Yabu rejects Ishido’s secret assassination pact

Yabu rejects Ishido’s secret assassination pact when a visit to Lord Zataki brings him both a proposal to murder Toranaga and a scroll threatening his lands. The encounter turns a refused conspiracy into an urgent public commitment, while Toranaga reveals that the crisis has also bought time.

The Offer and the Ultimatum

Yabu and Kasigi Omi arrive to find Toranaga outdoors. Yabu brandishes the scroll he has received: he must leave Izu for Osaka that day and present himself at Osaka Castle, or forfeit his lands and be declared an outlaw. Enraged, he crushes the scroll and throws it to the ground. Toranaga initially tells him to leave at once, then recognizes that his own reply has made matters worse and asks what happened.

Yabu recounts that Lord Zataki first conveyed a blunt offer from Ishido: secretly ally with Ishido, arrange Toranaga’s immediate assassination, and murder every Toranaga samurai in Izu. Yabu says he refused to listen. Lord Zataki then handed him the ultimatum with scarcely any courtesy, turning the meeting into a threat as well as a test of allegiance.

Yabu’s Refusal and Demand for Revenge

Yabu insists that Toranaga’s direct order protecting Lord Zataki was the only thing that kept him from cutting him down. He demands that Toranaga rescind that protection, declaring that he cannot live with the shame and must have revenge. His anger is not simply at the assassination proposal: the humiliation of receiving the ultimatum after refusing the conspiracy leaves him feeling bound to answer the insult.

Kasigi Omi kneels and asks Toranaga not to taunt Yabu, describing him as Toranaga’s devoted vassal. Toranaga instead rebukes Omi for failing to protect his lord as an adviser. Omi should have drawn Lord Zataki into the open and investigated Ishido’s plans and bribe, Toranaga argues; by letting the opportunity pass, he failed in his duty as a counselor.

Toranaga’s Delay

Toranaga’s interpretation shifts the encounter from a simple demand for revenge to a political trap. Because Yabu has accepted the scroll, Toranaga says, he is now committed and must act one way or the other. Yabu is surprised by this reading, but Toranaga explains that delay was the point of what he had done. The ultimatum forces a choice and narrows Yabu’s options, yet the time gained through the confrontation serves Toranaga’s purpose.

Before asking for Yabu’s account, Toranaga had dismissed the falconer and beaters and sent the other samurai away, keeping only Naga within earshot. The controlled privacy contrasts with Yabu’s public, physical display of anger: Toranaga treats the crushed scroll not as an end to the matter but as evidence of a commitment he can use. The event leaves Yabu’s demand for revenge unresolved while making the danger of Ishido’s plan explicit.