Yoshii Toranaga quotes from Shōgun

Yoshii Toranaga

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

Yoshii Toranaga

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

Toranaga

You so easily fell for their trap. Broken to another man's fist. Like a falcon without the beauty.

Toranaga

Death is the end of having lived. It is an affirmation of life itself.

Toranaga

Tonight, we'll get good and drunk.

Toranaga

Why is it that only those who have never fought in a battle are so eager to be in one?

Toranaga

Even when there's evil in this land, no one has the right to tear the realm apart. Crimson Sky was a mistake.

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.

Your boy is already a man! The last time I saw Nagakado, his chin was as hairless as his balls. [All chuckles with Yoshii Nagakado particularly amused] Hey nephew, I bet you have a different girl for every day of the moon. Just like your father.

Yoshii Toranaga

Slander. Your uncle is far more gifted with women.

[All chuckles with Yoshii Nagakado particularly amused] More lies!

John Blackthorne

What's so funny?

Toda Mariko

Saeki-sama remarks about how long it has been since he's seen Nagakado-sama.

Kashigi Omi

It must bring you great honor... seeing your wife perform her duty to the Anjin with such devotion.

You mean her duty to our Lord.

Uncle, you honor me with these stories. What was my father like when he was young?

This is a good story! Did you know that your father was still a boy when he won his first battle? Yoshii Toranaga, the boy warlord. But that's not even the good part. I'm told when the disgraced Mizoguchi bowed to him in surrender, it was your father, just twelve years old, who struck his enemy's head from his shoulders with a single blow.

Oh. [All chuckles]

Lord Saeki, did you receive our Lord's gift?

The courtesan, yes. Many thanks. She's beautiful, but beauty's a fleeting pleasure. Like trying to grasp a river, or fuck a sunset.

Yoshii Toranaga

Tonight, we'll speak formally on the matter of our alliance.

Why not tonight?

Yoshii Toranaga

Patience. [Offers him drink]

Nonsense! I can't live in this suspense! What will the Great Yoshii Toranaga offer me for my army? I quite like it here. [Yoshii puts down drink] Perhaps my brother would give my Izu? Wouldn't that be something? [Kashigi grunts inquiringly] Nephew. I do have one more story about my brother. Not many know it. He was once sent away as a hostage, to ensure our alliance with the Imatani clan. Our mother told him to be brave. That a Minowara does not feel fear. But the moment he left her arms, I'm told my brother shat his pants and rode his horse for ten messy ri. I mean no respect, of course. I just meant to say, I always felt for that horse... Nagakado. What do you prefer? Stories, legends... or the truth? This proposal, for example. What a legend that would make, for me to become Lord of Izu. Unfortunately, I already received another offer.

Until we find those who aided the Christian raiders, no one in this village will rest. Lord Toranaga has ordered it. [Walks past boards holding decapitated heads of European sailors]

Kashigi Yabushige

[forced on his knees before Toranaga] Lord.

Yoshii Toranaga

Thank you for returning my consorts and my vassals.

Yabushige

You’ve heard the news that Lady Mariko is dead.

Toranaga

Yes, I know. That night, you were seen letting intruders into my quarters.

Kashigi Omi

One of Mariko’s ladies-in-waiting was with you in the cellar. She sent a letter to Omi. After Lady Mariko’s death, they say you were guilt-stricken and asked for forgiveness. I felt it was my duty to alert our lord.

Toranaga

Did you aid this attack?

Yabushige

[Sighs and inhales sharply] Yes, I did.

Toranaga

Fine. All of your lands are forfeit. Please slit your belly by sunset tomorrow.

Yabushige

Lord... If you must kill me, give me a good death! Like being torn apart by cannon or eaten alive by a school of angry fish! I beg you! Please!

Toranaga

Fine suggestions, but I don’t trust you. Please commit seppuku by sunset tomorrow.

Yabushige

Izu is the fief of the Kashigi clan. I declare Omi to be my heir, and request it be given to him.

Toranaga

It is fair to ask, but Izu is no longer yours to give. Who would you like to second your death?

Yabushige

Let it be the Anjin.

Toranaga

No.

Yabushige

In that case, I would be honored if it would be you, Lord.

Toranaga

I shall. Until tomorrow, then.

Yabushige

[to John as he is carried off] May Fudō Myō’ō smile on tomorrow.

Yoshii Toranaga

If I could use words like scattering flowers and fallen leaves, what a bonfire my poems would make.

Those words are too beautiful to belong to you.

Toranaga

They belong to Lady Mariko. Only her words remain with us now. But what a bonfire she made.

Kashigi Yabushige

If only I could have lived to see it... the day your plan comes together, whatever it is... my nephew’s first battle... when the Anjin sails against the Christians who burned his ship... so many days I could have seen.

Yoshii Toranaga

If only it were that simple. The ship had to be destroyed. It was between that and the Anjin’s life. Appointing a watchman to spread gunpowder... wasn’t that hard. Mariko negotiated for the Church, and I agreed.

Yabushige

You burned that ship.

Toranaga

It was a necessary ruse to test the Anjin. Perhaps someday I’ll tell him the truth. By then he’ll have rebuilt the ship, and I’ll likely have to destroy it again. I don’t think it’s his fate to ever leave Japan.

Yabushige

How does it feel to shape the wind to your will?

Toranaga

I don’t control the wind. I only study it.

Yabushige

[Sighs] But how can you win this? With your forces outnumbered, the Heir’s army about to attack... is it Crimson Sky? I suppose it could work... but I don’t see how. At least tell me before I die...

Toranaga

Yabushige. After all we’ve been through, I thought you of all people would see. Crimson Sky is already finished. With the Regents united, I could never send an army to Osaka. It would have meant certain death. So I sent a woman to do what an army never could. Don’t you see what’s coming next? In just one month, we will meet our enemies at Sekigahara. Five armies squaring off on the field of battle. And you’re right... with the Heir’s army on Ishido’s side, I’d be finished. However, because of Mariko’s actions, Lady Ochiba has grown tired of her alliance with Ishido. In a letter to me, she secretly pledged to keep the Heir’s army from the battlefield. On that day, Ishido will have no banner. The Regents will turn on him before a sword is drawn. Only then will my dream be realized... I will start it in Edo, my center of power. A nation without wars. An era of great peace. All of us have made this possible. You, me, Lady Mariko... even the barbarian who came out of the sea. [Sighs]]How many times I’ve thought of giving his life away, but stopped. Not because he’s important... my banner would survive without him... [Chuckles] but because he makes me laugh. And my enemies need a distraction.

Yabushige

It’s hypocrisy, our lives... all this death and sacrifice from lesser men just to ensure some victory in our names.

Toranaga

Do you remember what the Anjin said on the day we met, when I told him his fight was pointless?

Yabushige

“Unless I win.”

Toranaga

If you win, anything is possible. Even Shōgun. [Yabushige gasps]

Kashigi Yabushige

It’s what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it? You’re no better than us, in your secret heart... tell me the truth. I’ll take it to my grave.

Toranaga

Why tell a dead man the future? [decapitates Yabushige as he commits seppuku]