Shogun Episode 8 Reaction! - "The Abyss of Life" 

Everyone’s “eye acting” in this episode was gos tier!

The tea ceremony with Buntaro is a very specific ritual. You turn the cup so that the beautiful side faces the maker, who had the beautiful side facing you when they placed it in front of you. It was called a performance, because chado (the way of tea) is seen as an art.

Sengoku samurai served not the master himself but the world he envisioned😊Hiromatsu's death was planned by Hiromatsu himself,and Toranaga responded to it. This is My thoughts🤔

文太郎の茶は日本の茶道という伝統のやり方です。　当時の上級の日本人のたしなみです。 Buntaro's tea is the traditional way of tea ceremony in Japan.　It was the manner of the high level Japanese of the time.

There is a proverb in Japan that says, ``Before deceiving your enemy, first deceive your friends.'' The death of his son (so he doesn't even attend the funeral) and the seppuku of his chief vassal are all part of his ploy to say, ``I have no intention of going against Osaka.'' The chief vassal saw through the lord's plans and made the plan a success with his own death.

Great review. Keep up the good work 👍

Toranga is so clever.

It is all a plan? Yes. Were any deaths or seppukus planned? No. Toranaga never told Hiromatsu to do that, nor he told his son to die in a stupid fashion. These happened as a consequence of Toranaga trying to make his surrender REAL. If you pay attention to that scene, Hiromatsu interviened as soon as he saw the other vassal about to draw his sword to attack.

Toranaga also fooled me into thinking he really surrendered, it made watching Hiromatsu die much more painful to see.

Toranaga gave a church site next to the brothel area. This means not allowing the construction of a church from the beginning. Hiramatsu's seppuku is not begging for his life, but a plea in exchange for his life. Loyalty refers to vassals like Hiramatsu. The emotions of this episode are also felt by Japanese people. The content was quite risqué, difficult to understand, deep, and interesting.

Thank you, Derek! 🗾 Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour directed this episode.

Hiromatsu had to prevent other vassals from thinking that Tranaga was disturbed. In the worst case scenario, a vassal might turn his sword on Tranaga in order to "stop a disturbed lord. In fact, one of the vassals almost drew his sword. Tranaga and Hiromatsu emphasize the word "decision," indicating to the vassals that Tranaga's orders were not based on his mood at the time, but were thoughtful political decisions. More than just a ploy to deceive the enemy is expressed here, and it is with great pleasure that I appreciate a scene as complex and powerful as the one in Akira Kurosawa's work, which incorporates Shakespeare's work.

There is no peace without war Let your vassals fight and die 虎永...he doesn't give up Toranaga teamed up Yabushige(藪重)and Anjin.(按針) My brother's army also joins in. A large army joins in An army of over 100,000 people

I'm pretty sure Toranaga wanted Tsuji to not speak Japanese so as to not divulge anything about Toranaga's intentions, since Tsuji is a relatively clever fellow who was about to talk about some such things. Mariko has also demonstrated to be very quick on the uptake, and so could easily selectively translate without betraying any sensitive information.

Hiromatsu's death wasn't part of Toranaga's plan.

Mariko the Warrior has been activated!!! RIP BFF Hiromatsu

Great reaction. Would you sacrifice your best friend or family member to save your country? I think you would. It has happened many times in America. With Toranaga everything is a ploy. The ship, the weapons, the cannons, John Blackthorn, the "love affair" with Mariko all a ploy. Mariko was never "In Love" with John, she has a higher plan. Even like his old friend, Toranaga had to make everyone believe the ruse. Toranaga has proven that He is the greatest chess player of all time. This plan to save Japan from civil war was started when Mariko's family was executed. Even Ochiba has been there from the start. Why do you think She went to Edo in the first place? Ochiba has Ishido wrapped around Her little finger. Ishido is smitten. The women are the real stars of this series. John Blackthorn has been a pawn from the start. All John thinks about is wealth. Toranaga is trying to safe a country. Big difference. And if you think Feudal Japan was a primitive nation, look into the history of "The Black Plague" in Japan's history. You won't find any or very little. I view John Blackthorn as a coward looking out to save his neck. I'm sure he will have change of conscience, because the person that John portrays is very important in Japanese History. Look up the Battle Sekigahara, this name will pop-up in this series. Thank you for an eye-opening reaction. 😀😀

