Description
Episode Title:
Salty Choji.Episode Description:
Momosuke and the Ongyo are traveling in the mountains when Momosuke becomes separated from the group and reaches the mansion of a wealthy lord named Chojiro. On the verge of death, Momosuke is given horse meat to help regain his strength. This results in some memory loss and Momosuke being cursed by Hayate, the deceased spirit of the horse he ate. After inquiring of its caretaker, Momosuke learns that the lord of the castle is also a victim of the same "Salty Choji" curse. After Chojiro's daughter Osan (who was Ogin's puppet in disguise) appears, Mataichi arrives and offers to exorcise the curse if everyone afflicted will confess everything evil that they have done. When Momosuke is unable to admit anything due to his memory loss, the horse kills him. The alarmed Chojiro then confesses that he is in fact a fraud. Several years earlier, he was Hyakkimaru, a member of a bandit gang called the Mishima Night Riders and an identical twin to the real Chojiro. Chojiro betrayed the Mishima Night Riders after marrying into the wealthy family they were supposed to rob. When the two fell from a cliff during a fight, Hyakkimaru murdered his brother, cannibalised his body to survive, and assumed the real lord's identity. During that time, Osan fell off a cliff into a river and was missing. He then spent the next 11 years trying to find a meat as delicious as human flesh. With the fraud revealed, Hyakkimaru dies of fright as he is brought face to face with the conjured spirits of those he consumed. Mataichi then commits Hyakkimaru's spirit to the next world. Momosuke is actually unharmed as he was playing along in the Ongyo's performance. The Ongyo tells everyone present that the real Osan has been living in a nearby village with Master Tokujiro in Edo with amnesia. She assumes the position of head of the household.
