Episode Title:
The Yodare-Azuki Ceremony.
Episode Description:
In 1601, Iwamata Kogan tests his sword by beheading six criminals in one stroke. Back in 1622, while Gennosuke Fujiki nurses his damaged fingers, Irako must next face a superior foe to earn the right to meet the sensei. His next opponent is Ushimata who wields a large wooden sword. Irako is outclassed, and asks to join the dojo, but Ushimata is angered and wounds him anyway. While Irako contemplates marrying Kogan's daughter Mie, he is summoned to meet Iwamata Kogan. In a flashback, Kogan faces Yagyu Munenori in a match at the Yagyu Estate, and after saving him from yielding embarrassingly, declared the match a draw. However he recalls how Munenori later duped him into embarrassing himself while being interviewed as a sword instructor at the House of Tokugawa. Back in the present, Irako is then taken to meet the Kogan, where he is bound and a yodare azuki (涎小豆, red bean) is placed on his forehead. A demented and incontinent Iwamata Kogan then enters and although appearing to have no control of his body, slices the bean without touching Irako's skin, accepting him into the dojo.
