Well, Shabake has turned into a bit of a Meitantei Conan (or Scooby Doo if you like) for its final act. But it’s doing so in charming fashion, and in a manner that’s totally supported by the plot. Ichitarou has finally found a way to keep his minders from babying him to the point of imprisonment – he has to complete this task or Mikoshi-Nyuudou will take him to the other world anyway. So why go overboard making sure he doesn’t overtax himself?
One really interesting element to this story is the way it operates mostly on a very matter-of-fact and practical level. Problem-solving, but in a world where spirits and Gods are a fact of life. There’s an immediacy to their impact on the story that’s felt more acutely than in a more overtly fantastical series, because the context feels much more real. What does Ichi do when he needs to come up with a plan? Head to Toeizan and elicit (using a shit-ton of money, cadged from a guilty-feeling Mom) the aid of two famous monks for spirit-sealing talismans and a mystical blade. Borrow the wrapping for the Han-gon incense from the Inari shrine where Tamae offered it, being careful to clean the shrine in thanks.
Ichitarou is an extremely clever lad, there’s no denying that. He’s full of good ideas and has clearly worked out how to use his infirmity to manipulate others to get what he wants. Though of course the monks only accept cold hard Ryou. Toeizan is an interesting story all to itself – a huge temple complex built to try and emulate the political power of Enryaku-ji, in Kyoto. It was almost entirely destroyed in the Boshin War but took up almost all of what is now Ueno Park. And we also confirm that the Nagasakiya was located in Toricho, the top merchant street in old Edo (in the heart of what it now Nihonbashi).
We also get a bit of Sasuke’s backstory here, though not so much as to level the score with Nikichi. He met the lady Ogin 500 years earlier, in point of fact helping out when Nikichi was injured (which has obviously always grated on the latter). She promised him to grant his heart’s desire, though it wasn’t until centuries later that she did – and in a manner which clearly surprised him. There’s also a flashback within a flashback, where we see his moment of greatest regret. This made me think immediately that the person he failed to protect was Oda Nobunaga, though that’s strictly a hunch on my part.
The plan here is pretty straightforward. Slap those talismans up all around Toricho (Nozoki-Byoubu and the Yanari will attest to their effectiveness), blocking the failed tsukumogami’s efforts to sniff Ichi out. Then, lure it to the Toeizan grounds by scent (the incense wrapper), there to do battle with it with fewer people around. The presence of the two famous monks is viewed by Ichitarou as a sort of backstop – though one imagines their price for sealing such an ayakashi would be truly stratospheric.
The spanner in the works, however, is that the creature seems to have targeted Matsunosuke (is his scent similar to Ichi’s, or is it a matter of calculation?). It’s headed to the Azuma cooperage in Kashu (in the north of Edo, near the temple) only to be told by the idiot son that Matsunosuke has left on an errand and never returned. Whether it set the subsequent fire in anger or as a strategic move is unclear, but the onus is now squarely on the Ichitarougumi to act quickly if more lives – never mind Matsunosuke’s – are not to be lost.
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