Shogun

Yabu takes Blackthorne towards the castle, where he sees Ochiba and Ishido. Ochiba calls Uraga a “renegade Christian priest” (913), while Blackthorne apologizes for attacking Ishido the last time they saw each other (when Toranaga was escaping). Ishido accepts his apology, and says it is a shame that ronin attacked him. Blackthorne gives Ochiba a pink flower for her birthday, as is the European custom.

Lord Kiyama tells Blackthorne that his Christian sect is unwelcome in his lands. He thinks Protestants should be killed and expelled.

Mariko wants to leave the next day to meet Toranaga, but Ishido asks her to stay to participate in a poetry competition. When she asks if she is being detained, Ishido says no. In that case, she says she must follow Toranaga’s orders, but Ishido counters that she must obey the Regents.

After Ishido and Ochiba leave, Yabu is furious that Mariko argued with Ishido. He thinks Ishido will cancel their departure permits, which would ruin their plan. She calms Yabu down by pretending to be ashamed. He tells her to obey Ishido.

Lord Kiyama questions Mariko, who refuses to answer, saying only that she was obeying Toranaga’s orders. He threatens to dissolve her son’s upcoming marriage if she does not obey Ishido’s wishes. Mariko agrees to apologize as long as she can leave. Kiyama questions her about Blackthorne. He is convinced that Toranaga secretly hates Christianity and only wants to be shogun. Mariko argues that this is not the case. She gives Kiyama a scroll containing Toranaga’s desire for peace, and his support for the Heir, but Kiyama does not believe Toranaga, or her. 

Mariko convinces Kiri that they need to try to leave. They visit Blackthorne, but one of Ishido’s samurai stays nearby to guard them. Mariko tells him that the day after tomorrow they will all be free, so he assumes that everything she said to Ishido was part of Toranaga’s plan, worried that Toranaga is using him and Mariko as bait for a trap. He doesn’t understand how Toranaga would benefit by sacrificing them.

In the morning, Rodrigues has his men check the muskets and cannons. A couple of nights earlier he argued with Ferriera about whether Blackthorne was an evil man. Ferriera doesn’t believe Blackthorne could have learned Japanese without the devil’s help, even though Alvito told him that he’d given Blackthorne the dictionary to try to convert Blackthorne and thus save his soul. 

Mariko walks towards the castle exit escorted by ten Browns led by Yoshinaka. A guard stops them; unless they can provide paperwork, they can’t leave. Mariko tells Yoshinaka to kill the guard, and Yoshinaka beheads the man. Suddenly, an arrow hits Yoshinaka in the chest and he falls. Mariko asks a young samurai named Kazuko to take charge. They keep going, stopping frequently to skirmish. Kazuko is wounded in the process, and arrows from an unknown source kill him. Another group of Grays kills Mariko’s Browns as the fighting ends. Mariko is definitely unable to leave the city, which means she cannot follow Toranaga’s orders. As a samurai who cannot execute her lord’s command, she claims to have thus lost honor. Mariko tells Kiyama that she will have to die by seppuku that night, rather than face the shame of being unable to leave the city—an act that will in turn cause Ishido to lose face as a bad host.

Blackthorne realizes that he is no longer afraid to die. Mariko’s courage inspires him.

Ochiba tells Ishido that they cannot allow Mariko to die by suicide—the loss of face would be catastrophic. Ishido decides to try to capture Mariko and prevent the seppuku.

Yodoko, the widow of the Taiko, is on her death bed. She tells Ochiba to convince Ishido to let Mariko go. Before she dies, she also urges Ochiba to trust Toranaga, and to marry him, if possible. Watching, Mariko remembers watching the Taiko die. Toranaga had been there with him, promising to protect Yaemon until he was old enough to rule. The Taiko asked Toranaga to form the Council of Regents, so Toranaga chose Kiyama, Ishido, Onoshi, Hiro-matsu, and Sugiyama because he knew he could turn their animosity towards each other to his advantage.

As Mariko prepares for seppuku, she and Blackthorne tell each other that they love each other. Onlookers gather by a lily pond and Mariko asks Yabu to be her second. At the last moment, Ishido gives her the papers that will allow her to leave the city the following day at sunrise. Blackthorne is overjoyed that the seppuku has been averted and carries her inside. 

Two hours before dawn, waves of ninjas Ninja attack the fortress of the Browns, grappling onto the roof. They move from room to room, silently killing Brown samurai.

