Crimson Sky is launched

Crimson Sky is launched when Toranaga turns advance knowledge of Ikawa Jikkyu’s death into an order for war. Rather than wait for his opponents to strike, he begins mobilizing forces from Mishima and shapes their movements to conceal the campaign’s true direction: the advance down the Tokaido is a feint, while the main attack is to pass through Lord Zataki’s mountains.

Background and Decision

Toranaga’s decision follows a perilous interval of uncertainty. He had received advance information about Ikawa Jikkyu’s plot from Kasigi Mizuno, and had been given a few days’ notice of Jikkyu’s death. Lord Sudara reports that he sent a high-priority cipher to Mishima to establish whether the report was true, expecting a reply within three days. Toranaga, however, has already made his decision and confirms that Jikkyu is dead.

The death changes the timing of the crisis. Toranaga responds by ordering the Eleventh, Sixteenth, Ninety-fourth, and Ninety-fifth Regiments at Mishima onto immediate alert, with orders to move down the Tokaido in four days. When Lord Sudara asks whether this is Crimson Sky and whether Toranaga is attacking, Toranaga makes the decisive point: he will not wait for the enemy to come against him. The plan is presented not as a response to an attack already under way, but as a bid to seize the initiative.

The choice carries a visible cost for Toranaga. As he issues the order, he feels faintly nauseated and reexamines the plan, finding no flaw. That brief physical reaction sets the decision apart from a simple declaration of confidence: the offensive is resolved upon, but its scale and consequences remain grave.

Forces and Orders

Toranaga limits the proposed attack to ten thousand men, judging that surprise should make that force sufficient. He cannot strip his other positions bare: he must continue to hold the borders in case the operation fails or proves to be a trap, and he must also contain Lord Zataki. The plan therefore balances concentrated force against the danger of leaving the rest of Toranaga’s territory exposed.

Lord Hiro-matsu is named to lead the assault force. Toranaga calls the campaign a fitting one for him, then gives Lord Sudara responsibility for preparing the operation at Mishima. Hiro-matsu’s force is allowed twenty days to cross the Tenryu River and secure the Tokaido Road. These deadlines make the campaign a coordinated movement rather than an immediate rush: mobilization begins at once, but the force must reach and hold its objectives within a specific interval.

Lord Sudara proposes extending the operation to thirty days and setting its final objective farther on, at the crest of the Shiomi Slope. Toranaga refuses. If he ordered the force to reach the crest, he reasons, some soldiers might get there, but most would die; the survivors would then be too depleted to repel a counterattack or harass the enemy during a retreat. The exchange makes clear that the plan’s limits are calculated against the likely cost of pursuing ground beyond what the force can hold.

The Feint and the Main Attack

Toranaga reveals that the force moving toward the Tokaido is not the campaign’s true main attack. Its advance is a feint. The principal strike is to go through Lord Zataki’s mountains, while the Tokaido movement draws attention elsewhere. The distinction changes the meaning of the orders: the regiments sent from Mishima and the effort to secure the road are part of a deliberate deception, not the final direction of the offensive.

The deception is tied to the campaign’s divided objectives. Toranaga wants the advance force to secure the Tokaido Road, yet refuses to spend most of its strength reaching the Shiomi Slope. It must advance far enough to serve the operation, but remain capable of resisting a counterattack and withdrawing while troubling the enemy. The route, destination, and allotted time are therefore controlled as parts of the same design: apparent progress must not consume the troops needed to make the feint useful.

Stakes and Narrative Significance

The launch marks a reversal from waiting under threat to choosing when and how to attack. Toranaga uses intelligence, a rapid alert at Mishima, and a misleading movement toward the Tokaido to begin an offensive whose central thrust lies elsewhere. His refusal to wait is matched by restraint in the field: he seeks surprise, but will not sacrifice most of the assigned force merely to occupy a more ambitious position.

At this point, the event is the activation and initial organization of Crimson Sky, not a report of the battle’s outcome. Its importance lies in the orders and the concealed structure they establish: four regiments are alerted, a ten-thousand-man force is planned, Lord Hiro-matsu is assigned to lead the assault force, and the visible Tokaido advance masks the main attack through the mountains. The campaign begins with uncertainty about the enemy’s moves still in view, but with Toranaga choosing to make the first move.