The real genius is that he deliberately shared the knowledge that he was made aware of the Portugese lies or half truths to the priests, then further goaded them by denying them the black ship. He baited them into making a move and the priests fell for it when one of the reagents told them he'd make a move on their behalf. So not only did this prove how valuable Blackthorne's knowledge was for them to risk sending an assassin to his own palace (since Toranaga himself has no way of fact checking Blackthorne himself). It cemented the fact that the new barbarian was far more valuable alive and that his knowledge could more or less be trusted if the priests wanted him dead so dearly.
Also, Toranaga was aware of the presence of the Spanish priest in the prison and hoped that Blackthorne would interact with him there and obtain information. Layers upon layers...
at the end, Toranaga suspected an assassination attempt. if the assassin went to his room, he knew it was Ishido. But since the assassin was looking for Blackthorne, then it was by one the Christian Lords. it also showed that he didn't care if Blackthorne was killed in his room.
Macau is near Hong Kong. Probably a several-day's sail from Japan, but it's not like Japan had a blue-water navy to do anything until it's too late. That whole scene was like a space alien coming down to Earth and saying, "Hey, you know those other aliens? Yeah, we're fighting and interstellar war with them and they have an orbiting space station waiting to invade Earth. Also, a lot of your leaders have been replaced by changelings. Also, I have a bunch of super-cool ray guns you can use. Wanna team up?"
Japan's trade was with the Chinese ports of Tengzhou, Mingzhou, Suzhou, etc., while the Kyushu lords traded with Thailand and Cambodia. The maximum loading capacity of ships at that time was 3.75 tons.
Hiroyuki Sanada, the actor for Lord Toranaga, is a proud Japanese cultural historian, and has had a personal mission trying to raise the level of historical or cultural accuracy in any role set within Japan. When approached for the casting of the lead, he made it a condition of his hire that no non-Japanese actors would be hired to portray Japanese roles, and he is a Producer on the series as well. Fellow actors talk about how he would shoot one scene and then rip off his costume and hurry to the next set where he provides the last look-over and approval of all set design elements for cultural accuracy. They even corrected the names of characters and places in the book. Ajiro, the village where Blackthorne came ashore, in the book was listed as Anjiro. Yabushige was only ever referred to as 'Yabu'. The Japanese dialect James Clavell wrote was corrected for historical accuracy. Behavior patterns were tweaked slightly to give culturally appropriate responses. Etc.
Thanks guys, enjoyed your discussion. So many fascinating characters in this show especially Toranaga and Mariko. This episode was really good but I loved the next one. My favorite scene is the interview/interpreter scene b/w Toranaga & Blackthorne. I also really like the scene where Ishido sees his own armor but has envy of better armor.
The Taiko had a lot of women, but only one son. I invite you to draw your own conclusions. Mikey's right, this period is the last gasps of Sengoku Jidai, the civil war period, which is the classic time we think of with Samurai, Ninja, warrior monks and all that good stuff. They refer to a lot of really fascinating history, like the Japanese invasion of Choseon (Korea). Japan was never successfully invaded - the Mongols famously tried twice, and the fleets were destroyed by typhoons.
100 percent agree that Blackthorne is a Tom Hardy clone. Some features are a little wider, but I even think he sounds like Tom Hardy. First thing I thought when the pilot episode started. I don't get much Russell Crowe in the voice. More like Tom Hardy doing a Crowe-esque accent. I'm loving his performance.
He's all right, but they are writing him to be less intelligent than Richard Chamberlain's Blackthorne in the 1980 series. 13:52 This "unless I win" bit was important in the original series. Toranaga was asking if Blackthorne was a traitor to his rightful lord. Dangerous question. This clever answer gained Blackthorne some respect from Toranaga. For some reason, they've rewritten the dialogue so Blackthorne's line is pointless. Why? Is it to give Mariko more to do than just translate? Beats me.
