Shogun: A Novel of Japan
James Clavell
 Japan in 1600 is a feudal country in a precarious peace. The heir to the Taiko is underage, too young to rule, and power rests in a council of five regents formed of the most powerful overlords of the land. Japanese society is insular and xenophobic. Portugal, with its vast sea power, and the Catholic Church, principally through the Spanish Order of the Jesuits, have gained a foothold in Japan and seek to extend their power. Guns and Europe's modern military capabilities are still a novelty and despised as a threat to Japan’s traditional samurai warrior culture. John Blackthorne, an English pilot serving on the Dutch warship Erasmus, is the first English pilot to reach Japan. England and Holland, Protestant enemies of Catholic Spain and Portugal, seek to disrupt Spanish-Portuguese relations with Japan and establish ties of their own through trade and military alliance. Erasmus is shipwrecked on the Japanese coast. Blackthorne and the few survivors of his crew are taken captive by a local samurai, Kasigi Omi until the arrival of his daimyo (feudal lord) and uncle, Kasigi Yabu. Upon arrival, Yabu puts Blackthorne and his crew on trial using a Jesuit priest to interpret for Blackthorne. Losing at the trial, Blackthorne lunges desperately at the Jesuit, rips off the priest’s crucifix and stamps it into the dust to show the daimyo that the priest is his enemy. The Japanese, who at this point know only the Catholic version of Christianity, are shocked at Blackthorne’s gesture. Yabu sentences Blackthorne and his crew to death. However, Omi, who is quickly proving himself one of his uncle’s cleverest advisers, convinces Yabu to keep them alive to learn more of European ways. Omi throws them into a pit to "tame" them and tells the crew Lord Yabu has ordered that they pick one amongst their own, other than Blackthorne, to die so that the others may live. Blackthorne leads his crew in a futile attempt to resist, but they are easily cowed by Omi, and one of his crew is taken out and boiled alive. To save his crew Blackthorne agrees to submit to Japanese authority. He is placed in a household, with his crew held in the pit as hostages to ensure his submission and cooperation. On Omi's advice, Yabu plans to not only exploit Blackthorne's knowledge to his own ends but also confiscate the wealth of guns and money recovered from the Erasmus, but word reaches his overlord, Lord Toranaga, the powerful president of the council of regents. Toranaga sends his commander in chief, "Iron Fist" General Hiro-Matsu, to take the Erasmus and the surviving crew from Yabu to tip the balance of power against Toranaga's principal rival on the council, Ishido. Blackthorne is given the title Anjin, the Japanese term for navigator or pilot, by the Japanese because they can't pronounce his name. Blackthorne insists on being addressed respectfully, as Omi is, and is therefore known as Anjin-san ("Honorable Pilot"). Hiro-Matsu confiscates the Erasmus and takes Blackthorne and Yabu back to the meeting of the council of regents taking place at Osaka Castle, the stronghold of the regent Ishido. They travel by one of Toranaga’s galleys piloted by the Portuguese pilot Rodrigues. Blackthorne and Rodrigues find themselves in a grudging friendship, despite being required to stay at arm's length due to their national and religious enmity. Rodrigues attempts to murder Blackthorne during a storm, by sending him forward just as a wave breaks over the deck, but is himself swept overboard by the next wave. Blackthorne not only saves Rodrigues but safely navigates the ship to Osaka with crew and all aboard. At Osaka, Blackthorne is interviewed by Toranaga through the translation of Jesuit Priest Father Martin Alvito, who is not only bilingual but more sophisticated and higher up in the Jesuit hierarchy in Japan and therefore more dangerous to Blackthorne. After Blackthorne demands that Alvito tell Toranaga that the priest is his enemy, Toranaga has the Lady Mariko monitor the priest’s translations. As an English Protestant, Blackthorne attempts to turn Toranaga against the Jesuits. He reveals to a surprised Toranaga that the Christian faith is divided and that other European countries intend to sail the Asian waters now that the Spanish Armada has been defeated. The stunned Alvito is honorbound to translate as, Blackthorne, the sworn enemy of his country and religion, tells Toranaga of the Spanish