shÅ gun Episode 8 “Abyss of Life” somehow manages to hit Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) even harder than ever. Sure, he lost his army in a freak earthquake and his immature son Nagakado (Yuki Kura) died slipping on a wet rock last week, but nothing seems to hurt the always aloof and always strategic Toranaga like the defeat of this week.
**MAJOR spoilers for shÅ gun Episode 8 “Abyss of Life,” now available on Hulu**
Towards the end of foreign exchange‘s shÅ gun In episode 8, “Abyss of Life,” a mentally and physically depressed Toranaga announces to his stunned generals and vassals that he will surrender to Ishido (Takehiro Hira), Ochiba (Fumi Nikaido), and the rest of his enemies in Osaka. The cunning Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano) reluctantly agrees to the plan, chanting his name in what amounts to Toranaga’s formal surrender, while a visibly dejected Omi (Hiroto Kanai) seals his own fate. However, when another general refuses to sign, attempting to call out Toranaga with a 3D chess feint, Hiromatsu (Tokuma Nishioka) intervenes.
fans of shÅ gun I already know that Hiromatsu is Toranaga’s most trusted advisor. We’ve seen flashbacks to when a young warrior version of Hiromatsu stood by a teenage Toranaga during his first strategic victory. Hiromatsu’s son, Buntaro (Shinnosuke Abe), was specifically chosen as Mariko’s (Anna Sawai) husband to keep her under the protection of the Toranaga camp after his father, Akechi Jinsai (Yutaka Takeuchi), murdered the despotic Kuroda (Eijiro). Ozaki). Fuji (Moeka Hoshi) is also Hiromatsu’s favorite granddaughter, which is why she is not only saved when her husband (and baby) have to die by seppuku, but is also given the honor of being Blackthorne’s consort ( Cosmo Jarvis).
All this is to say that Hiromatsu is Toranaga’s best friend. He is the only person Toranaga implicitly trusts with his private plans, and Toranaga happily gives the most prized members of Hiromatsu’s family important roles in his camp. So when Hiromatsu calls Toranaga’s plan to turn around and surrender for Osaka foolish, it’s a tense and tragic moment even before the elderly general defiantly commits seppuku to show Toranaga the cost of the decision.
For a few minutes, the old general goads Toranaga, suggesting that he has not only given up, but has shown that he does, in fact, believe that death can be in vain. Toranaga refuses to stop Hiromatsu, much to the horror of Omi and the other men present. When Toranaga does not retreat and insists on surrendering to Osaka, Hiromatsu calls an excited Buntaro to be his second. After denying his son the honor of following him to the grave, Hiromatsu commits seppuku in front of his lord and friend… without once losing eye contact with the devastated daimyo.
“Yes, it was difficult to shoot mentally and physically. You know, our mind is about to break and it’s harder to try. [not] cry on the scene”, shÅ gun producer and star Hiroyuki Sanada told Jugo Mobile during an interview at Winter 2024 TCA. “Was [easier] almost crying, but they both know what will happen if he doesn’t commit seppuku.”
What Sanada is referring to is the fact that Hiromatsu’s death was not what it seemed. As we learn in the next scene, Hiromatsu’s seppuku was part of Toranaga’s master plan.
For Toranaga’s Crimson Sky plan to work, he needs Osaka to believe he is already defeated. Hiromatsu made sure of that.
“So [Hiromatsu] He knew his mission… he knows he will do it for our future, for the country,” Sanada said. “So yeah, that’s why we both acted in front of the other samurai… maybe there’s a spy from Osaka. So we had to pretend completely and perfectly, but deep down we know each other and we look at each other.”
“Yes, we had a lot of subtitles with [each other] Just seeing [each otherâs] eyes.”
With everyone, including Toranaga’s own side, convinced that he is defeated, Toranaga can now move forward with a much more subtle version of Crimson Sky. As he tells Mariko, Blackthorne and Yabushige are both “goshawks”. In Toranaga’s constant interpretation that men and women are falcons to be trained and used, this means that he hopes they will go to Osaka together… where they can position themselves for the next phase. As will Mariko.
Like Nagakado’s abrupt death last week, the Hiromatsu seppuku is another slight departure from James Clavell’s novel. In the book, some soldiers present in this scene protest Toranaga’s surrender and commit seppuku. shÅ gun Showrunner Justin Marks explained to Jugo Mobile that, like Naga, Hiromatsu takes a backseat in the latter part of the novel. With Michaela Clavell’s blessing, they transferred the moment to Hiromatsu to emphasize the dramatic tension.
“I felt like in that scene, which is such a wonderful scene in the book with all the generals there, we weren’t interested in those characters. We hadn’t lived with them,” Marks said. “So what greater heartbreak would it be to put Hiromatsu in that place? He really came up following the guts.”
