Work Text:
PART ONE:
The summer came with
Strange, white, men aboard large ships
Mounted with weapons
Fear spreads through Edo
The people hiding and the
Warriors ready
The ship then makes port
And off walks a tall white man:
Commodore Perry
Aboard are others
Men who thirst for women they
Haven't seen for months
One, Nathan, a young
Man with issues toward spirits
Liquid and surreal
Night falls on that day
Commodore's men prowl the streets
In search of something…
Hitoro and Ai,
Ride into Edo that night
When noises are heard
Curious, Ai leaves,
Horse saunters through alleyways.
A man approaches
Then, Nathan, now drunk,
Sees something he has not seen
Since America
The girl grips the reins
But the horse runs away from
Beneath her body
She falls to the ground
He grabs her collar and then
Grabs her kimono
Hand over the mouth
Pinned onto the earthen ground
Muffled cries echo.
Hitoro finds Ai
At dawn in the alleyway
Naked as a babe
The news spreads like fear
In the city of Edo:
Samurai's child raped!
Meanwhile, Commodore
Perry is furious with
The crew; Nathan hides
One week passes by
And the Commodore must leave
He heads for China
Nathan confesses
Dishonorably discharged
And dies in China
Commodore Perry
Returned in February
1854
Ai has been pregnant
She never wanted the child
But it's too late now
In March, spring arrives
And with it, a baby boy
Ai dies that morning
Her father approaches
An unassuming sailor
Near the Edo Bay
Hitoro warned him
As did other samurai
Of consequences
"Kill the Gaijin boy,
For he had killed your daughter,
Or you'll disgrace us."
But he could never
Forgive himself if he were
To slaughter a child
So he approaches
An unassuming sailor
One of Perry's men
Algren, a blacksmith
Makes weapons for the soldiers
And not much else than that
He's now presented
With something wrapped in rough cloth
It squirms in his arms
"Do not mention me"
Are the samurai's orders
Algren is perplexed
PART TWO:
America now.
The child, named Nathan, now lives
In Minnesota
Algren makes sabers
His wife makes the home and gives
Nathan dirty looks
Village children look
At Nathan and ask questions
"What on earth is he?"
The minister sneers
The townsfolk cast down their heads
Even dogs steer clear.
"Bastard child," they hiss
Whenever they find the chance
To just speak their minds
No one can trust him
No one seems to care for him
Except for Algren
1861
Algren mist fight in the war
His wife's glad he's gone
Now, Nathan Algren
Alone in Minnesota
Must cure his heartache
Nathan plays with swords
While Algren is off at war
Somewhere in the South
Unbeknownst to him
He is the legacy of
The world's best swordsmen
1864
A message comes to the house
Bad news: Algren's dead.
No one can trust him
No one seems to care for him
Now Algren is gone
Nathan becomes sad
Unsure of what to do now
His frustration builds
Takes to hurting cows
Smoking the cigarette and
Defacing the church
1868
Mrs. Algren can't take it
"Get a job!" she snarls.
Young boy takes a pen
And the boy joins the army
Lies about his age
7th Calvary
Closes in at Washita
Nathan can't stand blood
Nathan befriends Grant
The much older Irishman
Resembles Algren
Five years quickly fly
Algren, now a lieutenant
He's only nineteen
Lieutenant Colonel
Known as Bagley, took some two
Decades to reach that
Ghosts haunt Nathan with
Nightmares of dead Sioux people
And of racial slurs
Nathan can't take it
Takes to his father's old sins
Finds comfort in booze
Nathan feels older
In 1873
And leaves the army
Three years drag Nathan
Through San Francisco gun shows
Feels like thirty years
Nathan then becomes
A beggar for the bottle
Zebulon watches
Nathan is fired
In 1876
'Cause too drunk to work
Colonel Bagley and
A man named Omura then
Give him an offer
Work for six months with
The Japanese Army and
Receive three years pay
With nothing to lose
Nathan must take their offer
His fate is now sealed
PART THREE:
Autumn in Japan
Nathan arrives to glares like
In Minnesota
Tokyo erupts.
Mothers talk. Old men whisper.
Children ask questions.
Nathan hears "Gaijin"
Omura says not to worry
It just means "stranger"
"Samurai Scandal"
The word upon the streets that
Nathan wants to know
Graham, an Englishman
Talks about the samurai
But not the scandal
Nathan trains the men
They spit and curse at Nathan
Just like in his town
Omura orders
Nathan to take the soldiers
Right by a railway
"There are samurai"
He says. Nathan asks for aid
Omura shakes head.
