Previously on Shogun.
Lord Toranaga has decided to resign from the Council.
The Taikō required five Regents for any vote.
Lady Ochiba requested to return to Osaka.
Obviously I've granted it.
To do otherwise would have been a hostile act.
You're not a suckling child!
I'm assuming that man's your husband.
His name is Toda Hirokatsu. Though friends call him Buntaro.
Wait!
Oh, for Christ's sake, he could still make it.
Toda Hirokatsu!
- Shit. - Sorry.
I am happy to see you have changed your mind about bathing.
You seem in good spirits.
After a night of good company.
The courtesan was acceptable then.
Nebara Jozen!
Your presence here is intolerable.
You're savages.
Damn it all.
Why is this happening to us?
Beastly cannon, piles of corpses... we didn't ask for this.
There's an army coming!
Thousands of them!
Toranaga-sama!
My father's returned...
Mariko...
He's alive!
Look who it is!
It's your husband!
Any day, the Lady Ochiba will be returned to us
from Toranaga's castle in Edo...
Let us ensure that the mother of the Heir
comes home to a safer city than what she left.
Toranaga must be impeached.
I agree.
His escape from Osaka was not only a mockery of this Council
but also an insult to the Heir.
Ohno
what do you think?
Impeach.
How fortifying to see us this united...
It's only...
Toranaga's resignation has made impeachment impossible
with our Council now incomplete.
Let us vote on his replacement.
Ishido's friend, Ikeda, would make an excellent Regent.
The man's an idiot.
The seat would stink of countryside.
Perhaps Hiroda?
The seat would stink of Christian.
Lord Kiyama sends his regrets.
I propose Maeda.
Wonderful choice.
I won't sit on a Council with that rotten syphilis.
I'd rather slit my own belly.
Sugiyama.
Perhaps you were unaware...
Maeda is Ohno's cousin.
I see why she is called 'Lady of Steel'.
Your first time hunting?
My husband hasn't had cause to invite me.
He's a miracle, your husband.
It took him twenty days to return to us.
I'm in awe that he survived.
A contingent of Ronin helped him fight his way out.
By the time they reached Edo, only two men were left.
It was a terrible ordeal.
A diary of all that the Anjin has said or done since you left.
I ask that you remain at the Anjin's house
and continue your duties as interpreter.
And my husband?
I've instructed Buntaro to move in to the Anjin's house with you.
This way you can serve them both.
Father!
Tell me...
Was it my son's idea to murder Nebara Jozen?
I don't know.
Killing him was incredibly foolish.
Ishido will likely use it as a pretext for war.
Father.
Mariko, please give this pheasant to the Anjin.
A token of my gratitude.
I know you're upset with me.
Did it ever occur to you
that by killing Jozen,
you might have been doing Yabushige's bidding?
No...
Maybe it was his eager nephew
who tricked you into being so stupid.
Father...
You will address me as Lord!
Stop behaving like a child!
Rotten animals...
Horses are worse than men for treachery.
You so easily fell into their trap.
Broken to another man's fist.
Like a falcon, but without the beauty.
All men are like falcons.
Some are flown straight from the fist,
killing anything that moves.
Others are lazy and tempted by the lure.
But all men can be broken.
Learn to fly them at the right game,
and they will do your hunting for you.
Until you can understand this,
I am stripping the cannon regiment from your command.
A messenger has arrived.
Lord, it's Jozen.
As I live and breathe, the most precious gift there is.
Do you see that?
I do my part, and the old man does his. Now we're getting somewhere.
You can't understand a word I'm saying, but when I was your age,
one of my first chores was cleaning game.
My father would poach from the estate in Chatham.
Watch this.
Please watch this.
Now, we'll hang it up for a few days to mature,
maybe a week, depending on the weather.
There we are.
So sorry, but
the bird will rot, no?
You understand, 'rot'?
Yes, yes.
There will be a terrible stench.
But this is a gift from Toranaga-sama.
It must be the best pheasant this village has ever prepared.
Now, this next part is very important.
No one is to touch this bird.
Understand?
Forbidden, yes?
Um.
If touch... die!
We'll order him knives of his own from Mishima.
From now on, nothing he uses will touch our food.
There's a fine cook in the next village.
When I want another cook I will tell you.
Lady Fuji...
The Anjin may eat whatever he wishes in his own house...
Forgive me for interrupting...
Lord Toda is here to see you.
