The Ansei Purge has seemingly eliminated the bakufu's enemies among the imperial court and the daimyo but the common samurai, incensed at the treatment of their lords and the shogun's appeasement of the foreign "barbarians", take matters into their own hands.

The following is a list of some of the Japanese names and terms that are used in this episode: Ii Naosuke, sonno joi, ishin shishi, ronin, koubu gattai, Sakuradamon, Arimura Jizaemon, Mito, Satsuma, Tokugawa Nariaki, Hitotsubashi.

Sources: The Meiji Restoration by W.G. Beasley, The Making of Modern Japan by Marius B. Jansen, A Modern History of Japan by Andrew Gordon.