‘Shōgun’ Episode 4 Recap: “The Eightfold Fence”

Shōgun Episode 4 comes in like a cannonball. With a shocking, Red Wedding-esque act of gory provocation, balanced against the blossoming of secret love, it now seems clear that no amount of ritual, subtlety, or political gamesmanship will be able to prevent what’s coming. “It is war,” a shocked Toda Mariko will say, a revelation cut with the escalation of her own relationship with the Anjin, John Blackthorne. And this love’s definitely going to be a battlefield.

“The Eightfold Fence” begins with posturing and pageantry. As hundreds of his samurai warriors spread across the shore at Ajiro village, Yabushige and his equally ambitious nephew, Kashigi Omi – remember, Omi’s the guy who pissed on Blackthorne, back when the pilot first arrived in Japan – prepare to greet Lord Yoshii Toranaga, arriving fresh from his Osaka escape and diving lesson to drop off Nagakado, Mariko, and the Anjin before continuing to his home city of Edo. Officially hatamoto, Blackthorne will receive his own home in the village, complete with a staff and a guest room for Mariko, his translator and supervisor. But that’s not all. Toranaga has also made it so Usami Fuji (Moeka Hoshi), the highborn niece of Mariko’s samurai husband Buntaro, will become Blackthorne’s consort. After her husband insulted the regent Ishido in episode one of Shōgun, leading him to commit seppuku and take the life of their infant son, ensuring the end his family line forever, for Fuji-sama to serve as the Anjin’s consort will give her stature in Toranaga’s clan. She’ll look after her hatamoto’s household, servants, koku – even protect him with her life. 

The Erasmus is anchored just offshore. But it’s forbidden to Blackthorne, and its remaining crew have been transported to Edo. For the duration of his time in Ajiro, he’ll be training up a regiment in the ways of European warfare, and this is where the Erasmus is key, not for its supply of muskets, but instead for its cannon. In a significant change from Shōgun the novel, Blackthorne decides to train Yabushige, Nagakado, and their men in the “fine art of English naval warfare,” and soon he’s eagerly teaching them about angled vectors and the destroyability of chain shot. Osaka Castle is a fortress, and any siege with swords and firearms would be costly. “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.” As Blackthorne, Cosmo Jarvis is really good in these moments, as the displaced English sailor pivots to expert status with the use of improvisation and what materials he has. 

The accuracy and power of the cannon impresses Yabu and Nagakado, and Mariko enjoys seeing the Anjin so excited. (He catches her looking; she turns away.) And then Ishido’s man Nebara Jozen (Nobuya Shimamoto) rides into Ajiro. Yabushige, the player of both political sides, hopes to defer Jozen with an artillery demonstration, the kind of power he could gift to Ishido once Toranaga’s out of the picture. But Nagakado, who lacks foresight, lets himself be convinced by an insinuating Omi. Nagakado and his wispy mustache will show the world he’s not some spoiled Minowara brat. He’ll personally stop Jozen from reporting on the cannon to Ishido, without first consulting his father. It’s a tale as old as time. An intelligent, powerful, and patient leader like Lord Yoshii Toranaga is saddled with an impetuous failson like Nagakado. The daimyo’s delicate maneuvering is about to go boom.

But first, there is a bloom. After she witnesses him feel his first earthquake, and after her beautiful monologue about the Japanese concept of the Eightfold Fence – “You must train yourself to listen without hearing; if you really listen, your present circumstance vanishes” – Mariko encounters a nude Blackthorne as he enters a hot spring. (“I’m glad you’ve changed your mind about bathing” – zing!) But it’s a wonderful scene. Their backs to one another, the two share their most personal feelings. How her service to Toranaga is not because of her faith, but because it allows her to seek resolution for a grave injustice done to her family years before. How he misses the filthy, crowded, yet inviting streets of London. How if she were there with him, he’d take her to a play. The productions are all about doomed lovers and cursed kings, just like in Japan. They’d go for a walk, too – “sanpo o suru” – along the River Thames. “You can forget your troubles, your past…all the ways life seems to leave you wrecked.” It’s an image of freedom they can both admire, and this scene, with its careful speechmaking and physical proximity, is a lovely expression of burgeoning romantic attraction. And later that evening…  

Fuji-sama blows out the candles in her snoring hatamoto’s room. She slips out. And he wakes with a start, but it’s someone else who’s slipped into the gloom. Mariko removes her kimono, puts his hands in hers, and we cut to the morning after, where a soft rain falls. While her husband Buntaro’s fate is assumed, that doesn’t make this romantic escalation any less thorny. And though he’s initially ready to blab about it like some kind of schoolboy, a smiling Blackthorne soon catches Mariko’s unstated meaning. “The courtesan was acceptable, then?” It’s their secret. Well, theirs and Fuji-sama’s, anyway. Developing!

It’s the morning of Nagakado’s artillery demo, and everyone has gathered on the hill outside Ajiro. Jozen smirks in the fog. The veteran warrior’s attitude is like, “Alright, wow me, you soft-headed dolt.” He’s definitely not expecting what comes next. With a sweep of his arm, Toranaga’s son launches deadly cannon fire into the flanks of Jozen’s gathered men, who instantly become a mess of blood and pulverized horse parts. Yabushige shouts, Mariko holds the Anjin back – don’t get involved, this unsanctioned insanity is already a mess – and another cannonball blows off Jozen’s arm. Nagakado advances with his sword drawn. “You have offended my father’s name!” Thwack. Head, meet grass.

Shaken, Mariko surveys the damage. There’s nothing else to say. This action will reverberate all the way back to Osaka, and the Council of Regents aligned against Toranaga. “It is war.” Everyone on that hill is probably wishing they had an actual impenetrable wall to protect them, instead of a metaphorical Eightfold Fence. Because shit just got real.

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.