Uncle.
It's wonderful to see you returned safely.
Where is Mariko?
Ordered to Lord Toranaga's camp.
Should I send for her?
I am ordered to quarter here.
Bad enough my wife must live under a roof with the Anjin.
But now, I am to do the same.
You've narrowly escaped death.
We'll see to it you are well-cared for.
How is it being consort to a barbarian?
Sorry...
I am consort to a hatamoto, I wouldn't know.
Does he make you pillow?
No.
Thankfully
the Anjin prefers the company of other women.
Barbarians should stick with barbarian women.
Tell the Anjin I'll be back for dinner.
The training has gone quite well.
The barbarian's cannon tactics
offer surprising new advantages.
I look forward to a demonstration.
Though I will be sure to keep my distance
after what happened to Nebara Jozen.
"Return to Osaka,
and pledge loyalty to Ishido."
I heard those are your orders.
As always, you see through everything.
What are you going to do?
Of course I remain with you.
They'll declare you a fugitive.
True.
But since that sunrise in Osaka,
you and I are bound by fate.
Is that so?
Or maybe it was you who manipulated my son
into attacking Jozen?
No, I would never...
That way you could delay your response to Ishido,
and continue playing both sides.
Lord... Nagakado decided.
Jozen could not be allowed to report on the cannon...
Nagakado is not clever enough to think of such an idea.
You're right. I'm afraid it was my nephew Omi.
He was drinking saké with Nagakado the night before.
Perhaps his words planted the wrong idea.
That Omi. I will discipline him on your behalf.
Discipline?
He found a way to force our enemies to attack.
Why would I need to discipline such a promising young man?
If I were to attack them in the stronghold of Osaka,
I would surely lose.
But thanks to your nephew
they are sure to take offense,
and must draw out to attack us here.
We can entrench ourselves.
Drain their numbers.
Exactly as you say. I was thinking the same thing.
Inform your nephew...
I'm giving him command of the Anjin's artillery.
A deserving reward for Omi.
This man is a loyal, hard worker...
A perfect cover for the spy you still haven't found.
He's toying with me.
Batting me around like a bird with its prey.
In my own province no less!
Toranaga has given you command of the cannon regiment.
Train them well.
Uncle, if it's your wish, I will relinquish command to you.
What did you just say?
Do you imagine the regiment belongs to you?
How can you relinquish what already belongs to me?
Find Toranaga's spy.
Go to Osaka.
We should fix things with Ishido
for when this all turns to shit.
Things were worse in Korea.
We had to eat silkworms cooked in shoyu.
People don't die from flies.
You and me
we're both cursed.
First, the Anjin contaminates our kitchen like a vengeful tatarigami.
And now your husband is back from the dead.
One more reason for us to eat.
He'll be here soon.
If you think the Anjin is in danger,
you'll tell me, right?
Why would he be in danger?
I understand your husband is to stay with us now?
Is there anything you feel I should be preparing for?
Dinner?
Dinner.
And you will be a gracious host.
Without a good rock,
a garden is just a place of growing.
I agree, Uejirou.
Welcome to my home, Lord Buntaro.
It's Lord Toda.
My husband wishes for you to address him as Toda-sama,
as Buntaro is reserved only for those close to him.
Tell Toda-sama it's a relief he was able to escape Osaka,
and an honor for him to have observed our cannon regiment today.
The Anjin says
only a great warrior could have survived as you did.
He is also honored that you saw the cannon regiment he trained.
My bow can fly faster, and at a greater range than any cannon.
He believes that in the hands of a true samurai,
the bow and sword will always outmatch the cannon.
Oh.
Well, perhaps we should have a friendly contest sometime.
Did something die in this house?
Excuse me, dinner is served.
Now, for my esteemed guests on this wonderful evening,
I am proud to present to you tastes from my home country.
We call it English rabbit stew.
Now, admittedly, I had to substitute a few of the ingredients, sake for sherry,
and a few other things, but that's the beauty of a good stew.
It all tastes like gravy in the end.
Mariko?
We are particular eaters, Anjin-sama.
It is our loss.
It's not the same without sherry anyway.
Now, here you go.
Oh, please, eat.
Look how he eats.
Like a baby monkey.
What did he say?
My husband comments on the way you eat your noodles.
The sound you make while eating reveals the depth of your pleasure.
Oh.
Clever monkey.