and Portuguese exploitation of the New World under the blessing of the Catholic Church and in the name of spreading Catholicism. The interview ends abruptly when Toranaga's rival, Ishido, enters, curious about the 'barbarian' Blackthorne. Toranaga has Blackthorne thrown in prison for piracy, as a ruse to keep him from Ishido. In prison, Blackthorne is befriended by a Franciscan monk, who reveals further details about Jesuit conquests and the Portuguese "Black Ship" which each year takes the vast profits from the silk trade back to Europe. He is taught basic Japanese and a little of their culture. Blackthorne is taken from prison by Ishido's men, but Toranaga intervenes, "capturing" Blackthorne from his rival. In their next interview, Toranaga has the Lady Mariko translate. She is a convert to Christianity, torn between her new faith and her loyalty as a samurai to Toranaga. During a subsequent interview with Blackthorne, Toranaga is incredulous when Blackthorne reveals that Portugal has been granted the right to "claim" Japan as territory by the Pope. During his stay at Toranaga's castle, Blackthorne is attacked unsuccessfully by an assassin who is revealed to be a member of the secretive Amida Tong, a group of operatives who train all their lives to be the perfect weapon for one kill. After the assassin is dispatched, Toranaga summons Yabu the next day for questioning, since Hiro-Matsu says Yabu would be the only one who would know how to hire them. Yabu is truthful but evasive in his answers, adding more fuel to Toranaga's distrust of him. It is also hinted that the Jesuits may have hired the assassin to kill Blackthorne to silence what he knows. The Council of Regents' negotiations go badly and Toranaga is threatened with forced seppuku by the council of regents. To escape the order, he resigns from the council and departs the castle in the guise of his wife in a litter, leaving with a train of travelers. Blackthorne inadvertently spots the exchange and, when Ishido shows up at the gate of the castle and nearly discovers Toranaga, Blackthorne saves Toranaga by creating a diversion. In this way, he gradually gains the trust of and enters the service of Toranaga. Toranaga's resignation from the Council of Regents was designed not just to avoid a seppuku order, but also to paralyze the Council of Regents since five regents are required to make any decisions and politically a new appointment seemed unlikely. Toranaga's party reach the coast but their ship is blockaded by Ishido's boats. At Blackthorne's suggestion the Portuguese ship is asked to lend cannon to blast the boats clear, but in return the Jesuits, seeing the presence of a Protestant pilot in Toranaga's confidence as a grave threat, will only offer aid to Toranaga in exchange for physical custody of Blackthorne. Toranaga agrees and the ship clears the coast. The Portuguese pilot Rodrigues — whose life was saved by Blackthorne earlier in a storm — repays his debt to Blackthorne by having him thrown overboard to swim back to Toranaga's ship instead. Blackthorne slowly builds his Japanese-language skills and gains an understanding of the Japanese people and their culture, eventually learning to respect it deeply. The Japanese, in turn, are torn over Blackthorne's presence; he is an outsider, a leader of a disgracefully filthy and uncouth rabble, but also a formidable sailor and navigator. As such, he is both beneath their contempt and incalculably valuable. A turning point in this perception is Blackthorne's attempt at seppuku upon finding out that Yabu has threatened the peasants with death if Blackthorne does not learn Japanese within six months. In so doing, he demonstrates his willingness to give his life in payment for theirs, despite the Christian injunction against suicide. The Japanese prevent this attempt, as Blackthorne is worth more alive, but come to respect this "barbarian." When he rescues Toranaga in an earthquake, he is granted the status of samurai and hatamoto (a vassal similar to a retainer, with the right of direct audience). As they spend more time together, Blackthorne comes to deeply admire Mariko, and they secretly become lovers. In parallel with this plot, the novel also details the intense power struggle between Toranaga and Ishido, and the political maneuvering of the Roman Catholic Church, particularly the Jesuits. There is also conflict between Christian daimyos (who are motivated in part by