They reach Osaka without incident. Rodrigues had a broken leg and dislocated shoulder. He curses Blackthorne because now he “owes him a life” (167); Rodrigues also knows that Blackthorne got his rutter back after searching Rodrigues for the key to the chest where the Portuguese pilot had secreted it.

A decade prior, the Taiko—Japan’s supreme leader, now dead—forbade Christian missionaries from going wherever they wanted. Three years prior, the Taiko crucified 26 disobedient priests at Nagasaki. Father Alvito, who was the Taiko’s interpreter, declares that there are now hundreds of thousands of converts to Christianity among the 20 million Japanese. Blackthorne knows the Dutch would have no chance against so many.

The next day, men take Blackthorne to a stone castle, where hundreds of samurai gather. Blackthorne sees that the castle would be almost impossible to attack. However, there are no cannons. If attackers could break the walls and cross the moat, there could be a chance. 

Toranaga sits on a cushion, surrounded by samurai. Blackthorne sits cross-legged in front of him. Toranaga—a short and round man—is mending a hunting falcon’s broken feather. A priest comes forward to interpret: it is Father Alvito.