Shōgun
Season 1 – Episode 4
Original air date : March 12, 2024 (Netflix)
Plot: Blackthorne and Mariko test their new alliance as they train Toranaga’s gun regiment for war. Yabushige must navigate his past promises to Ishido when an old friend comes to the village.
* * *
[speaking Japanese]
The Black Ship will bring us out of Osaka, but you must stay.
[distant shouting]
Fuck this.
[screaming]
[laughing]
Which is a very great honor.
My lord would like to race you to the shore.
But I warn you not to let him win.
My lord hates that.
I wouldn’t dare.
[panting]
♪ ♪
[dog barking]
[indistinct chatter]
[deep inhale]
Mm.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
[steady drumming]
[indistinct chatter]
[distant cheering]
[Blackthorne] Whose army is that?
Yabushige-sama’s.
All loyal to Toranaga-sama.
Let’s hope so.
[chuckles softly]
[shouting and cheering]
[cheering]
Eh…
[chuckles]
Anjin-sama, this is Omi-sama, the lord of this village.
[Blackthorne] Actually, we’ve met.
And fuck yourself,
you sniveling little shit rag.
[soldiers] Ho!
Ho!
Yabushige-sama!
Ho!
[commander] Yabushige-sama!
[soldiers] Ho!
[grunts softly]
[commander] Yabushige-sama!
[soldiers] Ho!
[call and response continues]
[soldiers fall silent]
[weapons clattering]
[cheering]
Mm.
Ho!
Ho!
[commander] Toranaga-sama!
Ho!
Toranaga-sama!
Ho!
[commander] Toranaga-sama!
[soldiers] Ho!
[commander] Toranaga-sama!
[soldiers] Ho!
[call and response continue]
[grunts]
[commander] Toranaga-sama!
[soldiers] Ho!
[sighs]
[commander] Toranaga-sama!
[soldiers] Ho!
Ho!
[commander] Toranaga-sama!
Ho!
[busy chatter]
Uh…
The men, from the hold.
Have you seen them?
Are they safe?
Muraji. Hai?
Hai. Welcome, Anjin-sama.
Uh…
My men.
I’d like to see them now, my…
Uh…
Where are they?
I-I’m sorry, I-I don’t, um…
Look, maybe you can help me, here?
What now? Let go.
[Mariko] I am afraid you are forbidden from boarding without permission.
My own ship?
If there is something you need…
Oh, there is, yes.
My pistols and my men.
I keep asking to see them.
Your men were brought to Toranaga-sama’s city of Edo for their safety.
As for your guns, we can fetch them if it becomes necessary.
Now look here, Mariko, your lord and I had an arrangement.
That ship and its crew now belong to me.
You’re quite mistaken.
Your ship and crew now belong to Toranaga-sama, and he will use them as he wishes.
Well, thank you for the clarification.
[sighs]
Anjin-sama, this is Uejirou, the gardener.
Uh…
Konnichiwa, Uejirou-sama.
Sorry, we do not use “sama” for Uejirou.
It is not proper.
Ah.
Your house is ready for inspection.
Right this way.
My house?
Everything here has been prepared specially by your staff.
My staff?
You will find your sleeping room as well as Fuji-sama’s room.
And the guest room where I will be staying.
Perhaps you would like some tea after your long journey.
Why have I been given all this?
It is only fitting for a hatamoto.
No, w-wait a minute. How long am I expected to be here?
Nagakado-sama says training will take at least six months.
Sorry. Six months?
You agreed to train these men, you remember.
I do, yes. For the return of my men and my ship.
Please be patient, Anjin-sama.
As hatamoto, you have been given a home, a generous salary of 240 koku a year…
I don’t want any generous cuckoos.
And Fuji-sama as a consort.
Well, I’m sure she’s very nice, but I don’t want a woman.
I don’t wish to pillow her, pillow on her, or near…
Or do any damn pillowing at all.
In any case, she will look after your house and your servants, handle your financial matters.
To refuse would be a terrible insult to our lord.
Well, I do refuse.
I refuse all of this.
I came here under clear terms with Toranaga.
Sorry. Toranaga-sama.
Now he’s bloody vanished.
And I’m a bloody prisoner all over again.
Just with better living quarters.
[scoffs] Six months.
Six months…
Eh…
[chuckles]
[playing gentle tune]
Eh?
[laughing]
[raspy exhale]
Huh?
[Yabushige scoffs]
You really don’t have to be here.
Go away.
[groans]
She won’t let me alone.
Wherever I go, she is.
It is not customary for one’s consort to sleep while he’s awake.
Well, it’s a foolish custom.
You should not walk on moss.
It is very disrespectful.
If I may…
I believe Fuji-sama merits better.
She is my late husband’s niece.
Accomplished and highborn.
Well, that’s absolutely wonderful for her.
And recently her husband and infant son were put to death.
Her husband had insulted Ishido-sama.
And something had to be done in order to prevent bloodshed.
Shouldn’t she be grieving, then?
Instead of
following around marooned Englishmen?
We grieve those we have lost by continuing their fight.
Rubbish.
A child has no fight.