a desire to preserve and expand their Church's power) and the daimyos who oppose the Christians as followers of foreign beliefs and representatives of the "Barbarian" cultural and fiscal influence on their society. Blackthorne is torn between his growing affection for Mariko (who is married to a powerful, abusive and dangerous samurai, Buntaro), his increasing loyalty to Toranaga, and his desire to return to the open seas aboard Erasmus to capture the Black Ship. Eventually, he visits the survivors of his original crew in Yedo, and is so astonished at how far he has ventured from the standard European way of life (which he now sees to be filthy, vulgar, and ignorant ) and is disgusted by them. Blackthorne's plans to attack the Black Ship are complicated by his respect and friendship for Rodrigues, now piloting the vessel. He returns to Osaka by sea with his crew and many samurai. Ishido holds numerous family members of other daimyos as hostages in Osaka, referring to them as guests. As long as he has these hostages, the other daimyos, including Toranaga, do not dare to attack him. Unforeseen by Toranaga, a replacement regent has been chosen. Ishido hopes to lure or force Toranaga into the Castle and, when all the regents are present, obtain from them an order for Toranaga to commit seppuku. To extricate Toranaga from this situation, Mariko goes to what will be her likely death at Osaka Castle to face down Ishido and obtain the hostages' release. At the castle, Mariko (in response to Toranaga's orders) defies Ishido and forces him to either dishonor himself by admitting to holding the samurai families hostage, or to back down and let them leave. When Mariko tries to fulfill Toranaga's orders and leave the castle, a battle ensues between Ishido's samurai and her escort until she is forced to return. However, she states that since she cannot disobey an order from her liege lord, Toranaga, she is disgraced and will commit suicide. As she is about to do so, Ishido gives her the papers to leave the castle the next day. But that night, a group of ninja Ishido has hired slips into Toranaga's section of the castle to kidnap Mariko with the help of Toranaga's vassal, Yabu. However, she and Blackthorne (who accompanied her but was not aware of Mariko's plot) and the other ladies of Toranaga escape into a locked room. As the ninja prepare to blow the door open with explosives, Mariko stands against the door and declares that this is her act of honorable suicide, and implicates Ishido "in this shameful act." Mariko is killed and Blackthorne injured and temporarily blinded, but Ishido is forced to let Blackthorne and all the other hostages to leave the castle, seriously reducing his influence. Blackthorne discovers that his ship has been burned, ruining his chances of attacking the Black Ship, gaining riches, and sailing home to England. However, Mariko leaves him money and Toranaga provides him with men to start building a new ship. Toranaga orders Yabu — who he learns helped the attack with the aim of being on the winning side — to commit suicide for his treachery. Yabu gracefully complies, giving his own prized katana to Blackthorne, saying that no one else deserved the blade. A recurring motif in the book is Toranaga engaging in falconry. He compares his various birds to his vassals and mulls over his handling of them, flinging them at targets, giving them morsels to bring them back to his fist, and re-hooding them. The last chapter involves Toranaga letting his prize peregrine fly free as he reveals his inner monologue: he himself had ordered Blackthorne's ship burned as a way to placate the Christian daimyos, save Blackthorne's life from them, and bring them to his side against Ishido; he then encourages Blackthorne to build another one, and will have that one burned too. It is Blackthorne's karma (destiny) to never leave Japan, Mariko's karma to die gloriously for her lord, and his own karma and purpose to become Shogun. In a brief epilogue after the final Battle of Sekigahara, Ishido is disgracefully captured alive. In deference to an old prophecy that Ishido would "die an old man with his feet firmly planted in the earth, the most famous man in the land", Toranaga has him buried up to his neck by the eta villagers with passers-by offered the opportunity to saw at the most famous neck in the realm with a bamboo saw. The novel states that "Ishido lingered three days and died very old."