A samurai tells Yabu that he thinks Ishido is tricking them and will not let Mariko leave at dawn. Yabu stabs him in the back while pretending to look for the source of a noise. It turns out that earlier, an unknown samurai offered Yabu a reward for helping in the ambush. When he sees ninjas in the dark, Yabu kills the man he is walking with. Though he is surprised that the ambush is performed by ninjas and not ronin, Yabu takes the attackers upstairs to the servants’ quarters, opening the locked door to get them inside Blackthorne and Mariko’s rooms.

Several ninjas attack Blackthorne. He shoots one, and then he, Mariko, and several other court women and servants get behind a barred door in a secret room. A ninja shouts that they only want Blackthorne as a hostage. Mariko knows it’s a trick—they are here to kill her. Mariko begs Blackthorne to escape so that her death will be worth something.

The ninja leader is furious. He had not expected the secret reinforced door and is desperate to capture Mariko. He blows the door open with an explosion. Wounds from the explosion kill Mariko. Bleeding from the ears, Blackthorne says a prayer in Latin and collapses. 

The Regents meet to discuss the attack. Ishido, who of course was actually behind the attack, suggests that Christians ordered the attack. Privately, Ishido is furious that his spies did not know about the hidden room. Kiyama argues that this was obviously Toranaga’s plot, though others think Toranaga is too smart to use ninjas. Onoshi believes they now have to let everyone, including Blackthorne, go. If they don’t, they dishonor the death of Mariko, which will make people wonder if Ishido planned the attack. Kiyama, torn between supporting Ishido or Toranaga, votes to keep Toranaga out of Osaka and sides with Ishido. Then the Regents vote for war.

Blackthorne wakes. His body seems fine but he can’t hear. Yabu visits him.

Ishido and Ochiba discuss what to do. Ishido claims that he will protect Blackthorne from the Christians. To avoid having to release him in tribute to Mariko, Ishido considers slandering Mariko’s honor since there were rumors of her sleeping with Blackthorne. To herself, Ochiba wishes that Toranaga were there instead of Ishido.

As Father Dell’Aqua prays, a message arrives from Alvito with news that Alvito will see Toranaga that day and the Regents have voted for war. The Council will not let the Christians have Mariko’s body; instead, she is to have a state funeral the Jesuits are not allowed to attend.

Friar Perez (a Catholic who is not from the Jesuit order) enters with a letter from the Pope for Dell’Aqua that sets out new rules for missionary work in Japan. Priests can now only travel to Japan from Lisbon, Goa, and Macao—Jesuit strongholds. If they visit Japan directly from Manila, they will be excommunicated. Also, all non-Jesuit priests in Japan must immediately return to Manila; they will only be able to return to Japan if their superiors wish. Perez says the letter is heresy—he refuses to accept how much power it gives the Jesuits. Dell’Aqua realizes they must take sides in the war. 

On the day of Mariko’s funeral, Blackthorne remembers her wanting her funeral to be at dawn, near autumn. At the ceremony, after her pyre burns, Ishido makes an offering. Blackthorne makes the sign of the cross and leaves.

His hearing is a little better the next morning. A messenger from Kiyama, Brother Michael, visits to find out his condition, and Blackthorne sees that his guards have been replaced by two of Ishido’s men. Michael takes Blackthorne to his ship, telling him that he is also a samurai and that he hated the lax morals of priests in Rome.

They meet Dell’Aqua and Ferriera on the shore, where there is a stake with wood nearby. Assuming they intend to burn him, Blackthorne asks Michael to let him die as a samurai instead. As Ferriera takes out a pistol, Dell’Aqua sees the stake, which was Ferriera’s idea, and declares that he will excommunicate any of Ferriera’s men who harm Blackthorne. He also threatens to take the Black Ship from them. When a sailor fires at Blackthorne anyway, arrows from Kiyama’s archers kill him. Blackthorne does not understand why the inquisitor is defending him. Dell’Aqua explains that Mariko asked him to protect Blackthorne. Spitefully, Ferriera says he burned the Erasmus, so Blackthorne will never be able to leave Japan and can no longer attack the Black Ship. Blackthorne rushes at Ferriera but is stopped. 

Blackthorne looks at the burned bulk of Erasmus. Yabu and Naga appear. Yabu says he doesn’t know what happened, but his men—who were responsible for protecting the ship—have been disgraced by its destruction. At Toranaga’s command, hundreds of Yabu’s samurai have been dying by seppuku.

Blackthorne wonders if Mariko told Kiyama or the priests to burn the ship in exchange for his life. Without the Erasmus, he is helpless to fight them.

Buntaro and Toranaga arrive with Omi and Alvito. Toranaga feels good. Today a messenger will tell Ishido that the Emperor will be delayed for several days, which might force Ishido out of castle. Four thousand warriors cheer for Toranaga as he disembarks. He demands Yabu tell him how the ship was destroyed, but Yabu does not have a satisfactory answer.

