The Shogun Family Tree And Rivalries, Explained

This post contains spoilers for season 1 of FX’s “Shōgun.”

As much as I enjoyed the first season of the FX miniseries-turned-regular series “Shōgun,” it was hard to ignore how much the show was a massively streamlined version of the book. That’s to be expected, of course; James Clavell’s 1975 novel is a solid 1400 pages depending on which edition you’re reading, so you can’t really blame a 10-episode show for cutting the story down to its bare essentials. (If you’re interested, here are the seven biggest changes the “Shōgun” premiere made from the source material.)

Still, the result is that a lot of the characters’ histories are simplified in the show, or they’re not addressed much altogether. There’s enough information for viewers who haven’t read the book to get the gist of what’s important, but most of the rich detail of the book is necessarily omitted. If you’re a fan of the show who’s looking for a fuller understanding of these characters’ often-overlapping family trees and alliances, or if you’ve read the book and simply want a refresher, here’s our handy guide to the family trees and major rivalries in “Shōgun.”

The biggest beef in “Shōgun” is between Ishido Kazunari (Takehiro Hira) and Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), two members of Japan’s Counsel of Regents who sure seem to hate each other. The miniseries largely limits us to the perspectives of Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), Mariko (Anna Sawai), and Toranaga, so we don’t get a ton of information about Ishido’s backstory. Most of what we know is that Ishido wants Toranaga’s head, but because of the nature of feudal Japanese society, he must still be polite to him in public settings. Even if everyone in the room knows they’re playing a deadly game, they must still pretend as if everything’s fine. 

The rivalry between Ishido and Toranaga was inevitable given the power vacuum in Japan that the late emperor left behind when he died. Before the events of the series begin, the emperor (or the Taikō) left behind a five-year-old son not yet fit to rule, so Japan (in part at Toranaga’s suggestion) was ruled instead by a five-member Council of Regents. Officially, all the regents held an equal amount of power, but by the time the book starts, it’s clear that Ishido and Toranaga are the two big dogs, the lords who have the clearest shot at consolidating power and becoming Shōgun, AKA the true ruler of Japan. 

Although Toranaga repeatedly insists he has no interest in becoming Shōgun, plenty of his recent moves — particularly, his decision to unofficially keep Lady Ochiba (Fumi Nikaido) hostage in Edo — sure seemed to indicate his true ambitions. Making Toranaga more threatening to Ishido is that Toranaga is a descendent of the Minowara family, a respected line that traces itself back to the beginning of the Japanese empire. Meanwhile, Ishido grew up in a peasant family. Even though he has risen to great heights over his lifetime, the other lords still hold his peasant upbringing against him. (In that sense, he’s sort of like Littlefinger from “Game of Thrones.”) Toranaga’s rise to power has been easier than Ishido’s, and his strong family name gives him more ingrained support. 

Mariko is ride-or-die for Toranaga, which might be a little confusing to show-only viewers considering they’re not related by blood. On the surface, Mariko is loyal to Toranaga because she’s married to Buntaro, the son of Toranaga’s chief adviser, Toda Hiromatsu. But that still doesn’t quite explain everything, because Buntaro’s a terrible husband. You’d sure think, given the way Buntaro treats Mariko and the way Toranaga puts up with it, that Mariko wouldn’t be loyal enough to enthusiastically go along with Toranaga’s deadly schemes. Yes, samurai customs at the time would lead Mariko to be loyal, but the loyalty she displays throughout the Crimson Sky plan is on another level.

The reason boils down to what happened to Mariko’s father, Akechi Jinsai. Jinsai revolted against the then-ruler of Japan, who he believed to be corrupt. The revolt worked out about as badly as you’d expect: Jinsai was not only captured and ordered to commit seppuku, but he also had to kill his entire family and end his bloodline. 

The only survivor in his family was Mariko, who had just been married to Buntaro (who is under Lord Toranaga’s command) and was thus spared from the order. (This was all part of the plan from her father, who knew there was a chance his rebellion would go wrong.) Although Mariko wanted to commit seppuku herself as a result of the tragedy, Toranaga told her that he had plans for her down the line. Toranaga’s plan for Mariko, which we see play out in the first season’s ninth episode, “Crimson Sky,” allow Mariko to at least partially redeem her family name. After all, her family has a reputation for treachery, but here she is sacrificing herself out of fierce loyalty to a respected lord. 

The Crimson Sky plan also lets her follow through on the death wish she’s had for years now, and perhaps most importantly, it allows her to finish her father’s dream of uniting Japan around a strong leader who can usher in an age of peace and unity. This is what Toranaga promises to do with his rise to power, and if the real-life counterpart he’s based on is any indication, he’ll mostly keep his word.

Although Lady Ochiba eventually sides with Toranaga in the finale, she doesn’t seem to like him very much for the first nine episodes. This is mostly because Ochiba considers Toranaga to be partially responsible for her father’s death. Ochiba’s father, Lord Kuroda, who was murdered by Mariko’s father. This complicated Ochiba’s friendship with Mariko, of course, but it also made her forever suspicious that Toranaga had a role in the revolt. 

After Kuroda’s death, Ochiba became the new Taikō’s concubine, as well as the only woman to officially bear him a son. (It turns out that the Taikō was infertile and the real father was a nameless peasant, but Ochiba wisely kept that part quiet.) Although the late Taikō seemed close to Toranaga, Ochiba still never trusted him after the death of her father. After the Taikō died and the Council of Regents was formed, Ochiba and Toranaga’s relationship remained cold.