He learns tricks fast, doesn't he?
You know where I come from, only women drink from a tiny cup like that.
The Anjin says that in his country,
bigger cups are used for drinking.
The polite size of the sake cup helps us to enjoy the drink and...
This is how we drink.
If the Anjin asks for more saké, tell him this was the last of it.
And pour that stew into the sea.
Seeing as we're toasting, I have a toast to propose.
If you cheat, cheat death.
If you steal, steal the heart of a woman.
If you lie, lie in the everlasting warmth of her bosom.
And if you drink, drink with me.
It's like being in a barbarian land.
Soon we'll be eating with our feet.
What did he say?
Perhaps it is getting late.
I think Fuji-sama appears to be tired. Fuji-sama...
You must be tired.
Oh, nonsense.
Mariko-sama, ask your husband if he could share
the... the story of his escape in Osaka.
Never too late for a good story.
Go on, ask him then.
Forgive me.
But the Anjin
has heard great tales of your heroism in escaping Osaka.
He says he would like to hear them.
Heroism is for the dead,
and stories are for children.
The Anjin has said improper things, I apologize.
Perhaps it is more acceptable to boast in his country.
Then ask about his battles.
Isn't he the great samurai who trains Lord Toranaga's regiment?
He would like to know about a war you have fought in.
Ah, I don't know.
All of my war stories are full of holes.
Please listen.
My husband is tired and has had a lot to drink.
You must tell him a story.
But choose your words carefully.
No.
War.
Talk.
You.
Kodai!
Bring a bow!
Have him choose a post.
The gateway of your house.
He asks you to choose a post.
What? He's going to shoot it?
The left or the right post.
- Oh, the man can't even see straight! - Please.
Choose.
Right.
Right post.
Mariko-sama, you should move.
Mariko-sama, move.
Mariko-sama!
Uncle...
Mariko-sama, get out of the fucking way!
Oh, for...
Please tell him that, while I understand that in this country,
like mine, a man's wife is his property.
But I believe strongly
that his wife merits better.
He says that a wife is property
and a husband may do what he wants.
But the Anjin
wonders if you should treat your wife with more courtesy.
Makes me laugh.
You of all people...
That you deserve courtesy.
Tell him what your name is.
Tell him!
I am to tell you about my family.
Tell him about the disgusting, filthy line you come from.
I am daughter of the late Lord Akechi Jinsai.
Mariko-sama, you don't have to do this.
Daughter of the treacherous assassin.
Just make up a story. He'll never know the difference.
My father's Lord was Kuroda-sama, ruler of Japan before the Taikō.
Kuroda-sama was corrupt and murderous,
and so my father killed him out of love for the Realm.
For this, he was hunted along with my family.
All of my brothers, sisters,
and my mother.
They all knelt before my father who was forced to execute them, one by one
before committing seppuku himself.
I was just married and not permitted to fight.
Each year, on the anniversary of my family's murder,
I ask my husband to let me take action against this injustice.
But I can do nothing.
Because my husband orders me to live.
I ask you to remember The Eightfold Fence.
Excuse me.
Who gave you permission to leave?
Mariko!
This is your fault.
Do you understand?
Say something!
Get out of the way. I said move. Damn you.
My uncle has already left.
Get out of the way!
Now!
Get back!
He should not have seen this.
Oh, Christ.
I tried to stop him
but he won't listen.
I ask that you both leave.
Please leave!
If you disturb this home, you dishonor the Anjin.
What is there to dishonor?
This house is cursed.
Buntaro!
Look at me!
Oh, what are you doing?
Get up!
I've disturbed the harmony of your home.
Please forgive me.
Saké.
Sake?
Is that your excuse?
Get up, you bastard, on your feet!
Because of the saké.
Sake.
You piece of shit.
Their feathers are too damp, Muraji.
I agree.
But hiding the pigeons here
was your idea in the first place.
Yabushige is hunting for a spy in your village.
Lord, please allow me to surrender myself.
Not a chance.
Your real name is Tonomoto Akinao,
my long-serving, prized samurai.
You will remain my spy.
Then what's to be done?
Find him another spy.
We can't go on like this.
The stench of death, arrows sticking from our walls...
Villagers are starting to whisper there's a tatarigami in your house.
Morning. Where is Mariko-sama?
Anjin, I have a favor to ask.
This awful smell. May we get rid of it?
I don't understand anything you're saying. Where is she?
