Chapter 4
Contains spoilersOverview
Blackthorne defies Omi’s order to surrender the man chosen by lot, sparking a vicious fight in the pit. Pieterzoon is seized instead and tortured through the night while Yabu listens, aroused by the power of controlled cruelty. Omi consolidates control—unloading and concealing the ship’s weapons, raising taxes—and orders the leader, Blackthorne, brought up for questioning.
Summary
In the pit, Vinck cannot face the death drawn by lot. When Omi orders him up, John Blackthorne blocks the ladder, declaring it forbidden and refusing to let any of his crew walk to death. Samurai descend, and a brutal struggle erupts. Vinck snaps into action, aiding Blackthorne; the crew swarm the ladder, injure a samurai, and keep one as a potential hostage, but three lightly armed samurai drop in and overwhelm them. Blackthorne is knocked unconscious, and Omi forces the panicked Pieterzoon up the ladder instead.
The hatch is sealed, plunging the crew into darkness as villagers pour barrels of fish offal and seawater into the cellar. The men tend to the insensible Blackthorne, quarrel over blame, and secure the stunned samurai. Wounds are bound amid shock and recriminations. Above, the village remains eerily silent as the night wears on.
At Omi’s house, Yabu kneels in the garden, meditating through Pieterzoon’s screams. Omi manages his anxious household: his mother complains; the courtesan Kiku, distressed by the cries, is persuaded to stay. Omi recalls sending his wife Midori away to avoid any risk of offending Yabu, determined to impress his lord and solidify his standing.
Omi inspects the village. With headman Mura, he accelerates unloading the captured arms and cannon and plans to disguise them with mats and nets, even at heavy local cost. He announces increased taxes and fines Tamazaki’s family a koku, leaving Mura calculating grim ways to pay. At the shore, Omi observes Zukimoto’s methodical boiling of Pieterzoon, who is kept alive by design until dawn; Omi is repelled by torture’s indignity.
Returning to the pit, Omi orders no food or water for the prisoners, removal of any bodies at midday, and that the leader be brought up alone for questioning. He reports to Yabu, who remains statuesque amid the cries. They trade short poems about the victim’s eyes and the abyss of pain, underscoring Yabu’s fascination with fear and control.
Who Appears
- Omi
Samurai overseeing the prisoners; directs the fight’s aftermath, torture logistics, taxes, and plans to interrogate Blackthorne.
- John Blackthorne
English pilot; blocks the ladder, leads resistance in the pit, is knocked unconscious, marked to be isolated later.
- Kasigi Yabu
Daimyo; orders and savors torture, raises taxes, and awaits bringing Blackthorne up; composes poems amid the screams.
- Pieterzoon
Crewman seized instead of Vinck; boiled alive through the night under Zukimoto’s care.
- Mura
Headman; coordinates unloading and camouflage of arms, accepts fines and tax burdens, calculates harsh remedies.
- Vinck
Drew the short straw; freezes then fights fiercely; spared by Blackthorne and later collapses in guilt.
- Captain-General Spillbergen
Sick fleet commander; panics, opposes Blackthorne’s defiance, blames him for the consequences.
- Jan Roper
Devout seaman; condemns Vinck’s broken lot, suffers a cut, and insists Blackthorne is at fault.
- Sonk
Seaman; checks Blackthorne for injuries, floors the captive samurai, keeps order among the crew.
- Zukimoto
Yabu’s torturer; manages the cauldron, keeps Pieterzoon alive until dawn, reports clinically to Omi.
- Maetsukker
Seaman cut in the arm during the melee; wound is bound with a tourniquet.
- Croocq
Crewman; fights on the ladder, proposes using the captured samurai as a hostage.
- Kiku
First-class courtesan; distressed by the screams but persuaded to remain, massages Omi’s mother.
- Omi’s mother
Matriarch; complains about the screams, privately resents Yabu, demands comfort.
- Masijiro
Samurai left in the pit; knocked out during the fight and presumed dead by his comrades.