Shōgun

At his new home, Blackthorne is shocked to learn that Toranaga expects him to live in Japan for six months. An equally distraught Yabushige frets about the spy in his village and fears his alliance with Toranaga has doomed his chances of survival. Omi reminds his uncle that they are training an army in Blackthorne’s Western tactics and that this army could be a gift for Ishido. Yabushige can still play both sides.

When Blackthorne struggles to adapt to life in Japan, Mariko teaches him a lesson about the eightfold fence, hoping he will find some inner peace. This newfound peace is tested the very next day when Omi demands Blackthorne surrender his guns before escorting him to the training field.&nbsp;When the two rivals get heated, Fuji intervenes, safeguarding Blackthorne’s guns and proving herself to be a courageous ally.

<figure class="table" style="width:89.5%;"><table class="ck-table-resized"><colgroup><col style="width:6.18%;"><col style="width:93.82%;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="width:50px;">&nbsp;</td><td>INSIDE THE EPISODE:&nbsp;Hikyaku, Arranged Marriages, Samurai Residences<a href="#historyhikyaku">LEARN MORE </a>&gt;</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>

Once on the training field, Blackthorne struggles to teach Yabushige Western battle tactics. He has no experience in war, and the Japanese have had guns for around 50 years. Thinking quickly, Blackthorne relies on his knowledge of naval warfare and gives a cannon demonstration, impressing Yabushige and his men.

Cannon fire ripples through Ajiro as the army begins to train. During this process, Blackthorne and Mariko grow closer, despite her misgivings about his crimes against the Catholics. When Blackthorne shares his idea of building Toranaga a navy, Mariko finally questions his intentions - is he loyal to Toranaga or his war against the Portuguese?

<figure class="table" style="width:89.5%;"><table class="ck-table-resized"><colgroup><col style="width:6.18%;"><col style="width:93.82%;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="width:50px;">&nbsp;</td><td>INSIDE THE EPISODE:&nbsp;Western Cannons, The Eightfold Fence, Hot Springs<a href="#historywestern">LEARN MORE </a>&gt;</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>

Love blossoms elsewhere in Ajiro between Omi and the courtesan Kiku. The two share their ambitions, and Kiku imagines a world where Omi is their lord instead of the duplicitous Yabushige.

As the deafening cannon fire continues, Ishido’s right-hand man, Jozen, arrives in Ajiro with a message demanding Yabushige’s fealty. It seems that Yabushige’s deception has finally been exposed, but Omi once again comes to his uncle’s aid with a clever idea. That night, Omi meets with Nagakado and manipulates the younger samurai over a bottle of sake. Nagakado is eager to impress his father, Toranaga, and takes Omi’s bait.

Blackthorne offers Fuji an olive branch, gifting her one of his guns. In return, she presents Blackthorne with her family swords, a generous gesture, as the swords represent her father’s bravery. Later that night, Mariko and Blackthorne deepen their bond at the hot spring, imagining a night out together in London. Their attraction evolves into a forbidden romance, despite Mariko hiding her true feelings in the morning.

The episode concludes when Nagakado takes matters into his own hands, turning a cannon demonstration into a bloody massacre, finally eliminating the threat of Jozen and his men.

Hikyaku

During the peaceful Edo period, a postal system of couriers carrying letters and packages developed. These couriers, called hikyaku, ran long distances to deliver the letters. Hikyaku were very fast, even faster than horses over long distances. This was due to the fact that they had to run over mountainous terrain and cross several rivers.In the Sengoku period, this kind of system didn't exist for the common people, but the warlords had their own hikyaku to send urgent messages. These hikyaku were samurai who would occasionally use horses as well.

Arranged Marriages

Toranaga orders Fuji to become Blackthorne’s consort in the beginning of the episode. In order to become a Hatamoto, Blackthorne must be adopted into a samurai family. As Blackthorne's legal wife ("seishitsu"), Fuji is now in charge of Blackthorne's household. She will be called "okugata", which means the lady who stays in the innermost part of the house. There she will take care of the house, the servants and all financial matters.&nbsp;In the Sengoku period, lords often decided on the marriages of the sons and daughters of their vassals. They did this to foster a stronger bond among the group of vassals under them. For example, warlord Oda Nobunaga (Kuroda Nobuhisa in Shōgun) ordered the marriage of Akechi Tama (later Hosokawa Gracia; Toda Mariko in Shōgun) and Hosokawa Tadaoki (Toda Buntaro in Shōgun) to strengthen the bond between the Akechi and Hosokawa clans. Both clans were newcomers as vassals of Oda and had fought valiantly side by side to subdue the regions north of Kyoto.Tokugawa Ieyasu (Yoshii Toranaga in Shōgun) was notorious for arranging marriages as a means of forming new alliances, even though Hideyoshi (the Taikō) had forbidden this kind of political activity after his death. This was one of the reasons why Ishida Mitsunari (Ishido Kazunari in Shōgun) rebelled against Ieyasu. Ieyasu also most likely arranged the marriage between William Adams (John Blackthorne in Shōgun) and a Japanese lady of the samurai class.

