Uraga Tests Blackthorne’s Retainers Aboard Ship and Exposes an Attacker

Uraga-noh-Tadamasa Tests John Blackthorne’s Retainers Aboard Ship and Exposes an Attacker turns a disputed loyalty test into a sudden security crisis. Uraga-noh-Tadamasa asks the assembled retainers to stamp on a Christian icon as proof that they are not Christians; when an armed man breaks ranks and attacks, the ritual becomes a test of who can be trusted around John Blackthorne. The attacker dies in the water, but the search reveals nothing to explain his motives or affiliations.

A Test Proposed for the Master’s Safety

The episode takes place aboard John Blackthorne’s ship, with the assembled retainers on deck. John Blackthorne first calls out in Japanese to ask whether anyone is Christian. No one answers or comes forward. He then orders any Christians to identify themselves, again without response, and tells Uraga-noh-Tadamasa to set ten deck guards before dismissing the others. The unanswered questions establish the immediate problem: silence cannot establish whether the men are safe.

Uraga-noh-Tadamasa responds by producing a small painted icon from beneath his kimono. He has brought it from Yedo. With John Blackthorne’s permission, he places it face upward on the deck and deliberately stamps on it. The act visibly disturbs John Blackthorne and the crew; Jan Roper is the exception. Uraga-noh-Tadamasa asks John Blackthorne to have every vassal do the same, insisting that the test matters that night. John Blackthorne agrees reluctantly.

Reluctance, Persuasion, and Compliance

Uraga-noh-Tadamasa presents the ceremony to the retainers as a requirement of their master, saying it is being done at his suggestion. One samurai objects that the men have already said they are not Christians and that stamping on a foreign religious image proves nothing. The objection exposes the test’s weakness as evidence of belief: a public gesture cannot by itself establish what a person privately believes.

Uraga-noh-Tadamasa answers from his own experience. He says Christians are enemies of their master and treacherous, and discloses that he himself once forsook the traditional gods. He apologizes for the demand but insists it is necessary for John Blackthorne’s safety. Another samurai then accepts the logic of obeying the master’s order, stamps on the image, and urges the others to follow. The retainers come forward one by one. John Blackthorne watches with contempt, while the process drags on; he is already eager to go ashore and see the Yokohama fief Toranaga has given him, and regards the ceremony as delaying more important work before dusk.

The Attack and the Search

The test abruptly changes character when a man bypasses the icon, draws his sword, and leaps at John Blackthorne. A dozen startled samurai move between them to shield the quarterdeck. John Blackthorne turns with a pistol cocked and aimed, while the other men scatter in the confusion. The attacker stops, redirects his rage toward Uraga-noh-Tadamasa, and hacks at him; Uraga-noh-Tadamasa manages to evade the blow.

Other samurai rush the attacker. After fighting them fiercely for a moment, he runs to the side and throws himself overboard. Four men who can swim drop their swords, hold short stabbing knives in their mouths, and jump into the water after him. From the gunwale, John Blackthorne sees swirling shadows below, then a man surfacing briefly before going under again. Four heads eventually emerge with the attacker’s corpse between them. A knife is in his throat, and one of the swimmers reports that the dead man was killed with his own knife.

John Blackthorne orders Uraga-noh-Tadamasa to have the body searched and then left to the fish. The search finds nothing. The episode therefore establishes that the attacker was prepared to kill, but does not disclose who he was, what allegiance he held, or why he acted. Uraga-noh-Tadamasa’s suspicion about Christian danger remains a stated rationale for the test, not a motive confirmed by the search.

Enforced Completion and Significance

Once the swimmers return, John Blackthorne points his still-cocked pistol at the icon and orders every samurai to repeat the act. This time they obey immediately, and he ensures that none avoids the test. The attacker’s violence has transformed a reluctant and contested ceremony into a command backed by armed force. What had been proposed as reassurance has become a demonstration of John Blackthorne’s authority and the danger aboard his own ship.

John Blackthorne then orders his crew to stamp on the icon as well, explicitly to praise Uraga-noh-Tadamasa. The crew begins to protest. John Blackthorne threatens them with physical force if they delay, but van Nekk objects to that manner of speaking, insisting that the Dutchmen are not pagans. The conclusion carries the tension beyond the retainers: the same act meant to identify possible enemies also insults or coerces men whose religious and cultural identities John Blackthorne treats differently from those of his Japanese followers. The ceremony ends through obedience, not through any discovery of the attacker’s allegiance.