Shōgun Episode 6 “Ladies of the Willow World” reveals a whole new angle to Mariko’s (Anna Sawai) character. The first few minutes of the FX show this week take us 22 years in the past, to 1578 Azuchi Castle. A young Mariko (Mana Nakamura) exits a palanquin and is introduced to another little girl called Ruri (Mila Miyagawa). Kuroda (Eijiro Ozaki) explains to his daughter, Ruri, that Mariko’s father, Akechi Jinsai (Yutaka Takeuchi), is his new vassal and she is to make the new girl feel welcome.
**Spoilers for Shōgun Episode 6 “Ladies of the Willow World,” now streaming on Hulu**
After a montage of the little ones chasing each other through bamboo fields and puzzling over why their fathers despise each other, we learn via time jump that Kuroda’s daughter Ruri will grow up to be none other than Ochiba no Kata (Fumi Nikaido). Yeah, if you didn’t catch that, a clean-faced Ochiba was watching in pride as Mariko bested her sparring partner in the yard. We even see the teenaged version of Ochiba comforting her best friend on the eve of her arranged marriage to Buntaro (Shinnosuke Abe). Both teenagers are wholly unaware of what is it come: Mariko’s father will assassinate Ochiba’s father, casting a stain on Mariko’s family line forever and leaving Ochiba with no option than to become the consort of the common-born new Taiko.
On last week’s Shōgun, a drunk and angry Buntaro forced Mariko to explain her shameful backstory to Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), so we already knew that her father, Akechi Jinsai, murdered the corrupt despot Kuroda. In turn, he was forced to kill his wife, children, grandchildren, and then himself. Mariko was only spared because she was already married to Buntaro, making her part of the Toda house.
In this week’s episode, we quickly see the depth of Kuroda’s cruelty when young Mariko witnesses the warlord massacring innocent men. She watches as Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) holds her father back from striking the killing blow right then and there. Only years later, after Mariko’s marriage, does he make his move. A move, that Ochiba no Kata tells Ishido (Takehiro Hira) at the end of Shōgun Episode 6 “Ladies of the Willow World was Toranaga’s plan all the along.
By seeing Mariko’s backstory, we finally fully understand what she lost. It wasn’t just her social standing or her beloved father; she lost her best friend. Mariko, ever loyal to Toranaga, is now placed firmly at odds with Ochiba, who blames Toranaga for her father’s death.
Mariko and Ochiba’s friendship is an invention of the FX show. (At least, I don’t remember it happening at all in James Clavell’s book, but then I could have missed a sentence or two that implied this. It is, after all, over 1100 pages in paperback.) Still, it’s one that deepens the rivalry between the two powerful women and raises the emotional stakes of the story.
(It also, coincidentally, raises a comparison between Shōgun and the Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon. That series also invents a friendship between its two most powerful female characters that we don’t get a hint of on the page. The realization that Mariko’s father killed her best friend’s father is somehow equally devastating as Otto Hightower forcing his tween daughter to marry her princess bestie’s widower father…by I dither, as a GoT and HotD nerd.)
Shōgun Episode 6 “Ladies of the Willow World” peels back the layers of two of its most important female characters. By showing us a glimpse of the secret hearts that might still linger behind their proverbial eight-fold fences, FX’s Shōgun is only turning the conflict brewing between Team Toranaga and Team Osaka up a thrilling notch.
