Shōgun quotes

There's a saying out here that every man has three hearts. One in his mouth, for the world to know... another in his chest, just for his friends... and a secret heart buried deep where no one can find it. That is a heart a man must keep hidden if he wants to survive. You'll understand soon, Inglés. And who knows, maybe-maybe fate brought you here for a reason. Maybe you'll live long enough to find out what it is.

Kashigi Omi

His eyes were just the end of hell - All pain, Articulate.

John Blackthorne

This isn't the end for me. I won't die in this wretched land.

This wretched land? I'll tell you what, Inglés. We're coming into port soon. Why don't you go on up there? Go up and tell me what you see. And tell me, when you set eyes on Osaka, if you really think our world is the hilt of civilization. And then ask yourself, "What kind of man wields power in a land like this? " The one who schemes in the open... or the one you never see?"

This English pilot... how do you mean, obscene?

Father Domingo

You know the sort. Uh, dirty. Diseased. And he's got a filthy mouth. He's like a back-passage of the 15th rank. Know what I mean, Father-visitor?

Father Martin Alvito

[Perusing journal] These journals are proof of his depravity. Look your eminence. [Hands journal to Father Visitor Carlo]

Domingo

Sacked, pillaged and slaughtered his way through Manila. He's a real piece of work, that one. Brutal savage.

So we show this to the Japanese. And he will be hanged for piracy.

Alvito

I'm afraid it may not be so simple. Despite the discord in Osaka, Toranaga is still president of foreign relations. He's a thorough man. I fear he'll want a complete translation of this journal. [Turns a whole pages] Perhaps a bit too complete.

[Servant drops a money bag on table, to Father Domingo] I'll thank you to leave now.

Domingo

[Grabs money bag, to clergy figure] So you know, this, uh, pirate, he's not a man to leave his fate to God. I suggest you don't either. [Walks away]

John Blackthorne

You're telling me the lords here don't know?

Father Domingo

It's too late for that now.

John

You don't understand. I must tell them. That's my way out.

Domingo

You can't play their game. Their rules are too opaque, their hearts too guarded.

John

You don't know me.

Domingo

I've known a thousand of you.

Toda Mariko

My master asks for you to draw a map of the world.

John Blackthorne

Oh. Thank you. [Uses a stick to sketch a global map outline in a zen garden] Um... This is the limit... of what I know. The earth is round. Like a fruit. Uh, Japan is here. My country, England... is on the other side of the world. We came by way of Magellan's Pass. We are the first outsiders to use it because the Spanish and the Portuguese kept it secret. And for us, it was safer to sail this way. Because we had to avoid a Portuguese base in Macao. [Softly gasps] It employs Japanese mercenaries. I'm told you call them ronin. A secret Catholic fortress, used for guns. Employed during an uprising some years ago. My master asks that, later, you write this map and mark the Portuguese bases. If I may, I will explain now. This is the way Portugal and Spain carved up the New World that split undiscovered land between them. Your country falls... into the Portuguese half. So it belongs to them. I'm sorry, sir, but... I assure you their arrogance is unbelievable. Please tell him it's written into legal documents. Each Spanish and Portuguese king has the right to lay claim to any non-Catholic land they discover and to replace its government with Catholic rule.

Yoshii Toranaga

This is a lie.

Father Domingo

Another soul for every hour of the day. It's nothing for you to fear now. You'll die a martyr. On the cross, perhaps.

John Blackthorne

I'm sorry, Father, I didn't come all this way around the world just to die on a cross.

Toda Mariko

He asks what you seek here.

John

To vanquish our common enemies.

Mariko

My master says you should not war against the Portuguese in Japan. You are outnumbered. It is hopeless.

John

Unless I win.

Father Martin Alvito

This is Lord General Ishido. Toranaga's chief rival. If you value your life, do not say a word.

Father Domingo

Dear God, you're a child in the wilderness. You don't know their games. Toranaga is a prisoner in Osaka castle. Isolated by his rivals on the Council of Regents. There's Sugiyama, descended from the richest samurai family in Japan. Ohno, a feared warrior, whose affliction of leprosy led him into the arms of the Church. And Kiyama, a man whose faith in Christ is guided only by his greed and ambition. All of them are in the palm of Ishido, caretaker of the castle. Any day now, these men will vote on Toranaga's demise.

Father Domingo

I came here in '72, clutching my rosary, visions of the souls I would save. Then I learned the true tenets of the cloth: silk, gold and guns. These Jesuits care nothing for their souls. They've made an idol of that cursed Black Ship. That's how they dominate trade. The Chinese hate Japan. So all trade goes through the Portuguese. It's usury. The late Taiko even tried to put a stop to it, but the Church had incited the rebellion, smuggled guns from that secret base in Macao... I met a man who said he'd been to that fortress, said there were Japanese soldiers... hundreds of them... all converted to Catholicism.

Yoshii Toranaga

[To Kashigi Yabushige, translated] You have a way of being in the right place at the right time.

Father Domingo

Toranaga was born Minowara. A name that carries great weight in Japan. For centuries, his ancestors dominated this country, carrying with them a divine mandate.

John Blackthorne

Mandate?

Domingo

A title, revered through the ages. The ultimate rank a mortal can achieve. Shogun.

Father Domingo

Hear me, my son. I alone will tell you the truth. If Toranaga claimed you as an ally, you'll never leave Japan alive.

Yoshii Toranaga

She didn't come for me, she came for him. [Referring to John]