Part 9: CHAPTER 5: The One Ryou Request - [Part I]

Several years later, now known as Kiryuu Kazumanosuke, Musashi must decide whether to accept the request of a young girl who gave up everything to hire him: Kill the man who murdered her family in his name.

We're now back in the main time period of the game, circa 1605 AD, where the Prologue took place. Starting from Chapter 5, sidequests and various training options will be available, and new ones will keep opening up until the end of the game.


Some historical notes:

There's nothing really new to say about Gion that hasn't already been covered, but you may enjoy seeing a few pictures of what it looks like today.




Not so different from the rest of Kyoto, really, although the picture in the top right shows the descendant businesses of the Ageya pleasure houses like the Tsuruya. Each building is an unbelievably expensive restaurant where guests are entertained by geisha or maiko while they eat and drink only the best that Japan has to offer. I've never been to one, and I never will. You really need to have connections to even be allowed in, and I doubt foreigners or tourists are accepted.

There is no wall separating Gion from Rakugai as depicted in the game, and I'm not sure that there ever was one. As I mentioned in the Prologue, the real licensed pleasure district of Kyoto was a much smaller area called Shimabara, and it is that neighborhood that is depicted in the books and stories about Miyamoto Musashi. Shimabara did indeed have a cordon around it, but it was probably a much simpler wooden affair than the huge stone, castle-like barrier shown in the game.