The Tohda family is such a fascination bunch of people on screen in this show. Fuji is wonderful, Buntaro is complex and subtle, Mariko is just fantastic, and Hiromatsu is the GOAT. He has badass and nurturing energy completely encapsulated in his essence.
49 days: The number of days in which the souls of the dead are supposed to remain on earth, undergo judgment every seven days, and then leave for the underworld.
Now That you know Toronaga will use people to their death to achieve his goal, It is possible that Toronaba convinced Mariko's father to kill lord Koruda to achieve his (Toronaga's) goal, knowing full well the consequences is the destruction of her family
In the book, Ochiba finds a peasant who looks exactly like the Taiko and bangs him until she's pregnant, then has him killed. She does want Toranaga though, thinks he's the only "real man" worthy of her left.
Even if there are people who don't know Shogun, I think that all samurai otaku in Japan and abroad will definitely know the following three. No1 Ryomaden ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-G-XHHznweMQ.htmlfeature=shared No2 Jin ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-12hoUh0h9mo.htmlfeature=shared No3 Atsuhime ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JNfYY6DPv2A.htmlfeature=shared Unfortunately, The Last Samurai was a bit childish...🫣
Buntaro doing the tea ceremony for Mariko is also a culmination of him dealing with his wife being held in higher esteem than him. Mariko’s position with Toranaga is unusual for a woman at that time, and Buntaro rejected it and even belittled and hurt her for not fitting tradition and not being truly subservient to him. In modern times, tea ceremonies are considered very women-dominated (but historically and at high levels, are men-dominated). So, to a modern viewer, him doing the tea ceremony for her is experienced as a gender role flip, too. He is trying to change his perspective, which is just unfortunately too little, too late.
If Hiromatsu had not committed seppuku, Toranaga's army would have split in two, and internal strife might have ensued. Seppuku may seem strange or crazy by Western cultural standards, but it was also a way to avoid conflict by risking one man's dignity. The words of a man with that much determination must have been very serious. This scene of seppuku does not seem to exist in the original story. Tokuma Nishioka, who played Hiromatsu, strongly suggested it to Hiroyuki Sanada, who played Toranaga, who said he wanted to make a real period drama. This scene will surely become one of the most memorable scenes in this drama.