Leads the men through town
As they head for the railway
An old woman stares
She's an old mid-wife
They exchange looks for a while
She knows who he is
Nathan is alone
With men that do not trust him
In the dark, dense woods
"Now hold your fire"
Orders Nathan from his horse
A gunshot echoes
Demons rise from mist
The army deserts Nathan
Within the shadows
Nathan is alone
Among a battalion
Of samurai men
Arrow through the horse
And the horse collapses right
Beneath his body
Takes his gun and shoots
But the samurai aren't fazed
By the gun bullets
Nathan out of shots
Finds a broken spear nearby
And an angry man
His samurai sword
Nearly slices Nathan's throat
Spear came in handy
The samurai falls
And bleeds to his death as a
Tiger shows his face
Flag with white tiger
On the spear that Nathan holds
In his tired hands
Then, Katsumoto
Mounts off of his horse, and walks
Toward Nathan Algren
He recalls visions
Of a white tiger that fought
And killed a great foe
Nathan collapses
Unto his knees, all while he's
Panting like a dog
Katsumoto then
Spares the life of the Gaijin
Takes him prisoner
PART FOUR:
Small Mountain Village
Sons flock toward the samurai
Save for two young ones
Katsumoto dumps
Nathan into Taka's care
She is resentful
Nathan discovers
That the samurai he killed
Had been her husband
Forced to stay in bed
Nathan becomes paranoid
And begs for sake
Taka won't comply
And does so for his own good
A mother's tough love
Her young sons worry
That the gaijin will explode
If he stays inside
It is winter now
Snow blankets the small village
Nathan walks outside
Children play outside
Samurai stroll by the old
Temple of Buddha
Nathan walks inside
Finds Katsumoto in there
Wants to learn his ways
He's given a sword
Used by samurai students
To hone their fighting
He practices with
The boys in the village square
Taka watches them
Ujio not pleased
By the foreigner's efforts
To learn bushido
Ujio decides
To put Nathan I his place
Fights him in a duel
The samurai cheer
When Nathan is defeated
Katsumoto sighs
Now, Ujio must
Train Nathan against his will
Beautiful karma
Nathan learns the way
Of the sword, all while helping
Taka with the house
A warrior that
Does women's work is quite strange
To the villagers
Then, at the temple
On a cold, snowless morning
Katsumoto waits
Nathan then arrives
With many questions to ask
Just like all young men
"Samurai Scandal:
Tell me everything you know.
Please, I beg of you."
Katsumoto turns
To look in Nathan's young eyes
And blue irises
Twenty-two years past
Since that one fateful in
An Edo alley
White man raped daughter
Of a revered Samurai
Forever tainted
A boy was then born
Eight months later in the spring
And was almost killed
Nathan hangs his head
Tells Katsumoto of life
In America
He wished to be dead
With all the slurs he'd been thrown
In both there and here
"Hitoro did, too,"
Katsumoto told Nathan,
"But then you killed him."
Nathan felt so old
As Katsumoto told him
Of this tainted tale
"You must choose, Nathan
Between your mother's family
Or your father's sin."
Nobutada comes
And tells his father that a
Play is performing
Nathan follows them
The father and his young son
Back to the village
The night then ensues
With the laughter of people
Though danger lurking
Suddenly, ninjas
Try to kill Katsumoto
But Nathan stops them
The ninjas run off
The village can now be safe
Despite the lost lives
Now the villagers
No longer call him "Gaijin"
Nathan earned their trust
PART FIVE:
The spring had arrived
With tiny pink sakura
Floating in the breeze
Nathan must return
To Tokyo down below
But is reluctant
He turns twenty-three
As he rides into the base
And finds different men
Bagley took over
During Nathan's long absence
The men are cocky
On the other side
Katsumoto asks to see
The young Emperor
Omura, fearful,
Has the samurai captured
And has him locked up
Nathan finds out
Contacts Nobutada and
Looks for Simon Graham
The Three men enter
Via lies, cheats, and some bribes
To look for their man
Katsumoto's found
His legs crossed and eyes shut tight
Within a small room
Nobutada and
Graham asked to leave the room
Katsumoto speaks.
"Take Hitoro's sword
And fight for the samurai.
Avenge your mother."
The two men escape
Only to discover that
Nobutada's dead
The event saddens
Katsumoto cannot grieve
A battle awaits him
He looks at Nathan
The young man has now found his
Opportunity
The night falls quickly
Two people hold each other:
Nathan and Taka
He says "Don't Worry."
Though Shiroyama awaits
Him in the morning
Taka gives Nathan
Hitoro's armor and
A glistening sword
PART SIX:
At Shiroyama
Soldiers outnumber the others
Over ten to one
As Bagley's barking
Nathan tells Katsumoto
Of the 300
So, the samurai
Evade enemy gunshots
Till they can fight back
The samurai shoot
Their arrows toward the soldiers
And start a fire
Omura takes out
A much more vicious weapon
Some new machine gins
And then, one by one,
Samurai fall to the ground
Katsumoto's hit
Nathan runs to him
Against the falling masses
Of killed samurai
Nathan can't stand blood
Despite that it surrounds him
Along with death stench
Katsumoto then
Gives Nathan a knife and asks
That he help him die
Against Omura
And Colonel Bagley, soldiers
Cease fire and bow down
Nathan takes the knife
And fulfills Katsumoto's
Final dying wish
Seppuku, it's called
And tiny pink sakura
Take his now freed soul
Emperor Meji
Is presented a treaty
The following day
Omura insists
That he signs the new treaty
With Americans
But then Nathan comes
And gives Katsumoto's knife
To the Emperor
Glances are exchanged
Between the men in the room
Meji shows his face
He offers the knife
To Omura that instant
"Kill yourself or leave."
PART SEVEN:
Nathan is unsure
If he should go back or stay
In his mother's land
Taka comes to him
And says she'll go where he goes
His choice is then made
He lives in Japan
With Taka and her two sons
And for many years
1889
Nathan dies in his bedroom
He was thirty-five
It was his liver,
The doctor said to Taka.
He had drunk too much.
Some decades later
Simon is in London with
Taka's eldest son
Within his hands is
A journal that Nathan kept
They read the pages
The two write a book
Based on the entries they'd read
And had it published
1907
The book is for sale; Its Name:
The Last Samurai