[easyazon_image add_to_cart=”default” align=”left” asin=”B00065GX0K” cloaking=”default” height=”160″ localization=”default” locale=”US” nofollow=”default” new_window=”default” src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51J2FX1ZXAL._SL160_.jpg” tag=”disabilitymovies-20″ width=”119″]Mild-mannered and low in status, Iguchi Seibei is given the derogatory nickname [easyazon_link asin=”B00065GX0K” locale=”US” new_window=”default” nofollow=”default” tag=”disabilitymovies-20″ add_to_cart=”default” cloaking=”default” localization=”default” popups=”default”]The Twilight Samurai[/easyazon_link] by his co-workers for his custom of rushing home in the evenings instead of going out drinking, but he’s too busy taking care of his senile mother and two young daughters to worry about their teasing. His wife has died of tuberculosis and his own health and personal hygiene have suffered from stress and poverty, but Seibei is otherwise happy with his family life.
Though clad in a drab kimono, his mother still retains the elegant bearing of a noble lady, graciously asking what house people belong to when she can’t remember who they are. When she asks it of her brother, he becomes enraged and shouts that she should be tied to a pole and kept hidden away. Seibei’s mother does recognize his childhood friend and love interest Tomoe, though, an indication of how long he’s quietly pined for her.
Seibei also employs an intellectually disabled man,
Naota, as a manservant. How much Naota is paid or otherwise compensated isn’t shown, but he’s trusted to tend the chickens, carry out simple tasks around the house, and remember urgent messages to Tomoe before Seibei must go into battle.