Shōgun Episode 6 “Ladies of the Willow World” takes one of the most exquisitely erotic moments of the book — when Mariko (Anna Sawai) accompanies Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) to visit courtesan Kiku (Yuka Kouri) — and finds a way to make it all the more tense and devastating thanks to a clever camera trick. The romantic tension of the scene is epitomized by longing and further cements how darn good the titular “Ladies of the Willow World” are at reading their clients’s secret hearts…
**Spoilers for Shōgun Episode 6 “Ladies of the Willow World,” now streaming on Hulu**
Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) finds himself doubly in Blackthorne’s debt after the events of last week’s Shōgun. To thank the Anjin for saving him and offering his swords as a gift, Toranaga not only raises the English navigator to the rank of admiral but purchases a night with Izu’s most famed sex worker, Kiku, at Gin’s (Yuko Miyamota) tea house. The tea houses, Mariko explains, are upscale brothels in feudal Japan and Gin’s tea house is especially renowned for the elegant artistry of her ladies. Mariko also explains to Blackthorne that it’s a great honor for him to have a night with Kiku. However, Blackthorne, who is madly in love with Mariko, seems to be less than impressed with this arrangement.
“It’s quite a sad scene. In a way, I don’t think Blackthorne ever wanted to go there in the first place,” Shōgun star Cosmo Jarvis told Decider during an interview at Winter 2024 TCA. “But obviously within this culture, the way it’s presented, there are so many obligations, and so there was no way of saying no.”
Indeed, Mariko keeps pushing Blackthorne to accept the privilege as the honor for what it is. Making the situation all the more complicated is the implication that Gin has figured out for herself that Mariko and Blackthorne are forbidden lovers. It’s repeatedly implied that the tea house will offer Mariko and Blackthorne a secret place to embark on a rendezvous. Kiku even goes so far as to invite Mariko to join her and Blackthorne in private. However dazzling the “Willow World” — the dreamy world of sex work designed not to entertain clients in shame, but to offer them sanctuary — is, Mariko never loses sight of her duties. Even if she comes close.
In a gorgeous sequence, Kiku asks Mariko if she will translate for her. The courtesan wants to explain what the Willow World is to Blackthorne. To do this, Kiku purposely sits at an angle behind Mariko, so that Blackthorne sees only his lover. The camera achieves this with a carefully choreographed shift that blocks Kiku entirely. Over the course of Kiku’s explanation, Mariko switches pronouns from “she” to “I,” leaning into the clever seduction. Through Kiku’s words, she is letting Mariko express out loud the desire she feels for Blackthorne. Although Mariko can’t physically be with him, they can both get caught up in the fantasy that Kiku can be a proxy later that night for Mariko. (Indeed, Mariko insists just this in the book.)
Much like in the way Kiku elegantly pours Blackthorne’s sake, it’s a moment of subtle technical prowess that took a lot of work on set to bring Shōgun co-creators Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks’s vision to life.
“Well, with regard to the logistics of the technical side, it was a lovely working environment because there were so many professionals with the Canadian crew and the Japanese crew who were so technically proficient, it was insane to witness,” Jarvis said.
“I kind of just trusted the director, Hiromi [Kamata], and Rachel and Justin’s vision of that scene because they had come to me multiple times explaining how they wanted to shoot it and I didn’t have to do any turning around,” Shōgun star Anna Sawai told Decider during Winter 2024 TCA, “It was just doing what was written in the script.”
“So I just focused on the more emotional side, what she’s going through,” Sawai continued. “And there’s not a lot showing. I’m not trying to show that [passion], but I think it comes through with Kiku’s words and the way that they did shoot it. Very intimate.”
Jarvis said, “And it’s a strange situation to be in where, you know, almost everything is said, everything’s on the table between the two of them and yet it’s sort of just not said so. And I guess that’s why it’s an interesting scene.”
While what we see in FX’s Shōgun isn’t quite the way the scene transpires in James Clavell’s original novel, it’s true to the spirit of Blackthorne’s visit to the tea house. Mariko accompanies him, Kiku attempts to offer the lovers cover, but ultimately fills in as the married Mariko’s proxy for Blackthorne’s night of purchased passion in the Willow World.
