Chapter 26 Part Two
Bottled in Osaka harbour
Put your God away. You have one too many loyalties.
Summary
Bottled in Osaka harbour by fishing boats full of samurai, Yabu daydreams of taking Toranaga's head for Ishido while Toranaga muses that the pilot never laughs. Asked how to break out, Blackthorne says "with cannon"; Toranaga turns the galley toward the Portuguese frigate to borrow or seize hers. He orders Mariko to put her God "in the back of your spirit", befriend the barbarian and confess nothing, and she swears it before God. Aboard the Santa Theresa, Ferriera and Rodrigues, now pilot of the Black Ship, argue for blowing Toranaga and the heretic out of the water; dell'Aqua plants himself before the muzzle ("Thou shalt not kill"). After half an hour of chasing, Alvito shouts "false colours" as a face-saving fiction. The priests row across; Toranaga goes to parley. Alvito baits Blackthorne with hot bread, butter, capon and Madeira, and the starving Englishman follows him aboard.
Analysis
A negotiation chapter with the guns loaded. Clavell moves between galley and frigate so that the Jesuit faction is seen deciding whether to commit murder. Mariko's oath to put her God aside and befriend the barbarian is the instruction that creates the romance. The bread and capon are a temptation staged as hospitality.
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