Goroda, the former ruler

Goroda, the former ruler, remains a consequential absence: his murder ends his rule but leaves the future of his lands unsettled. In recollections of the political bargaining that follows, his death is the rupture that makes a contest for power possible and turns succession into an urgent question.

Rule and Political Ambition

Nakamura recalls having told Goroda that he intended to conquer Japan, then Korea, and then China. The recollection presents Goroda as a former master who had heard of Nakamura’s expansive ambitions, though the account does not describe how Goroda responded or what authority he exercised over those plans.

Death and the Succession Crisis

Nakamura characterizes Goroda as having been murdered and treats that death as the event that has unsettled control of the land. He says the realm is now his—or might become his—making clear that Goroda’s killing has created an opening rather than a settled transfer of power. The account supplies no further details about the murder or its perpetrator.

Posthumous Political Consequences

In the same negotiation, Nakamura proposes adopting one of Toranaga’s sons as his heir and making the arrangement public in the future. The proposal links the crisis following Goroda’s death to a possible new succession: instead of merely claiming the land, Nakamura offers a joint dynasty with Toranaga. Goroda’s significance in these recollections therefore lies both in the scale of the ambitions associated with his former court and in the vacancy his murder leaves others seeking to fill.