February 17 to March 3, 1860, inside Edo castle. A group of assassins wait by Sakurada Gate to kill the lord of the House of Ii, a powerful man in the Tokugawa government, which has ruled Japan for 300 years. They suspect a traitor in their midst, and their suspicions fall on Niiro, an impoverished ronin who dreams of samurai status, and Kurihara, an aristocratic samurai who befriends Niiro. Niiro longs to identify his father, knowing he is a high-ranking official who will disclose himself only if Niiro achieves samurai status. With American ships in Japan's harbors, cynicism among the assassins, and change in the air, Niiro resolves to reach ends that may prove ephemeral.
26 December 1927, Kyogo, South Korea
March 31, 1933 in Tokyo, Japan
January 15, 1930 in Nara, Japan
3 August 1919, Tokyo, Japan
November 28, 1941 in Ichiarakawa District, Tokyo, Japan
May 30, 1904 in Tokyo, Japan
July 7, 1910 in Tokyo, Japan
December 4, 1940 in Tokyo, Japan
1 April 1920, Tsingtao, China [now Qingdao, Shandong, China]
30 March 1922, Tokyo, Japan
12 May 1930, Ashigara, Kanagawa, Japan
12 March 1905, Ikuno, Hyogo, Japan
4 September 1905, Tochigi, Japan
17 September 1907, Gunma, Japan
January 3, 1928 in Tokyo, Japan
6 September 1932, Hanno, Saitama, Japan
24 November 1937, Matsuyama, Japan
March 4, 1942 in Tokyo, Japan
8 January 1912, Fukuoka, Japan
January 2, 1926 in Japan
August 5, 1896 in Tokyo, Japan

