Chapter 3
Contains spoilersOverview
Yabu discovers vast European arms and silver aboard the Erasmus, secretly orders their removal to Mishima, and dreams of leveraging them to sway the Toranaga–Ishido struggle and rise himself. As his blind masseur Suwo nearly chooses to kill him, the imprisoned crew draw lots; Vinck is selected to die as Omi arrives.
Summary
In Omi’s house, Yabu revels in a hot bath and the discovery of the Erasmus’s hoard: five hundred muskets, twenty cannon, ample ammunition, fire arrows, and Spanish silver. He orders Igurashi to move the armaments by night to Mishima in strict secrecy, threatens Mura’s village to ensure silence, and has Zukimoto melt the plate into ingots and salvage valuables for sale at Nagasaki.
Exultant, Yabu refines his long-held plan: trained musketeers and special cannon crews to break with traditional bushido on the battlefield. He weighs whether to back Toranaga or Ishido—or wait to profit—and recalls disobeying Toranaga by slipping out of Yedo with fifty men after his wife, Lady Yuriko, and his consort warned of the political risks. He resolves to return at dawn, send the guns and bullion off by sunset, and even muses about assassinating rival Ikawa Jikkyu.
Yabu accepts a massage from Suwo, a blind veteran whose scars and stories reveal a past tied to Toranaga’s lineage and the fateful assassination of Toranaga’s grandfather, Chikitada, with a Murasama blade. Yabu, himself owner of a Murasama sword, is intrigued and momentarily considers killing Suwo, then decides the knowledge excites him and spares the man, drifting toward sleep.
As Yabu dozes, Suwo silently debates snapping Yabu’s neck for the village’s sake and as a favor to Omi, but postpones the act. Meanwhile, in the pit, Blackthorne and the crew languish in filth, given only water and food. Ordered to choose one man to die—any but Blackthorne—Blackthorne urges defiance, but the majority, led by Spillbergen and van Nekk, insist on drawing lots, sanctified by Jan Roper’s prayer.
After tense drawing, Vinck pulls the short straw; Spillbergen faints with relief. Panic and grim acceptance ripple through the men. At sunset, the trapdoor opens and Omi appears, poised to enforce Yabu’s decree.
Who Appears
- Kasigi Yabu
Daimyo; discovers Erasmus’s arsenal and silver, orders secret transport to Mishima, plots to leverage guns in the Toranaga–Ishido struggle.
- Suwo
Omi’s blind masseur; recounts ties to Toranaga’s lineage, lulls Yabu to sleep, and considers killing him but delays.
- Kasigi Omi
Local samurai host; his house shelters Yabu. Opens the pit’s trapdoor as the chosen victim is determined.
- John Blackthorne
Pilot; urges the crew to fight rather than draw lots, tends Spillbergen, maintains calm amid the squalor.
- Paulus Spillbergen
Captain-General; insists on drawing lots, weak and ill, faints when spared.
- Vinck
Crewman; resists the lottery but participates, draws the short straw and is selected to die.
- Jan Roper
Calvinist; leads prayers, frames the lottery as God’s will to secure compliance.
- van Nekk
Merchant sailor; supports Spillbergen’s plan, draws safely, helps steady the group.
- Zukimoto
Yabu’s commissary; proposes melting plate into ingots and selling salvaged goods at Nagasaki.
- Igurashi
Yabu’s one-eyed chief retainer; tasked to move the arms by night to Mishima in secrecy.
- Mura
Village headman; provides porters and pledges local silence under Yabu’s threat.
- Lady Yuriko
Yabu’s wife; warns against disobeying Toranaga and predicts his political isolation.
- Yabu’s consort
Advises Yabu to obey Toranaga and suggests political alternatives, but is ignored.
- Lord Toranaga
Powerful Regent discussed by Yabu; central to Yabu’s calculations and Suwo’s recollection.
- General Lord Ishido
Rival Regent; his strength at Osaka shapes Yabu’s strategy.