Toranaga accepts the Council’s summons at Yokosé in a public reversal that makes his retainers fear the end of their world. He agrees to go to Osaka and submit to the Council, even while calling it illegal; his stated reason is that preserving the realm matters more than any one daimyo’s cause. The announcement prevents an immediate fight, but it does not make the meeting peaceful: Zataki’s armed escort is ready for battle, Toranaga’s followers see ruin ahead, and the journey begins under tight control and an explicit warning about Toranaga’s mother.

The Meeting at Yokosé

At the Hour of the Goat, the cortege crosses the bridge again. Zataki and his men are dressed for travel or skirmishing, heavily armed and disciplined, but spoiling for a fight if one begins. Toranaga’s forces outnumber them. Father Alvito and John Blackthorne watch from among the onlookers as the two daimyos take their places on a dais, seated farther apart than before beneath a lower sky. Yabu, Omi, Naga, and Buntaro sit on the ground around Toranaga; four of Zataki’s fighting counselors stand behind him.

Toranaga welcomes his brother with the same calm formality as at their earlier meeting and prolongs the ceremonial seating. When the appointed moment arrives, Zataki produces the second scroll and demands Toranaga’s formal answer. The setup gives the decision public weight: this is not a private assurance that can be revised without witness, but an answer delivered before armed retainers on both sides. Zataki has come expecting a response to the Council’s summons, while the assembled samurai wait to discover whether the meeting will end in submission or violence.

Acceptance and Its Rationale

Toranaga replies evenly that he agrees to go to Osaka and submit to the Council’s will, then bows. Zataki begins to protest in disbelief, but Toranaga interrupts and argues that the Council, though illegally constituted, must still be obeyed. No single daimyo, he says, has the right to tear the realm apart simply because he believes the truth is on his side. The realm takes precedence. If one daimyo rebels, the others have a duty to suppress him.

He also invokes his promise to the Taikō: he swore never to be the first to break the peace, and says he will keep that oath despite the evil he sees in the land. He accepts the invitation and declares that he will leave that day. The reasoning recasts the apparent surrender as an act of restraint and political obligation. Toranaga does not say that the Council is just; he distinguishes its illegality from the danger of allowing a single lord to fracture the country. When he asks whether the continuity of his line or the continuity of the realm is more important, the question makes the cost of his decision explicit without withdrawing it.

A Decision That Threatens His Followers

The retainers are aghast. They try to foresee what the reversal means and fear that most, perhaps all, will become ronin, losing honor, income, family security, and any future within the established order. The danger is not abstract to Buntaro. He believes he will accompany Toranaga on what may be his last journey and share his fate, with his family destroyed across generations. He regards Ishido as too much his personal enemy to spare him and interprets Toranaga’s acceptance as abandonment of the true fight.

In Buntaro’s private reckoning, duty becomes a sequence of deaths: he thinks he may have to kill Mariko and their son before taking his own life, once his lord is safely and honorably gone into the Void. He also sees the decision as clearing the path for Yaemon to inherit and imagines that Ochiba and Yaemon might someday renew the Taikō’s ambitions. These are Buntaro’s fearful conclusions, not a plan Toranaga announces. They reveal how completely the retainers read the acceptance as a final defeat, even as Toranaga presents it as a way to keep the realm from being torn apart.

Toranaga must also prevent the meeting from turning into the battle his words are meant to avert. Naga nearly attacks Zataki, but Toranaga calls for writing materials and sends him away before he can come within sword range. Once the youth has gone, Toranaga exhales in relief and studies Buntaro, Omi, and Yabu, judging them sufficiently controlled to avoid a riot and mass killing. He then tells Zataki that he will send a formal written acceptance to prepare the Council for his state visit. The ceremony proceeds alongside a private warning: Zataki is safe inside and outside Izu only until Toranaga’s mother is released from his grasp. Submission to the summons does not mean that Toranaga has forgotten the leverage being used against him.

The Journey Ordered into Motion

In a private conference, Buntaro, Omi, and Yabu plead against the decision. Toranaga listens without answering their arguments, then ends the discussion: “I want no more talk. I’ve decided my path. Obey!” He writes and signs the formal message to Zataki despite their entreaties. His course is now made practical through a detailed division of duties rather than left as a statement of intent.

Toranaga says he will return immediately to Anjiro to collect the rest of his men. The next day he will travel up the east-coast road toward Atami and Odawara, cross the mountain passes, and continue to Yedo, with Buntaro commanding his escort. The Musket Regiment is to embark at Anjiro and sail to Yedo under Yabu’s command. Omi is ordered to take the available Izu warriors toward the frontier, assist Hiro-matsu, and prevent their enemy Ikawa Jikkyu from disrupting ordinary traffic. He is to base himself in Mishima, guard that stretch of the Tokaido, and prepare enough palanquins and horses for Toranaga’s entourage. Toranaga orders every station along the route to be alerted and prepared.

Before departure, he checks the innkeeper’s bill item by item, finds it fair, and sends it to his paymaster for payment. He then gives Mariko permission to go to Osaka, but first directs her to Mishima with a private dispatch for Hiro-matsu; she is to continue to Yedo with the Anjin-san and remain responsible for him until they arrive. Whether they will travel by sea to Osaka remains undecided. Toranaga asks whether John Blackthorne received the dictionary from the priest, and Blackthorne answers that he does not understand; Mariko translates. The small exchange sits within the larger machinery of departure: Toranaga’s acceptance is public, while his route, forces, messengers, and companions are assigned with exacting care.