But at the end of the day, Ochiba respects competence. She sides with Toranaga despite her many misgivings in part because Ishido fails to competently handle Toranaga’s schemes. When Ishido caves on Mariko’s seppuku threat and kills her anyway shortly after (even if it was unintentional), he inadvertently allows Toranaga to outmaneuver him and harm his reputation at the same time. The fact that Mariko was Ochiba’s good childhood friend (more on that below) didn’t help Ishido’s case, either. 

Ishido also showed his hand too much as a callous, power-hungry manipulator. Meanwhile, Toranaga maintained the image of someone who simply wants to protect Ochiba’s son (Yaechiyo, the Taekō’s heir) and bring peace to Japan. Making things worse for Ishido is his peasant upbringing. Lady Ochiba was already mildly offended by him asking for her hand in marriage, even if it seemed like the best strategy at the time. But couple Ishido’s humble origins with the fact that he’s gone made with power in the eyes of the other lords, and there was little reason left for Ochiba to ally with him.

Although the TV show largely streamlines the events from the book, Lady Ochiba is one of the rare characters who feels even more fleshed out in the TV series. The show properly introduces Ochiba much earlier than the book does, and gives her a pretty interesting backstory with Mariko.

Ochiba and Mariko are not related in any way, but as kids, their fathers were strong allies. Mariko’s father, Jinsai, was a vassal of Ochiba’s father, Kuroda, which meant that the two girls had plenty of time to hang out and become close. This friendship was strained when Mariko’s father betrayed Ochiba’s father, but their adult interactions throughout the show make it clear they still care deeply for each other. Ochiba seems to know that Mariko had nothing to do with the drama between their fathers, so she has no wish to see Mariko go through with her threat of seppuku in the season’s penultimate episode.

Viewers who haven’t read the book might be surprised to learn that Ochiba and Mariko were not childhood friends in the source material. James Clavell went with the more realistic (but arguably less interesting) approach of having them be mere acquaintances, with Ochiba not even being the daughter of Lord Kuroda in the first place. In the books, Mariko’s death had far less of a personal effect on Ochiba’s final decision to back Toranaga, although her political motivations for switching allegiances still applied. (The show’s change to their dynamic is sort of like how “House of the Dragon” decided to make Alicent and Rhaenyra childhood friends, in that it makes the whole drama between them more intense.)

Although Toranaga has a much richer family line than Ishido, this also comes with its own share of headaches. Case in point: Toranaga’s angry half-brother Saeki (Eita Okuno) is revealed to be on Ishido’s side. He has been appointed to the Council of Regents in Toranaga’s place, and as a result has a clear personal incentive to see Toranaga defeated. During Saeki’s brief time on the show, he also antagonizes Toranaga’s brash son, Yoshii Nagakado (Yuki Kura). This spurs Nagakado to attempt an assassination attempt on Saeki, which fails when Nagakado trips and stabs himself. 

This storyline features some of the show’s largest changes from the source material. In the book, Saeki is named Zataki, and Nagakado never dies at all. Book Toranaga also wins Saeki/Zataki over to his side by promising him Lady Ochiba’s hand in marriage. It’s a false promise, as Ochiba will not only reject Zataki but will ask him to commit seppuku for even daring to propose the idea. Meanwhile, Nagakado never dies at all in the book; he just sort of quietly leaves the narrative. 

In an interview at the time, showrunner Justin Marks explained how the changes in Nagakado and Saeki’s storylines were meant to simplify a very complicated segment of the book, and give book Nagakado’s anti-climactic non-conclusion a more dramatic final note. “We had to make some conflations,” he said. “There are a number of characters in the book who kind of just exited stage left without really a goodbye, so to speak.”

Possibly the most shortchanged character in the TV show is Omi (Hiroto Kanai), whose beef with Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano) tends to get overshadowed by everything else going on. In the book, there are extended passages inside Omi’s head where you can see how much he hates Yabushige and is totally planning to betray him. A lot of his scheming against Yabushige is still present in the show, but it’s understated. It’s the sort of thing that’s easy to overlook, given the sheer amount of storylines going on around them. 

Omi is Yabushige’s nephew, and also his social/political inferior. Yabushige is the Lord of the Izu Province (an area that today is within the Tokyo metro area), and Omi is only in charge of Ajiro Village, within the Izu Province. This means that whenever Yabushige enters Ajiro, Omi is no longer the highest authority there. (The fact that the book version of Yabushige is also rude to Omi’s parents doesn’t help things, either.)

That Omi is scheming against Yabushige isn’t that surprising, because nearly every samurai in this book/show is constantly scheming against the others. What’s interesting about Omi, however, is that he’s a lot closer to Toranaga’s level of subtle backstabbery than Yabushige’s. Omi is able to see multiple steps ahead in a way that Yabushige (the poor snake that he is) can never quite seem to pull off. The result is that Yabushige is constantly switching allegiances and coming up with new schemes, whereas Omi can quietly stay true to his original goal (taking down Yabushige) and sees it through without harming his allegiance with Toranaga. Toranaga may be the biggest winner in the “Shōgun” finale, but Omi’s a clear runner-up.