The child’s father served Toranaga-sama.
And now being your consort allows Fuji-sama to do the same.
It gives her a place.
Well, you’d never know it to look at her.
Bereaved mother.
Or widow.
Do you know “The Eightfold Fence”?
From the time we are small, it is something we are taught to build within ourselves.
An… impenetrable wall, behind which we can retreat whenever we need.
You must train yourself to listen without hearing.
For instance, you can listen to the sound of a blossom falling or the rocks growing.
If you really listen, your present circumstance vanishes.
Do not be fooled by our politeness.
Our bows, our maze of rituals.
Beneath it all we could be a great distance away.
Safe.
And alone.
♪ ♪
[Blackthorne] Tell him he can go to hell.
Omi-sama insists it is forbidden to bring your weapons today.
Nonsense, your people bring swords wherever they go.
[Mariko] He says guns are different.
You must turn them over.
I’m not his prisoner anymore. Where I come from, you ask guests to do things.
There is no need for this.
You are protected as hatamoto.
For some reason, I just can’t shake the memory of our first meeting.
Mariko-sama…
Give the guns to Fuji-sama.
She’s your consort.
She will give her life to defend them.
I can damn well defend myself…
Anjin-sama!
Tell this milk-dribbling fuck smear I’m ready to go.
[chuckles]
That was very good.
Very good.
[indistinct ch.
Yabushige-sama says his men do not need to learn basic skills like loading or cleaning muskets.
The Portuguese brought us guns 50 years ago, we are very experienced with it.
[grunts]
[idle chatter]
Yes, of course you are.
He asks about any tactics our enemies might not yet know.
Right. Tactics.
[indistinct chatter]
[horse whinnies]
Well, then, let me tell you about tactics. [Sighs]
I will begin by describing for you a great battle.
We call it “The Siege of Malta.”
[Blackthorne] 60,000 Islamic Turks, the cream of the Ottoman Empire, had come against 600 Christian knights, supported by a few thousand Maltese auxiliaries at their vast castle complex at St. Elmo.
Now, the knights had successfully withstood the six-month siege, and incredibly, had forced the enemy to retreat in shame. We are taught this victory saved the whole Mediterranean seaboard and thus Christendom…
Sorry, you said “taught”?
Yes.
When did this battle occur?
Well
35, 40 years ago.
So you, yourself, did not fight in this battle?
[chuckles]
And you were not even born
when this battle was fought.
Uh…
Perhaps you might start again.
Except this time describe a battle you have actually fought in.
Well, as I may have mentioned to your lord on multiple occasions, I’m a sea pilot, yes?
Not a great deal of infantry battles at sea.
[indistinct chatter]
[sighs]
Mariko-sama, please tell him that in my opinion gun tactics are useless compared to the fine art of English naval warfare.
That castle in Osaka, it’s impregnable.
Yes, with swords, even matchlocks, to lay siege would take months.
But anchor my ship and cannon within a few thousand yards, and your army could breach the castle walls without so much as an arrow’s fletching to graze their cheeks.
Huh?
Just let me demonstrate.
How do I say, um… “back”?
Back?
U-shi-lo.
Ushilo!
[Yabushige] Eh…
Would you mind hitting the wedge?
[tapping]
Pierce your charge.
Prime. Now, clear the hubs.
Fire!
Clear the hubs and fire!
Oh?
[laughing]
[cackles] Well done.
Well done.
[Yabushige laughing]
Prime.
[cannon blasts]
Prime.
[cannon blasts]
[soft gasp]
[cannon blasts]
♪ ♪
Ima… Imaichi… Imaichido.
Imaichido.
Imaichido. Okika-say…
Okikase kudasai.
Okikase kudasai.
Hai.
Kudasai.
[laughing]: Kudasai.
Kudasai.
Hai.
[cannon blasts]
[distant rumbling]
[Blackthorne instructing indistinctly]
Now align your vectors…
No, no, no, it’s too early.
Excellent work.
♪ ♪
[birds singing]
[Blackthorne] This is beautiful.
The men are learning a decent amount at a decent pace.
Yes.
Toranaga-sama will be pleased.
There are other ways I could help him.
My Erasmus is a single ship, but a fleet?
It would be something else entirely.
My men in Edo could help me build him a navy.
Forgive me, Anjin-sama, but…
I think you should remember your oath is to Toranaga-sama.
And not to the orders that brought you here.
What orders?
Your… crimes against the Portuguese.
I have read them in your own words.
It will be useful for you to know:
Our lord will never be turned against your enemies.
And it will be useful for you to be reminded that we are at war, both your lord and my queen, and it happens that we have enemies in common.
Those were Catholics trying to kill him in Osaka.
Yes, trying to kill you.
Because they fear what I can offer him.
A modern navy,
ships built for war, would be to his benefit.
You have no idea what is or is not to my lord’s benefit.
Well, I suppose we both have our masters to serve, don’t we?
[rumbling]
Jesus!
[rumbling subsides]
The hell was that?
Just a baby earthquake.
A… A b-baby what?
You will most certainly experience more while you are here.
