Fortune and misfortune belong to heaven

“Fortune and misfortune belong to heaven” is a maxim in Toranaga’s private Legacy for his successors. It presents fortune and misfortune as matters to be left to heaven and natural law, not outcomes that prayer or human ingenuity can secure; Toranaga’s revision sharpens the principle by making its scope universal.

Wording and Revision

The maxim first says that fortune and misfortune should be left to heaven and natural law, and that they cannot be bought by prayer or any cunning device devised by a person or a self-styled saint. Toranaga removes the reference to a “self-styled saint” and changes the sentence’s ending from “by any man” to “by any man whatsoever.” The revision shifts emphasis away from a particular kind of religious claimant and toward a broader limit on human power.

Place in the Legacy

The maxim belongs to a series of secret instructions Toranaga has developed over the years to guide his successors in governing after him. The Legacy begins by defining a provincial lord’s duty as giving the people peace and security, rather than enhancing ancestral prestige or securing descendants’ prosperity. Against that practical standard, the maxim warns the ruler not to treat fortune as something that can be obtained through prayer or clever schemes.

Composition and Significance

Toranaga works on the Legacy during the long days and nights of his present predicament, changing words, adding sentences, and removing paragraphs. Although he would ordinarily take pleasure in writing clearly and succinctly, sustaining his alien role has required self-discipline. His careful alteration of the maxim shows the Legacy itself being refined under pressure: a private guide to future rule whose wording must remain useful beyond its author. His satisfaction at having maintained the role is tempered by dismay at how gullible people can be, placing the maxim’s skepticism about human manipulation beside the deception he has successfully carried out.