Kiri has a message from Ochiba for Toranaga: Yaemon, the Heir, does not want to oppose him. That night, Toranaga makes Yabu general of the Musket Regiment.

Toranaga tells Blackthorne that he is free to kill Alvito for the ship’s destruction if he wishes. Toranaga watches Blackthorne catch up with Alvito, but they talk peacefully and part without conflict. Later, Alvito tells Toranaga that Blackthorne accused him of burning the ship. He admits to praying for its destruction, but that is all. Toranaga’s internal monologue reveals that he is the one who ordered the ship’s destruction to gain Kiyama’s trust. Toranaga summons Blackthorne, who tells Toranaga everything that happened at Osaka, including the stake where Ferriera wanted to burn him and that he believes Mariko told someone how to burn his ship, in exchange for his life.

Toranaga and Blackthorne swim together. Toranaga gives him a scroll from Mariko that he agreed to deliver if Blackthorne lived through Osaka. The message says that Mariko loves him, and that Blackthorne’s life meant more to her than his ship. Blackthorne can build another ship with Toranaga’s help. Then he will attack the Black Ship next year, before going home and returning with a navy. He will call his new ship The Lady. 

Two days later, Toranaga tells Naga that Ishido has left Osaka and is prepping his armies. Toranaga goes off to hunt, but along the coast instead of the prearranged route, which unsettles the Hunt Master. As he walks, Toranaga recalls asking Mariko to write to Blackthorne as though she arranged for the Erasmus to be burned, including specific details such as the phrase, “If your ship is lost please build another” (1079).

Yabu, Buntaro, Hiro-matsu, and Sudara also go on the hunt. Toranaga asks how the training with muskets is proceeding. Hiro-matsu says that it is dishonorable—he finds intrigue and treachery disgusting tools unbefitting of samurai.

Toranaga asks Yabu why he killed the samurai he was with before the ninja attack. Kosami heard Yabu identify himself to a ninja and go on unmolested. In response, Sudara jumps in front of Toranaga, while Hiro-matsu swings his sword at Yabu’s neck. Toranaga stops the beheading but commands Yabu to die by seppuku. Yabu wants Omi as his second and tells Buntaro to give Blackthorne his sword afterwards. Yabu privately tells Omi that Omi’s decision to betray him was right, suggests that Omi to take aim at Yaemon, possibly by putting a bounty on him or using the Amida Tong, and finally warns Omi never to trust Toranaga.

Toranaga reinstates Sudara as his Heir. Sudara swears to abide by all of Toranaga’s orders. In four days they will start Crimson Sky, though Sudara thinks Toranaga and not Hiro-matsu should lead the battle: Hiro-matsu, with his loathing of guns, is out of touch and Toranaga will be able to bring a more modern sensibility to the situation.

Fujiko arrives with Gyoko and Kiku. Toranaga offers Gyoko control of the Guild of Courtesans if she can find out where Ishido will attack. Toranaga also wants her son to build Blackthorne’s new ship—if he delivers within six months, Toranaga will make him a samurai. Finally, Toranaga wants Kiku put into a household, and Kiku is happy because her sons will be born samurai.

After Yabu’s extremely honorable seppuku, Toranaga makes Omi the Musket Regiment commander, with Naga as his second in command. After the last battle, Toranaga will make Omi the Overlord of Izu. Omi rides away, satisfied with his work and his future.

Toranaga asks Fujiko about women she would suggest for Blackthorne. She proposes Midori, a 17-year-old orphan, as wife, and Kiku as consort.

Blackthorne is at the ship’s wreckage. He is happy that they have been able to recover a great deal of the weaponry and commits to building ships until he succeeds. Alvito says that soon Blackthorne will be Toranaga’s interpreter and there should be peace between them. They agree to a truce. Blackthorne asks if the last rites he gave Mariko counted. Alvito says no, but she received official ones earlier from Alvito himself—Mariko knew she would die.

Toranaga watches Blackthorne at the wreck. One day he will tell him the truth about how the ship was burned. In the meantime, Mura will guard Blackthorne—Mura is actually Toranaga’s spy, a samurai whose real name is Akira Tonomoto. As Toranaga’s falcon catches a hare, he thinks of how much Mariko helped him accomplish. He sets his falcon free in her honor. He decides the main battle should be at Kyoto and assumes that Kiyama will change sides during the fight. Toranaga believes it is his karma to become shogun. He is right: After Toranaga’s army wins, he takes Ishido captive and buries him up to his neck. People are invited to saw at his neck. Ishido dies after three days.