There are also tsunami that come from the sea and fires that break out in the villages and cities.
It is why our houses are built to go up as quickly as they come down.
Because death is in our air.
And sea and earth.
It can come for us at any moment.
Before you meddle with our politics, just remember we live and we die.
We control nothing beyond that.
Baby earthquake.
[breathing heavily]
[moaning]
[cannons distantly blasting]
[sighs]
And then…
Number four. Um, uh…
Bring forth a chain shot, chain shot.
A chain shot.
Yes. Good, yes.
Please, thank you.
Yes.
[chains rattling]
Now, the chain shot increases the radius within which the damage occurs.
And the nature of the damage itself.
You’ll see, you’ll see.
And uhsa. That’s it.
[indistinct chatter]
And clear, and there we are.
[panicked shouting]
[horse whinnies]
What’s… going on?
[horses chuffing]
[breathing heavily]
[sighs]
[chuckles]
[shouting orders]
Yabushige…
[sighs]
And so the regents in Osaka are pressuring Yabushige?
He’ll be declared a fugitive for refusing their order, but if he returns to Osaka, he will no doubt be ordered to commit seppuku.
Eat, please.
What have you got there?
This may be not for you.
How do you mean? Let me try some.
Mariko-sama, would you mind telling Fuji something on my behalf?
I wanted to apologize for the way I behaved when I was first brought here.
I believe this is how you offer gifts, so excuse my crude wrapping.
I’d like to thank her for her excellent service to this house.
I ask that she accept this gift as a gesture of my gratitude.
Those are the best guns a sailor can have and I’ll miss that one greatly, but if she’s one to do her job well, she’ll need the best.
I’ll teach her how to use them.
She’ll be the most fearsome lady in the Japans.
Did I offend her?
Fuji-sama, as your consort, would like you to carry her family swords.
They’re a symbol of her late father’s bravery.
I can’t accept this.
Fuji-sama rightly points out that as hatamoto, it is not proper for you to have no swords to carry.
So you must accept.
[Blackthorne] Gozarimasuru, gozarimasuru.
I’ll get it right one of these bloody days.
I remind you that you are under no obligation to try this dish.
Mmm.
Mmm.
It’s a bit like cheese.
Very stinky.
Possibly spoiled cheese.
But, uh
quite enjoyable.
[liquid pouring]
[pouring]
Gozarimasu.
Gozarimasuru.
Gozarimasuru. Gozarimasuru.
Beautiful.
[gasps] Oh.
Shit.
Sorry.
Fuji-sama said you were off on a walk.
Yes, I was.
I am happy to see you have changed your mind about bathing.
Would you care to sit?
I came here to thank you for your gift to Fuji-sama.
It was very meaningful for her to receive.
As her gift was to me.
I also wanted you to know you were wrong about my service in Ajiro.
It has nothing to do with the Church.
Oh.
Go on.
I have not told you my family name.
But it is well-known in Japan.
Many years ago a great injustice stole everything from me.
For a long time…
I have been unable to seek resolution for what happened.
But recently, Toranaga-sama offered me a way.
What sort of resolution?
You said your houses here are designed to be rebuilt as quickly as they are destroyed.
So if a house is ruined, and rebuilt and ruined and rebuilt 50 times over, I see it… Uh, I fail to see it as ruins.
I see only a house.
And here I see much woman.
And one who owes me no explanations.
What is the name of it, again, the city of your birth?
London.
London…
A city like Osaka?
Well a city, yes, but nothing like Osaka.
It’s crowded.
Filthy.
Plenty to do, though.
What would you do there, on a night like this?
Well, if you were with me, all the way from the Japans,
I’d take you to see my queen.
Would she receive us?
Oh, yes, I’m sure.
And we’d tour the grounds at Richmond Palace.
[chuckles]
Sit down for a stuffy dinner, and then to make up for it, I’d take us all to see a play.
Do you have plays here?
Hm, yes.
They’re very popular.
They’re quite sad and… tragic, mostly.
Yes, we have tragedies.
Doomed lovers, cursed kings.
And after that?
Suppose we’d go for a walk.
Yes.
Sanpo o suru.
Sanpo o…
Suru.
Suru.
We’d sanpo o suru… along the Thames.
It’s a big river. Runs right through the city.
And at night, it’s really, it’s quite something, and you can almost forget yourself.
And all your troubles and your past and all the ways life seems to leave you wrecked.
They all just disappear.
And then you are free.
Yes.
I think so.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
[snoring softly]
[gasps]
Uh…
♪ ♪
Rain is… very beautiful today.
Ee. Rain.
Ee.
Ee.
Ee.
Good morning.
You seem in good spirits.
As I should be, after a night of good company.
Hmm.
The courtesan was acceptable, then?
I’m glad to hear it.
Fuji-sama and I thought she would make a pleasing gift.
I don’t understand. You’re not, uh…
That was a very thoughtful gift.
♪ ♪
[sighs]
What is happening?
I do not know.
[shouting]
[pained moaning]
[moaning]
Is no one going to stop him?
Do not intervene.
[shouts]
[breathing shakily]
It is war.
