Full disclosure – I’ll start where I finished last week and admit the “old friend and rival” I thought showed up was Zoujirou. In my defense three years is an eternity when we’re talking about 12 to 15 year-old boys – he could easily have changed that much. And as a lifelong frival of Oniyasha Zoami would have made a certain narrative sense to show up there. But no, it was Juunigorou from the Kanze Troupe – sent by the elder, who’d heard Oniyasha was in trouble (it’s telling that it was he who acted, Not Kan’ami).

The language of flowers is a complex and often subtle thing both in Japan and the West. But in Yoshimitsu’s case it’s pretty obvious what’s being implied here. He decries “waste” along with anything – or anyone – “immature or past their prime”. Historically of course, we can’t know how close to the young Shogun’s real personality all this is. But it’s indisputable that he fancied himself a patron of the arts and that his tastes were fickle. Including where Zeami was concerned. Rumors abound as to why he drifted in and eventually out of Yoshimitsu’s favor, but drift he did.

Yoshimoto Nijo certainly doesn’t come off looking too good here either. He is a patron of Fujiwaka to be sure, and history records that he was the young Oniyasha’s champion at court and helped further his cultural education. Again, as to whether there was anything more we’ll never know, but this version of the man is predatory to say the least. And he can barely suppress his open disdain for Yoshimitsu’s so-called aesthetic taste. To an old Imperial regent like Yoshimoto someone like the Shogun was a cretin, a pretentious new money twat with no sensitivity or refinement whatsoever. It’s only his connections to the Emperor that allow him to keep his head here, one assumes.

What seems likely is that Yoshimoto struck a deal here – if the Shogun allows Oniyasha to participate in the housewarming party for his new Flower Palace in Kyoto, he’ll arrange for Yoshimitsu to purchase the neighboring Kikutei Estate. At the moment though, that’s the last thing on Oniyasha’s mind. He’s surprised to find himself back home, having been carried there by Juunigorou. His old mates are thrilled to see him, stunned at his physical transformation, and throw a welcoming party to celebrate his return. The Elder has taken on a new apprentice, a local orphan who got the bug from an Oniyasha performance Satsuki (remember her) took him to see.

Again, if there’s evidence of any contact between father and son we don’t see it here. They don’t even have a conversation, at least on screen, even after Kan’ami arrives at the party. But Oniyasha talks quite a bit with Ishiya, and there’s a lot of water under the bridge there. Does Oniyasha resent that Ishiya left him alone to suffer at the Shogun’s villa? If so there’s no sign of it. Ishiya just wanted to escape the daily reminders that he could never have what he truly wanted – to dance together with Oniyasha on stage. But this hurting is a two-way street, and it was always clear Oniyasha took Ishiya for granted. When he praises his singing voice here, Ishiya laments that it’s the first time Oniyasha has ever complimented him.

That Ishiya retreats to the Shirabyoushi’s ruined house to sing alone is fitting with the overall bleak tone of the past two episodes. Fundamentally, Oniyasha has come to hate himself – there’s so much that the anime only hints at, but what’s explicit is that in his own mind he’s a flower that’s withered and wilted. He had his brief window of clarity and surety of purpose – powered by the certainly that childlike innocence can provide. Freed from his father’s shadow he grew towards the light, hungrily devouring every ray that rained down on him, and dreamed of changing the world. But what changed was himself, and he had no one at his side to help him understand what was happening. Or to protect him.

But of course, history tells us that Oniyasha’s story is only beginning here. Whatever his sins, Yoshimoto has given him another chance to change the world. And if Ishiya can love dance even knowing he can never partake, if a poor village child can love it despite the hardships of his daily life, than it would be inexcusable for Oniyasha to forget his love for dance with all that he’s been given. He may not have the graceful limbs of Inuo or the power and majesty of Kan’ami, but he has a body – and a mind that once relentlessly asked questions and searched for truth and beauty in every corner.