Episode 1: A touching story of love and life that spans time and space
Minakata Jin is a brain surgeon at Tohto University Hospital. He has a fiancee, Tomonaga Miki, who is in a vegetative state as a result of his surgery. And so, he spends each day tormented by a reality that he can do nothing about.
One day, an unidentified man is brought to the hospital for emergency treatment. His face has been struck repeatedly and he is suffering from an epidural hematoma. Jin, who is on duty, operates on the patient to remove the clot. During the surgery, a tumour in the form of a deformed foetus is found, extracted and sent to the pathology department for diagnosis. The surgery is completed without any difficulties but the patient surprisingly escapes, taking the jar of the deformed foetus from the pathology department with him. Jin is surprised to see the jar when he catches hold of the man who cryptically tells him, “I must return … return to that world.” Then Jin tumbles down a flight of stairs and loses consciousness.
When Jin comes to, he finds himself in the woods. Roaming about, he comes across a group of samurais with topknots crossing swords and presumes that he has stumbled upon a movie set. He gets caught up in the situation and soon realises that everything that is happening is real and not part of a production. He is almost killed by a sword but is saved by Tachibana Kyotaro and somehow escapes. However, Kyotaro has been dealt a gaping injury to the head while protecting him.
Jin hurriedly makes the decision to perform an emergency surgery at Kyotaro’s residence. Kyotaro’s mother, Tachibana Ei, who has equated a doctor to a murderer ever since her husband died of cholera after being treated by a Dutch medicine man, does not trust Jin. She threatens to kill him and commit suicide if Kyotaro dies. Forced to allow Ei to witness the surgery, Jin begins to break a part of Kyotaro’s skull to remove a blood clot in his head using improvised household tools in the absence of surgical equipment. However, she gets agitated and lunges at him with a short blade. Jin manages to subdue her and explain the medical procedure. With the time running out, Jin enlists the help of Kyotaro’s younger sister, Tachibana Saki, and saves a dying Kyotaro with his medical skills. And so, Saki gradually starts to take an interest in Jin. Ei is grateful to Jin for saving her son’s life but also suspicious of him because he is vague about his identity.
Jin has gone back in time to the Edo era (1603 – 1868). The year is 1862 – 10 years after the Black Ships had arrived. Not understanding why he has come to the Edo era, Jin attempts to return to the modern times in one way or another, reasoning that he will be able to go back if he finds that unidentified man. Then one man appears before Jin as he gazes down at the Kandagawa and contemplates whether another fall will bring him back to the present day. This man sounds familiar … Jin asks for his name, but the man has to hurry off and Jin chases after him …
Along the way, Jin encounters Tae, a woman bleeding profusely from a severe head wound. She had been kicked in the head by a horse’s hoof as she rushed to save her young son, Kiichi, from being trampled. Jin staunches the bleeding as he waits for his surgical tools to be brought from the Tachibana residence. Saki comes but forgets to bring the anesthesia. As Jin fights to save Tae’s life without it, he comes to a realisation …
“Miki.
You probably won’t believe it but I’m in Edo now.
I’ve ended up doing surgeries in a world where surgeries are mistaken for murders and where there are neither decent tools nor drugs.
They are very simple surgeries.
Ones that I’ve never once failed before.
But here, such surgeries fluster me.
It isn’t my skills that has made my surgeries a success all this while.
It is the drugs, techniques, equipment and knowledge created or given by somebody else.
Without these, I’m just a quack who doesn’t know a thing about a suturing method with little pain.
I didn’t know this even though I’ve been a doctor for 14 years.
I didn’t know that I was this small.
I thought I was being modest but
for a quack doctor like me to only choose the surgeries that I can do …
the thought of it is rather ridiculous.
Maybe … this is what you have always wanted to say to me.
Could this is be …
your punishment for me?”
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This is a wonderful drama. The story ties in both the modern world with the Edo period at the time of the Shinsengumi and the various factions who supported the Emperor and those who supported the Shoguns who were against the Black Ships. This synopsis is quite detailed and I think it give a very good picture of this drama.
Great synopsis and website