Kiri's cipher; Crimson Sky

The pigeon carries Kiri's last cipher. Sugiyama resigned and was caught by Ishido's ronin; refusing to betray Toranaga, he watched eta torture his children and died badly, but the Council is legally dead. Zataki, Toranaga's half-brother, has declared for the Heir; Kiyama and Onoshi stand openly against him; the Black Ship comes early. Kiri counts twenty-four sure daimyos of two hundred and sixty-four and urges Crimson Sky. At dawn on the plateau Toranaga reads the letter aloud and asks counsel. Yabu, Buntaro and Naga want the rush on Kyoto; Omi argues for holding the passes through a long war; Naga blurts that Toranaga must be Shōgun. Toranaga declares Crimson Sky at once. Alone with Mariko he gives her son ten thousand koku, orders her to price Kiku's contract, and hears her say what Naga said: take the power, marry Ochiba. She must go to Osaka for the hostages.

The cipher chapter: Sugiyama's death, Zataki's defection, the count of twenty-four daimyos. Clavell delivers the whole strategic position in one letter and then stages a council so that each general's temperament shows in his advice. Crimson Sky is declared as a bluff; Naga's Shōgun blurt is the word the book has been avoiding.