Shogun (Shōgun)

In the year of Our Lord 1598,

five trader warships left the Dutch city of Rotterdam

as the first expeditionary force ever sent

to ravage and plunder Spanish and Portuguese possessions

in the recently discovered New World.

Protestant Holland had been at war with Catholic Spain

for more than 40 years,

with England her only ally in the struggle.

The Spanish had discovered the vast riches of the Americas

and, legend had it, the even greater riches of mysterious Cathay.

Both Holland and England were determined to share in this wealth.

Only one Dutch ship survived the violent storms

and icy seas of Cape Horn,

to breach the enemy's secret of the Straits of Magellan

and finally sail into American waters:

the Erasmus.

Under the command of Pilot-Major John Blackthorne,

with only 28 men of his Dutch crew still alive,

the Erasmus ventured into the Pacific.

There, pursued and outnumbered by Spanish fleets, her retreat cutoff,

this ship turned westward and fled alone... into the unknown.

Now, almost two years outward bound from home,

133 days from her last landfall...

Go below, pilot. I take this watch.

- Where's the mate? - Dead.

There's the stink of death, pilot.

- What's the course? - Wherever the wind takes us!

And where's the landfall you promised?

Where's the Japans?

- Ahead! - Ahead...

Always ahead!

Blessed Jesus...

Damn the day I left Holland!

- Get aloft, Maetsukker. - No, I'm near death, pilot.

I'm sick. The scurvy's taken me.

Get aloft and stay there till you're dead or we make landfall!

How are you feeling, Johann?

Good enough, pilot. Perhaps I'll live.

Most men your age are already dead, so you're ahead of us.

It's the saintly life I've led. That and the brandy...

The boatswain's dead, pilot.

Get the body aloft. You and Roper and Croocq.

Johann, take the dawn watch.

- Ginsel, you're bow lookout. - Right.

Captain-general?

Where...? Where are we?

Still on course.

You and your damned course.

There is no Japans.

But you... You will kill us all.

We'll get there. We'll make landfall.

It's a lie. All lies from the beginning.

God rot you, pilot.

Reef!

Reef ahead!

All hands on deck!

We're lost! Lord Jesus help us!

Get the crew on deck!

Go on!

Get out on deck! Out!

Get aloft! The forecastle's ho!

Aloft!

Reef!

Reef ahead!

Turn, you whore from hell!

Turn, damn you!

Turn!

Is this the Japans?

The Japans?

It is the Japans. By God, it has to be.

Sorry.

Where are my boots?

Boots.

Feet. Boots.

Thank you.

My name John Blackthorne.

What's your name?

Blackthorne.

What's your name?

Can you take me in your boat to my ship?

You wait here for me.

Wait here for me.

But this is my ship.

There are papers in my cabin.

I need them.

I, me, want to go in there.

- Who are you? - Who are you?

I am Father Sebastio.

And you are a heretic Dutchman pirate.

How did you get here?

We were blown ashore.

- What is this place? The Japans? - Yes.

The authorities know about you.

They crucify criminals and pirates here.

You're going to die.

- Where's my crew? - They will die with you.

May God burn you in hellfire for all eternity.

Kasigi Omi-san wants to know where do you come from?

What's your nationality?

- Who is he? - The samurai in charge of this village.

You'd better answer quickly.

Tell him I'm English. I'm pilot-major of the Erasmus out of Rotterdam.

Omi-san says you may walk around the village until his master comes back.

Lord Kasigi Yabu will decide your fate.

What about my crew?

Where are they?

"Omi-san says, “Do you understand?"

What's "yes" in Japanese?

By the Lord Jesus, pilot, you're alive.

Where's the ship? Is she safe?

Anchored in the bay. Where are the others?

Dead, pilot. The savages took them away.

Captain-general?

He can't hear you. All he does is lie there and moan.

He's in God's hands. We all are.

- Is it the Japans, pilot? Is it? - Aye, it is.

But there's a priest here. A Jesuit.

Where there be one priest, there's bound to be others.

Priests and papists... They'll burn us at the stake.

The Day of Judgment approaches. We never should've sailed here.

Are there riches, pilot? Is there gold?

- There must be. Gold and riches... - Did you see it?

- Have you seen the gold? - No.

Maybe Roper's right. Maybe it's only greed that brought us here.

- It's God's punishment... - Stop it.

We're the first ones to reach Japans, and we'll be rich if we keep our wits.

How? By trading with the devil?

It's always the devil with you, isn't it, Jan Roper?

The devil lives on your lips.

Look to your soul, Johann Vinck.

Will they let us back on the ship? Will they let us go now?

- The ship is under guard. - Guards?

Are the heathens aboard? What are we to do?

We must get away from here. This is the land of Satan.

Hold your tongue. We'll do whatever we can.

Their chief is coming soon. Then we'll settle everything.

Do you think he'll let us go?

Why shouldn't he? We've done them no harm.

Look at the way they all smile and bow.

They're not bloodthirsty heathens, are they, pilot?

Are they?

- It's the same swill as before. - Raw fish.

How do they expect us to cook it with no fire?

- He wants you, pilot. - Maybe the chief is here.

- Tell him we come in peace. - I'll do what I can.

- He wants all of us. - I'm not going with that devil.

Roper, you and Pieterzoon, bring the captain-general.

- He's dying. Let the poor man lie. - Do as I say.

I'll bring him, pilot.

- Bow to him. - He's a heathen savage.

The daimyo, Kasigi Yabu, Lord of lzu, wants to know how you got here.

- By Magellan's Pass. - Liar.

Magellan's Pass is secret. You came by Africa and India.

The pass was secret.

A Portuguese sold us a rutter, a pilot's chart book from his ship.

Liar.

Soon all our ships will know the way through to the Pacific.

Heretic lies.

But you'll tell the truth soon enough. They use torture here.

Lord Kasigi Yabu asks what acts of piracy you have committed.

None. We are not pirates, we come in peace.

- Another lie. - Give him my answer, damn you.

- God curse you forever. - Tell him we're not pirates, Jesuit pig.

Lord Kasigi Yabu says your pirate ship is confiscated.

You papist liar. You lied to him.

You filthy lying Jesuit.

- God. Sweet Jesus' death. - We should all pray.

- Vinck just did. - I'm sick.

- I've got to lie down. - Don't touch the captain-general.

- He's dying anyway. - I said you don't touch him!

Shut up! All of you, shut up!

- Get off my foot. - Are they going to kill us, pilot?

Lord Kasigi Yabu has graciously spared all your lives.

All except one.

One of you is to die. You are to choose who it will be.

But you, pilot, you are not to be the one chosen.

Lord Jesus help us.

- What are we to do now, pilot? - I don't know.

How? How are we to choose someone?

We don't. We fight them.

With what?

Give them the captain-general, he's useless anyway.

- You make a man sick... - They'll take none of us without a fight.

If we fight, they'll kill us all. You heard what he said.

All our lives are spared except one. How do we choose?

We don't, damn it.

Pilot,

this doesn't concern you anymore.

It's between us now. It's our decision.

Aye.

We'll draw lots. Straws. One shorter than the rest. Agreed?

What about the captain-general? He wasn't excluded.

- Then let the last straw be for him. - Who'll be the first to pick?

How do we know that the man who picks the short straw will go?

How do we know that?

We'll all swear to God.

A holy vow. I swear it.

- I swear. - I swear it.

I swear to God.

God be praised.