You all right?
All of this is my doing.
Mariko-sama, your husband's brutality is no fault of yours.
We should not be seen together.
Ah, the pox on that.
Don't put it behind that folded fence of yours, whatever you call it.
I see you.
Your disgust for him.
If you wanna be free of that shit less coward, then be free of him.
Still, you understand so little.
Your swords.
Fuji-sama believes they were given to her father as a battle honor.
The truth is he died a coward, begging for his life.
Her grandfather bought them from a drunken samurai
for three bags of rice to spare her the embarrassment.
But she knows nothing, and we say nothing.
Because our silence is what she merits.
I will give my husband nothing.
Not even my hatred.
Because that is what he merits.
It's a good story, Mariko-sama.
And I understand the sentiment, but you take it too far.
Honestly, shuffling around with your manners and your buried self for what?
I would not expect for you to understand.
Oh, forgive me, but you'd die to avenge your father.
You'd live in anguish to spite your husband.
Which is it?
What becomes of you?
My life is mine, and yours is yours.
If you can't see that, you'll never be free of this prison.
No, Anjin-sama.
It is you who is imprisoned.
If freedom is all you ever live for, you will never be free of yourself.
I will honor my duty as your translator.
But from this day forward,
the only words we share will be from others' lips.
What's the matter with everyone?
What is it?
Pheasant.
Bird.
Who.
Took.
It was Uejirou.
Our gardener?
Old bastard should get a medal just for being able to climb up there.
It's fine.
It's been up there long enough anyway.
Uejirou, good.
Fetch him.
Uejirou is dead.
Dead?
How?
Lord.
Because you said it was forbidden.
'If touch... die!'
What have you done?
You put that old man to death over a stinking, God-cursed pheasant.
What the hell is wrong with you?
It is my responsibility to bear.
Why in Christ's name didn't you ask me?
Please...
Please take my life.
Go away.
All of you!
Go away!
It was my fault for being difficult with my husband.
I beg your forgiveness.
Buntaro may do whatever he wishes to his wife.
But right now I cannot have my translator harmed.
Lord, you have another visitor.
Excuse me.
Lord.
When we were at sea, we discussed my training your army in European combat.
I feel I have now fulfilled that duty.
I ask that my ship and my men be returned to me so that I may leave and not return.
Your arrangement about training the cannon regiment...
He believes it is now complete.
And
he would like to leave Japan permanently.
There's a shadow on both of you.
He asks what troubles you.
I am troubled by your whole damn country.
Life has no value to you.
Only the meaningless rituals you are trapped in.
Like Uejirou, who died for nothing.
He's upset about a matter with his gardener.
He will stop acting like a child.
It is my understanding that you ordered no one to touch that bird.
And by law, your house could not disobey that order.
Nor could they allow the rotting pheasant to ruin the peace of the village.
The bird meant nothing to me.
Your words gave it meaning.
I can't be bothered with this nonsense.
Hmm.
A meeting was called with Muraji who is the village headman.
But he determined it was a house problem.
So someone had to steal it and bury it.
And Uejirou announced that he had been sick lately, so he volunteered.
He died for a great purpose.
It was a better end than he could have hoped for.
I killed him.
Lord, forgive me. I killed that old man.
There is no use dwelling on what cannot be undone.
How can you believe that?
We live and we die.
We control nothing beyond that.
Don't move!
Jesus!
Father!
Where the hell is he?
He's here!
Father!
Clear his head!
There he is.
Any injuries?
Lord!
Your swords...
These belonged to Fuji's father.
They may not be much but I'd be honored if you would accept this gift.
Thank you.
Father.
Look...
We only discovered these after the earthquake.
As my uncle said,
there was a filthy spy all along.
Who lives here?
An old gardener.
Name was Uejirou.
Worked for the barbarian.
Died just yesterday.
Lucky for him.
Mother!
Glad you've returned safely, Lady Ochiba.
I owe you my gratitude, Lord Ishido.
I'm told my release from Edo was thanks to your Council
putting pressure on Toranaga.
The Regents are pleased for your safe return.
I'm also told the Council was outmaneuvered.
That Toranaga has once again conspired and paralyzed it.
I will restore the Council.
When?
Forgive my impatience.
But I fear for my son's future.
If anyone attempted to harm the Taikō's heir,
I would give my life.
In that case...
The time for politics has come to an end.
The Council will answer to me.