The real genius is that he deliberately shared the knowledge that he was made aware of the Portugese lies or half truths to the priests, then further goaded them by denying them the black ship. He baited them into making a move and the priests fell for it when one of the reagents told them he'd make a move on their behalf. So not only did this prove how valuable Blackthorne's knowledge was for them to risk sending an assassin to his own palace (since Toranaga himself has no way of fact checking Blackthorne himself). It cemented the fact that the new barbarian was far more valuable alive and that his knowledge could more or less be trusted if the priests wanted him dead so dearly.
He's playing some 4d chess!!
Also, Toranaga was aware of the presence of the Spanish priest in the prison and hoped that Blackthorne would interact with him there and obtain information.
Layers upon layers...
@@corvuslight is that a detail that was revealed in the Novel?
@@dialecticsjunkie7653 ...yes- it's an awesome book...
at the end, Toranaga suspected an assassination attempt. if the assassin went to his room, he knew it was Ishido. But since the assassin was looking for Blackthorne, then it was by one the Christian Lords. it also showed that he didn't care if Blackthorne was killed in his room.
Macau is near Hong Kong. Probably a several-day's sail from Japan, but it's not like Japan had a blue-water navy to do anything until it's too late.
That whole scene was like a space alien coming down to Earth and saying, "Hey, you know those other aliens? Yeah, we're fighting and interstellar war with them and they have an orbiting space station waiting to invade Earth. Also, a lot of your leaders have been replaced by changelings. Also, I have a bunch of super-cool ray guns you can use. Wanna team up?"
Japan's trade was with the Chinese ports of Tengzhou, Mingzhou, Suzhou, etc., while the Kyushu lords traded with Thailand and Cambodia. The maximum loading capacity of ships at that time was 3.75 tons.
Hiroyuki Sanada, the actor for Lord Toranaga, is a proud Japanese cultural historian, and has had a personal mission trying to raise the level of historical or cultural accuracy in any role set within Japan. When approached for the casting of the lead, he made it a condition of his hire that no non-Japanese actors would be hired to portray Japanese roles, and he is a Producer on the series as well. Fellow actors talk about how he would shoot one scene and then rip off his costume and hurry to the next set where he provides the last look-over and approval of all set design elements for cultural accuracy.
They even corrected the names of characters and places in the book. Ajiro, the village where Blackthorne came ashore, in the book was listed as Anjiro. Yabushige was only ever referred to as 'Yabu'. The Japanese dialect James Clavell wrote was corrected for historical accuracy. Behavior patterns were tweaked slightly to give culturally appropriate responses. Etc.
Fascinating, I didn't know that!
The guy had to keep his vow of seppuku because Ishido didn't accept Toranago apology.
Thanks guys, enjoyed your discussion. So many fascinating characters in this show especially Toranaga and Mariko. This episode was really good but I loved the next one. My favorite scene is the interview/interpreter scene b/w Toranaga & Blackthorne. I also really like the scene where Ishido sees his own armor but has envy of better armor.
definitely Tom Hardy's mannerisms and Russel Crowe's voice.
especially the Tom Hardy that played Shinzon in Star Trek.
The Taiko had a lot of women, but only one son. I invite you to draw your own conclusions.
Mikey's right, this period is the last gasps of Sengoku Jidai, the civil war period, which is the classic time we think of with Samurai, Ninja, warrior monks and all that good stuff.
They refer to a lot of really fascinating history, like the Japanese invasion of Choseon (Korea).
Japan was never successfully invaded - the Mongols famously tried twice, and the fleets were destroyed by typhoons.
Thanks to Mikey, Joe and Mike! 🗾
100 percent agree that Blackthorne is a Tom Hardy clone. Some features are a little wider, but I even think he sounds like Tom Hardy. First thing I thought when the pilot episode started. I don't get much Russell Crowe in the voice. More like Tom Hardy doing a Crowe-esque accent. I'm loving his performance.
He's all right, but they are writing him to be less intelligent than Richard Chamberlain's Blackthorne in the 1980 series. 13:52 This "unless I win" bit was important in the original series. Toranaga was asking if Blackthorne was a traitor to his rightful lord. Dangerous question. This clever answer gained Blackthorne some respect from Toranaga. For some reason, they've rewritten the dialogue so Blackthorne's line is pointless. Why? Is it to give Mariko more to do than just translate? Beats me.