Hiro-matsu’s loyalty to Toranaga and plan to defy him with Crimson Sky

Hiro-matsu’s loyalty to Toranaga is not passive obedience. When he judges that submission threatens his lord’s honor and house, the old general claims the authority of his duty to resist Toranaga himself. His decision to set Crimson Sky in motion turns a long-standing bond of service into a deliberate act of disobedience, undertaken in Toranaga’s name and against his wishes.

A trusted general confronted with a sealed order

Toranaga entrusts Hiro-matsu with a private dispatch, which Mariko delivers. Hiro-matsu breaks the seals and reads the scroll, which briefly recounts what happened at Yokosé and confirms Toranaga’s decision to submit. It orders Hiro-matsu to hold the frontier and the passes to the Kwanto against any intruder, while expediting messengers from Ishido or from the east. It also gives instructions concerning the renegade Christian and the Anjin-san.

The orders place Hiro-matsu in the position of a trusted commander responsible for protecting Toranaga’s territory and managing the arrival of potentially decisive news. Yet the decision to submit troubles him more than the military instructions. After reading the message a second time, he asks Mariko to recount what she saw and heard at Yokosé, then asks what she thinks happened. Her account and judgment matter to him as he tries to understand the choice Toranaga has made.

Loyalty tested by submission

In the castle donjon above the city, Hiro-matsu rises and goes to an arrow embrasure, his aching back and joints weighing on him and his sword loose in his hands. He says he does not understand the decision. His disbelief is tied to his assessment of Toranaga’s strength: he thinks they can break through any armies Ishido puts into the field. The dispatch’s order to submit therefore seems to him not a necessary consequence of military weakness but a choice that demands explanation.

Hiro-matsu’s resistance is also shaped by the divided loyalties around Toranaga. He recalls that Toranaga and Zataki had argued and cursed one another, nearly coming to blows in private. Zataki had declared that he would not help Toranaga, though he would support Sudara if Toranaga abdicated and committed seppuku. Against that background, Hiro-matsu rejects the idea that Toranaga must meekly submit or die to secure support for his son.

Defiance in the name of duty

Hiro-matsu reaches his decision alone, addressing the night as he resolves to disobey. He understands the act as betrayal, but insists that his office as general-in-chief requires him to protect Toranaga’s honor and house, even from Toranaga himself. The contradiction is central to their bond: Hiro-matsu can remain loyal only by refusing the order he believes would leave his lord exposed to dishonor and defeat.

His plan is specific. He will co-opt Toranaga’s son and heir, Lord Sudara, and Sudara’s wife, Lady Genjiko, and together they will order Crimson Sky when the rains cease. Until then, Hiro-matsu intends to hold Toranaga safe in Yedo Castle, whatever Toranaga says and whatever the cost. The general’s loyalty thus becomes an independent political and military force: he acts without permission, but frames the coming war and his protection of Toranaga as service to the house he is bound to defend.