Shogun S1E4: The Eightfold Fence

Through three episodes, we’ve been speculating as to why so many key figures in the looming Japanese civil war think a lone English sailor is so important, and at the end of last week’s episode — in which Toranaga sneaks out of Osaka and Blackthorne brute-forces his way out — we finally understand why. 

Toranaga’s men seized Blackthorne’s ship, its cannon, and other weapons. But they only have a basic understanding of how to use them. Blackthorne has tactics that are foreign, in every sense, to any enemy Toranaga will be facing. So he charges his new English friend to train a regiment of Japanese soldiers with English weapons and tactics. Safe (for now) from his rival Ishido, Toranaga and his retinue hide out in a small fishing village within possibly-disloyal henchman Yabushige’s territory. 

Among that retinue is Fuji, whose husband committed seppuku and killed their infant child. She wants to leave and become a nun, but Mariko says no, she must remain and serve Toranaga by becoming Blackthorne’s consort. She shows no enthusiasm for any of this, but she assents. (It’s not clear what authority Mariko has over the other woman, but it may well just be sheer force of personality). Mariko has also lost her husband — killed covering Toranaga’s escape last week — but she’s stoic about her loss. She will continue to serve her lord as her husband did. (It doesn’t help that he was a cruel man she didn’t seem to much like, but she doesn’t say that.)

There are more than fisherman waiting for Toranaga in the fishing village. Yabushige has assembled an army, and while this could be a show of support for his lord, it could be a warning as well. Yabushige had flirted with switching sides (or pretended to), and neither man entirely trusts the other. Seeing a thousand armed men chanting Yabushige’s name sends a clear message — Toranaga needs his underling’s support, and would be unwise to turn his back on him.

Except Toranaga sends his own message. He gives a speech to the troops, praising their loyalty — not to him or Yabushige, but to the late Emperor’s memory. “If you fight for loyalty, then I bow to you!” By the end of it, the soldiers are chanting his name, as Yabushige looks on helplessly.

For once, Blackthorne isn’t entirely out of his element. The fishing village is the same one where his ship made land. He wants to find his men and return to his ship, but Mariko informs him his men have been taken to Edo, Toranaga’s home base, and both they and the ship are Toranaga’s to do with as he pleases.

At the same time, Blackthorne has been given a house in the village with servants (Fuji included), and a salary as an officer in Toranaga’s army. He’s expected to stay for at least six months to train his new regiment. But he doesn’t want money or a house, and isn’t comfortable with “pillowing” with Fuji, who he’s barely met. He just wants to be reunited with his men and be on his way. As he understands it, that’s what Toranaga agreed to. Mariko disagrees. And Toranaga himself can’t settle the matter, as he immediately left on “urgent business,” the nature of which we’ll have to wait for a future episode to discover. So Blackthorne’s a prisoner again, as far as he’s concerned, “just with better living quarters.”

He has no idea what to do with Fuji, who mostly glumly follows him around, unable to understand him or make herself understood. So it ends up being Mariko who tries to educate the surly Englishman in Japanese customs, and explains Fuji’s grief over her child. Blackthorne can’t understand why she’d agree to be his consort — even if that’s limited to managing the household and not sharing his bed — while grieving.

Mariko explains the Eightfold Fence of the title. From childhood, the Japanese are trained to build an emotional wall within themselves, and to retreat there to disassociate from unpleasant reality. “Do not be fooled by our politeness, and our maze of rituals,” she tells him. People in her country have a deep inner life they keep well hidden.

From there, we see a glimpse of who Fuji is behind her walls. Blackthorne shows up to his first training session with pistols at his side. Omi — Yabushige’s nephew, who runs the fishing village — insists he turns them over. Tempers flare, and Fuji suggests she take the guns. They’ll be out of Blackthorne’s hands, but she’s loyal to him and will keep them safe. He assents, and as soon as Omi demands Fuji turn over the guns to him, she coolly points one at his head. Maybe having a consort isn’t such a bad thing after all.

So Blackthorne gets to work training his new charges. That isn’t as easy at is seems. Yabushige explains that guns are no mystery to him, the Portuguese have been supplying them to Japan for 50 years. And the Englishman is forced to admit that as a sailor, he doesn’t actually know much in the way of infantry tactics. But with Mariko translating, he explains naval tactics, how to aim a cannon with precision, something the Japanese didn’t realize could be done.

In between artillery fire, learns some Japanese, and generally starts behaving himself instead of just yelling at everyone he meets. He even apologizes to Fuji (through Mariko) for his initial rudeness, and makes a gift of his guns. (“She’ll be the most fearsome lady in the Japans.”) In return, she gives him her family’s swords, passed down by her father before she left Osaka. Although warming up to Fuji only serves to bring he and Mariko closer.

And while Toranaga’s away, Yabushige gets back to scheming. Omi suggests that he could still convince Ishido to give him Toranaga’s place on the council, by offering up Blackthorne’s guns. The regiment the Englishman is training is Yabushige’s regiment, regardless of whose name they were chanting earlier.

Eventually, his dual loyalties come to a head. Ishido sends men to summon him back to Osaka, to pledge loyalty. If he goes, he’ll surely be killed for helping Toranaga escape. If he stays, he’ll be branded a fugitive, and his hopes of taking Toranaga’s place are dashed. And either way, Ishido will know about Blackthorne’s cannon.

Yabushige’s schemes are unraveling, so it falls to other, lesser schemers to pick up the slack. Toranaga left his son Nagakado behind, and he and Omi decide to take matters into their own hands. Their plan works as intended, which is bad news for nearly everyone involved, as the delicate politics and intrigue that have been building over what was largely a quiet episode are swiftly undone. Suffice it to say, next week’s episode is unlikely to be quiet.

Stray thoughts:
• It turns out, Fuji is Mariko’s late husband’s niece, so that explains Mariko’s authority over her. 

• This week Blackthorne finally stops yelling long enough to have a few nice moments with Mariko, including a lovely scene where they fantasize together about taking a stroll around London. It’s all very mundane stuff — an overstuffed dinner, a walk around the Thames — but their faces wonderfully convey longing for home, and wonder at an undreampt-of part of the world.