Shōgun Episode 3 “Tomorrow is Tomorrow” ends with John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) accepting a huge new role from Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), one that has the capacity to change everything for the navigator adrift in a strange and foreign land.
**Spoilers for Shōgun Episode 3 “Tomorrow is Tomorrow,” now streaming on Hulu**
After the English navigator helps sneak Toranaga and the bulk of his inner circle out of Osaka, the warlord “rewards” the pilot by officially making him a vassal. As he tells his stunned followers, Blackthorne is no longer a barbarian. He is “Hatamoto.” It’s a pronouncement that draws a gasp of awe from the scheming daimyo Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano). Mariko (Anna Sawai) explains to Blackthorne that it is “a very great honor.”
Indeed, it is a big freaking deal that Toranaga makes Blackthorne a Hatamoto. Hatamotos were samurai in the upper echelons of a shogunate. The word loosely translates to “bannerman.” They were allowed not only the privilege to call upon their lord, but were considered the inner circle, or first line of defense.
Blackthorne’s swift ascension amongst the ranks in Toranaga’s camp is pretty shocking even if the Westerner did put his life at risk to cover up Toranaga’s plot to escape Osaka.
When Decider asked Shōgun star Hiroyuki Sanada why Toranaga made Blackthorne a Hatamoto so quickly at Winter 2024 TCA, Sanada said, “I think Toranaga has an instinct and a good eye to see people. How can I use this guy? Or do I have to fight against him? He knows the human.”
Sanada added that Toranaga was in the “bottom of a dangerous situation” at this point in Shōgun. “So even a small thing, if he feels any chance to use [it] to win [he’ll take it].”
It’s important to note that before Toranaga makes Blackthorne a Hatamoto, he tears into his son Naga (Yuki Kura) for his shortsighted view on how to use people.
“When will you understand, you are playing a game of friends and enemies…” Toranaga tells Naga, “…when you have only yourself in this life.”
Of course, Toranaga buddies up even more with Blackthorne after making him Hatamoto, asking him to join him for a swim that soon turns into the English seaman teaching the Japanese lord how to dive into the water. Blackthorne soon exhausts of diving non-stop for Toranaga. Mariko suggests in Japanese giving Anjin-san a break. Maybe he can continue tomorrow. Toranaga replies, “Tomorrow is tomorrow. Today I will learn how to dive.”
It’s a line that not only explains the episode’s title, but also a profound strain of philosophy threaded throughout Shōgun. The future is uncertain. After all, would the John Blackthorne we initially meet in the show’s cold open believe he’d be racing Toranaga to the shores of Japan in a crazy short amount of time? Would he believe that he could be Hatamoto?
Tomorrow is tomorrow. As long as it’s today, however, you can count on Toranaga to lead with deliberate and strategic moves to survive another day.