我々日本人には今もこの精神は生きている

Are we to assume there is a spy in Toranaga’s ranks?? Is that who this sacrificial demonstration is meant to convince? I don’t understand why Toranaga states it was meant to sway Yabushige to turn on him, when at the end of the episode, he has Mariko inform Yabushige of his plans anyway!!! If he fills Yabushige in on the secret plan, then why go thru the ruse in the first place? For a spy ?? And if it’s for a spy, then why state to Mariko it’s for Yabushige? lol. Just confused on that part

I will die on this hill and I know I would get a lot of flak for this given that I have a male portrait: I love that Mariko declined Buntaro's offer for a mutual suicide in the tea house scene. How she went about it and her choice of words, not so much. lets break it down. 1. From the flashback on episode 6, we can glimpse that Buntaro had always longed for Mariko. Mariko, on the other hand never really liked him, or even looked down on the Toda clan back then (confirmed by her saying to Ruri-hime that the Toda clan is a worthless alliance and that his father is casting her aside; and later to Toranaga that his father should have married him better) 2. We learn from the Toranaga couple's councelor arc that Buntaro did try ti aooease her but her icy demeanor never melted. And that he had to bear double insult of Sparing the life of a traitor's daughter; who later converted to Catholicism. double whammy right there. 3. then Toranaga revealed that, in fact, distancing her from the fight and marrying her off to someone who ensured she lives was part of her father's plan... BUT, come episode 7, she requests Toranaga to allow her to end her life. we are coming from all that build up before the tea-house scene. so you can see a great deal of inconsistency in her character. it's either that or she is being consciously spiteful and saying the most hateful and vile thing that she knows will break his husband at this point. AND IT MAKES NO SENSE UNLESS THE PLAN WAS TO MAKE MARIKO SO DISLIKEABLE. and then to go around later and tell blackthorn that "when loyalty starts it has no end otherwise it is not loyalty", I call hypocrite. Just the previous episode, you asked for death from Toranaga who revealed to you your own father's grand design (a betrayal of your duty to your father and then to your Lord), then a scene before you rejected joining your husband in a seppuku of protest (a betrayal of your marriage); you really are in no position to berate and/or remind Blackthorne about the importance of loyalty. Now, let me throw an olive branch and suggest how to better handle the scene (I am no writer so this is rudimentary but would make more narrative sense and progress Mariko's arc in a more positive way). "When we were a younger couple I resented you for the wrong reasons (this works as a good opening statement as it is an admission also of her misreading the great plans his father for her); and I know i have caused you great suffering by repeatedly asking you to let me die all this years (this shows accountability); BUT I have always respected Buntaro, the great warrior. What you are saying now dishonour's your father who have said earlier that he Believes Toranaga will fight. It dishonours our Lord whom you also doubt. And you dishonour yourself. I would sooner live a thousand years than die in this manner which you suggest" Again, I am no writer and this is just a rudimentary thing, but I think this would have rounded her character more and would connect with her entire arc from the beginning (where we have been told that she did indeed want to die for she thought that was her duty then) to the present with every new information revealed to her giving her that change in perspective. I especially hate the fact that she did the right thing by rejecting his offer for death, and they use that as an excuse to give Mariko the right to act so vile, petty, and cruel. And before anyone types the Usual Butthurt crap: NO, that does not mean that Buntaro's previous actions were excusable. Of course it is wrong for her to lay hands on her wife. And if he can show such effort in something as delicate and meticulous as the tea ceremony, he should have tried to communicate better with her wife instead of being this clumsy around her as we saw on screen. BUT. Nonetheless. It does not justify what she did to him here.

5:17 wasnt he like...his best friend? and the only one that was remotely close to his age?

Hiromatsu never knew of the real plan of Toranaga even from the beginning of the series. He just knew Toranaga so well that it's just in these difficult times Hiromatsu miscalculated Toranaga, and Hiromatsu already was too late to take back what he said to the other lords that he will fight and had to commit seppuku to save face. He tried to sway Toranaga but he's so in depth in his 3rd heart. He wanted to fight with Toranaga, but both of them can't take it back. Toranaga was hoping the other Lords would make that final gesture, but instead it was Hiromatsu. He didn't want it to be him but they both knew they had to do the ultimate sacrifice.