Samurai Residences

Local warlords and samurai warriors who ruled local areas lived in residences surrounded by moats and earthen mounds. While the palaces of the warlords in the castle towns were magnificent, the residences of the local samurai were modest in appearance. However, there were several features that distinguished these residences, called buke yashiki, from the houses of the common people.&nbsp;First, they were surrounded by a moat or fence with a gate and a courtyard. There was an entrance hall and guest rooms. The innermost rooms had engawas ("verandas") facing the garden. There was little separation between the gardens and the rooms, so the samurai's life revolved around the garden.During the Sengoku period, fiefs changed hands frequently. The lords and their samurai had to move more than once. The transfer of empty residences was not uncommon. In the series, Blackthorne also receives a vacant samurai residence. The local lord did not live alone in the house. In addition to his family, several servants and maids lived there to take care of everything. In fact, the lord was almost never alone. Privacy was unknown in Japanese society at that time.

Western Cannons

Western cannons were introduced to Japan with the arrival of the Portuguese. They were hardly used in samurai warfare, except for the smaller breech-loading swivel gun. The Christian warlord Ōtomo Sōrin was one of the first to use swivel guns in battle. He called the cannon Kunikuzushi ("destroyer of lands") because of the tremendous roar when fired. Because cannons were difficult to transport and the samurai were highly mobile, the Japanese preferred to use matchlock guns alongside bows on the battlefield.Tokugawa Ieyasu (Yoshii Toranaga in Shōgun) was particularly interested in the large western culverin and saker cannons. A Japanese record states that he was impressed by the cannons on the stranded Liefde (the Erasmus in Shōgun), which carried 18 cannons. The crew of the Liefde is said to have instructed Ieyasu's vassals in the use of these cannonsIn 1600, cannons fired cannonballs made of cast iron or lead. The cannonball (also called round shot) did not explode, explosive shells came much later in the 18th century. Cannons were mainly used to destroy wooden structures such as ships or fortifications, but also to hit enemy forces on the battlefield. One cannonball could kill 10 men if they stood together in battle formation. The ball would bounce within the enemy formation, injuring everyone in its path.Cannons could also fire chain shot. A chain shot is a round shot consisting of two iron or lead balls connected by a chain. As a chain shot exits the muzzle of the cannon, the connecting chain extends, forming a 5 to 6 foot long object that flies through the air at high speed. Anyone in the path of this chain shot would be cut to pieces. Chain shot was originally used to fire at enemy ships to cut off their masts. It was also an extremely deadly weapon at close range against soldiers. The Liefde (the Erasmus in Shōgun) carried 300 pieces of chain shot for use against Portuguese and Spanish ships it would encounter on the way.

The Eightfold Fence

In this episode, Mariko tells Blackthorne about the Eightfold Fence. &nbsp;This word was used in a tanka poem (a short Japanese poem of thirty-one syllables) in the Kojiki ("Records of Ancient Matters"), the oldest surviving book in Japan, compiled in 712 and containing the mythology and earliest history of Japan. The poem reads as follows:&nbsp;夜久毛多都 伊豆毛夜幣賀岐 都麻碁微爾 夜幣賀岐都久流 曾能夜幣賀岐袁 An eightfold fence I make, an eightfold fence to protect my wife, the eightfold fence of Izumo, where eight clouds rise.&nbsp;This is a poem written by the deity Susanowo-no-Mikoto when he was building a palace for his new wife. Notice the repeated use of the number "eight" in this short poem. "Eight" was used in ancient writings to mean "many," “from all directions.” &nbsp;When the palace was built, many clouds (eight clouds) rose from the land. It is said that when Susanowo noticed the similarities between the many clouds in the sky and the many layers of fences surrounding the palace, he saw this as a sign of good fortune and wrote the poem as an expression of his joy.The poem could also mean that dangers (clouds) are looming from all directions. &nbsp;To protect his wife from all these dangers, Susanowo built "manyfold" fences. &nbsp;Mariko interpreted the poem in this way and saw the eightfold fence as an impregnable wall to protect her innermost feelings.

Hot Springs

Hot water baths did not exist in Sengoku Japan. Around 1600, the Japanese used steam baths, where hot water was poured over the body with a ladle. As an alternative, outdoor hot springs, called onsen, were a favorite place for the Japanese to bathe and cleanse themselves. Onsen is a place where hot water bubbles up from the ground. Since Japan is a country with a lot of volcanic activity, there are onsen everywhere. From the earliest times, bathing facilities were built near the hot springs so that the Japanese could bathe in the open air. &nbsp;For the warlords, hot springs were special places. They used them to heal their wounds after battle. All the famous warlords seem to have been fond of hot springs. Oda Nobunaga (Kuroda Nobuhisa in Shōgun) took his vassals with him when he visited the hot springs. Toyotomi Hideyoshi (the Taikō) loved Arima Onsen (present-day Hyogo Prefecture) so much that he built a lavish palace next to the onsen for his frequent stays there. This hot spring is still called "Taikō no yu" ("The hot bath of the Taikō"). Tokugawa Ieyasu (Yoshii Toranaga in Shōgun) was also fond of hot springs. He liked Atami Onsen so much that he took his children there for a seven-day hot spring cure.

A wall too high to scale.&nbsp;Host Emily Yoshida and guests break down episode 4 of FX’s Shōgun. Featuring executive producer and co-creator Rachel Kondo, actor Anna Sawai "Mariko," historian Frederik Cryns, and director Fred Toye. Join them as they discuss what Fuji's role as consort means, what's going on between Mariko and Blackthorne, and how to bring a small fishing village like Ajiro to the screen.&nbsp;