Episode 17: Changing Man

No. Title Original airdate 01 "Would You Die for a Teakettle!?" Transcription: "Kimi wa Mono no Tame ni Shineruka!?" (Japanese: 君は物のために死ねるか!?) April 7, 2011[10] Furuta Sasuke, 34-year-old vassal of Oda Nobunaga, is sent on a diplomatic mission to Shigisan Castle to negotiate with Matsunaga Hisahide, a general who betrayed Nobunaga and allied with the Mori Clan and Ikko-ikki. Nobunaga instructs Sasuke to offer Hisahide a pardon for the betrayal in exchange for the Hiragumo teakettle, a highly-prized and artistic piece. October, 1577 is the date of the siege. On the day of the negotiations, Hisahide refuses to surrender, instead filling the teakettle with gunpowder and strapping it to his chest. After the kettle explodes, Sasuke manages to preserve the top of it. In 1578, the first of Nobunaga's immense sea vessels are completed, known as the Great Atakabune, and it is set on display in the harbor. A merchant disparages Nobunaga for spending so much on the fleet, and Nobunaga, overhearing, kills him, not for the disparagement, but for not sticking to his opinion. The lord then, as a test, asks Sasuke whether the Hiragumo teakettle or the Great Atakabune military vessel is superior. 02 "Fantasy of the Tea Room" Transcription: "Chashitsu no Fantajī" (Japanese: 茶室のファンタジー) April 14, 2011[11] Sasuke provides a satisfying answer. The lord turns the question to his three tea masters, and each in turn agrees on the perfectness of the Great Atakabune except for Sen no Soeki. Soeki remarks that the vessels would be much improved if they were all painted black. Nobunaga takes this suggestion without anger. At home, Sasuke meets with his brother-in-law, Nakagawa Kiyohide, before his brother-in-law departs for war under his lord Araki Murashige. Sasuke ponders on the beauty of a glazed pottery piece, and analogizes it in aesthetic value to his wife, Osen. Later, word arrives that Murashige has rebelled against Nobunaga.