Saigawa Zataki–Ishido

Lord Zataki’s relationship with Ishido is a wary political alignment that reshapes the balance of power around Toranaga. By joining Ishido’s new Council of Regents and committing Shinano Province and the northern route against Toranaga, Zataki gives the anti-Toranaga coalition a strategically important ally; his own words, however, make clear that this is an alliance of judgment and necessity, not personal trust.

Political realignment and appointment

Zataki’s change of allegiance becomes explicit in a letter from Hiro-matsu: Lord Kiritsubo’s warning was correct, and Zataki had turned traitor and was openly displaying his loyalty to Ishido. His new position was formal as well as practical. He had become a Regent in place of Lord Sugiyama, and he showed Hiro-matsu an appointment signed by Ishido, Kiyama, Onoshi, and Ito. The document connected Zataki to a new governing coalition rather than merely recording a private understanding with Ishido.

The appointment carried immediate weight because Zataki was not a marginal supporter. He ruled Shinano Province, and he later stated that he intended to lock Shinano and the northern route against Toranaga until the Kwanto was in friendly hands. His alignment therefore joined Ishido’s contest for authority to control of a major approach into Toranaga’s territory. Toranaga’s earlier deployment of Hiro-matsu and an elite regiment to Mishima, on the Tokaido Road, underscores the military importance of the routes at stake: Mishima guarded the entrance to the mountain pass, while Atami and Odawara lay beyond it on the eastern side of Izu.

An alliance without trust

Zataki explains his position through the succession crisis. He believes Toranaga seeks the Heir Yaemon’s downfall, and presents his own survival and control of the northern route as a way to prevent that outcome. He says he will maintain the blockade at whatever cost and for as long as necessary. This is the stated rationale for siding with Ishido: their interests converge in resisting Toranaga, even though the evidence does not establish that Zataki simply follows Ishido’s wishes in every matter.

When Toranaga asks whether Zataki trusts Ishido, Zataki answers that he trusts no one, attributing that outlook to what Toranaga has taught him. He nevertheless distinguishes Ishido from other possible allies: Ishido is Ishido, but his loyalty is unquestioned, a point Zataki says Toranaga must admit. The distinction matters. Zataki does not claim affection or confidence in Ishido as a person; he treats Ishido’s reliability within the conflict as a political fact. His own distrust remains intact even while he makes that fact the basis for choosing a side.

Toranaga rejects Zataki’s account of the conflict, accusing Ishido of trying to destroy him, divide the realm, usurp power, and violate the Taiko’s will. He also points to Zataki’s earlier cooperation with Lord Sugiyama in an effort to wreck the Council of Regents. The exchange exposes the unstable ground beneath the new alignment: Zataki’s present claim to defend the succession sits beside Toranaga’s charge that the council has itself been undermined, while both brothers present their conduct as protection of the political order.

The Anjiro confrontation

The relationship’s political stakes become personal when Zataki arrives at Anjiro with a formal party of one hundred samurai and bearers, traveling under the cipher of the new council and seeking safe conduct to see Toranaga. Hiro-matsu sends two hundred men to escort the party and urges Toranaga to leave Anjiro, warning that Jikkyu is mobilizing and that northern clans may now join Ishido because Zataki’s Shinano is against him. Zataki’s affiliation has thus changed how Toranaga must assess both the northern frontier and the danger of receiving his half-brother.

During their confrontation, Zataki gives Toranaga a stark choice: take his head and Zataki’s unnamed female companion will die, or let him go. He says that ten carrier pigeons will fly north to Takato within moments of his death, that he has trustworthy men beyond Toranaga’s reach, and that the woman will die if he is killed, assassinated, or dies in Izu for any reason. The threat makes the alliance with Ishido more than a declaration of allegiance: Zataki has prepared a system of messages and people beyond Toranaga’s immediate control to make his removal carry consequences.

Toranaga raises the murder of Lord Sugiyama and says he can eventually obtain proof, appealing to Zataki’s former friendship with Sugiyama and asking him to treat the truth as important. Zataki refuses to wait. He produces a second scroll containing Toranaga’s formal impeachment and an order to commit seppuku, predicts that Toranaga will disregard it, and announces that he will leave Izu at once. He then frames their next meeting as a battlefield encounter and vows to see Toranaga’s head on a spike before sunset that day. In this exchange, the Ishido-aligned Regent acts not as a negotiator seeking reconciliation but as the bearer and enforcer of the new council’s demand.

Political meaning and limits

Zataki’s bond with Ishido is defined by a sharp contrast: he professes universal distrust yet treats Ishido’s loyalty as unquestionable, and he makes a consequential commitment to Ishido’s side without presenting it as personal devotion. His stated concern for the Heir and his determination to secure the northern route give the alignment a strategic purpose, while the appointment and impeachment scrolls give it institutional form. The relationship helps turn a dispute among powerful lords into a confrontation over both succession and control of territory.

The confrontation also leaves the alliance’s limits visible. Zataki speaks for his own judgment, his own forces, and the new council’s orders; the evidence does not show a private bond between him and Ishido or establish that Ishido controls every part of Zataki’s conduct. What it does show is a durable convergence against Toranaga: Ishido appoints Zataki to the vacant regency, Zataki accepts the legitimacy of Ishido’s loyalty, and Zataki uses his regional position to oppose Toranaga. Their political partnership is therefore powerful precisely without being intimate—a coalition held together by shared opposition, formal authority, and the expectation of war.