage would be remastered and preserved for future generations. I mean, this is history right there and the 8th Generation Yakumo wanted rakugo to disappear due to his guilt.
Lastly, Sukeroku offered his prayers to the grave of his predecessor and Miyokichi who fell off the cliff and died.
On the other hand, Matsuda told Sukeroku that he saw the tragic events that happened at Kame-ya…
Turns out that Matsuda-san saw Sukeroku bleeding as he was stabbed. Well, it’s indeed different from Yakumo’s story.
Of course, Yakumo Yurakutei didn’t try to kill his friend as he asked Matsuda for emergency so with that in mind, who stabbed Sukeroku?
Why it’s none other than Miyokichi as it appears that she wanted to murder Yakumo for being rejected, but Sukeroku intervened and thus having a knife wound. But the saddest part is when Miyokichi told a distraught Konatsu that she killed Sukeroku, Konatsu pushed her mother towards the balcony and that’s where Miyokichi and Sukeroku perished. Well, that’s way worse than the events happened in Season 1 Episode 12.
Now, it would be a shocker for Konatsu to remember it now, but what’s done is done and the only way to forgive themselves is to move forward and don’t make the same mistakes. After all, they have many chances to do something great instead of going down in tragedy.
But anyways, that’s about it for this episode as Sukeroku gave Konatsu with a tight hug. I mean, he’s saddened that his wife made a regrettable mistake that might haunt her if Konatsu learned the truth.
Now then, I feel that this series is reaching its end and I hope it’ll have a satisfying ending! After all, the 3rd Generation Sukeroku is enjoying rakugo and he wants it to live on instead of fading off together with Master Yakumo!
The Anime Rambler - By Benigmatica 