Why Shogun's Toranaga Smiles While Killing Yabushige In Season 1 Finale Explained By Editors

Summary Yabushige's death in Shogun season 1 finale showed the deadly consequences in feudal Japan and marked an important chapter in the show's run.

Toranaga's smile while killing Yabushige had a deeper meaning, harking back to a key moment in episode 1, as explained by Emmy-nominated editor Maria Gonzalez.

With Shogun season 2 currently in development, the impact of Yabushige's death is sure to be a key element in certain characters' stories.

In a show littered with major deaths, Shogun season 1's Yabushige remains one of the more compelling, and editor Maria Gonzales is breaking down one key detail in the scene. Played by Tadanobu Asano, Yabushige served as a wildcard figure throughout the FX historical drama, frequently changing alliances between Hiroyuki Sanada's Toranaga and Takehiro Hira's Ishido, one of the five Regents who is out to bring Toranaga's rule to an end. The Shogun season 1 finale saw Yabushige's scheming finally come to the surface, with Toranaga ordering him to commit seppuku and being his second.

During a recent interview with Screen Rant for her Emmy-nominated work on the show, Maria Gonzales was asked about Yabushige's death in the Shogun season 1 finale. In looking at why Toranaga smiles while killing his former friend, the editor explains that it's one of the many callbacks layered throughout the sequence, and actually has a double meaning. See what Gonzales explained below:

Toranaga does a good share of smiles himself. [Laughs] I don't recall actually ever having the discussion of leaving it out. It really sort of ties in for another callback that happens in that scene, which is, in episode 1, Yabushige and Omi are talking in the village, they're walking down this path and Omi says to Yabushige something along the lines of like, "Don't you want to warn Toranaga, our Lord, about this?" And Yabushige says, "Why tell a dead man his future?" So it's something that ostensibly happened privately between these two characters. And then, when we go to episode 10, in Yabushige's final moments, Toranaga basically brings that line up back to Yabushige, and Yabushige says, "I would just really love to see or know what's happening in the future." And Toranaga basically says, "Why tell a dead man his future?" Which I think kind of goes along the lines of, "Dude, I played you all along. I knew everything that was happening, even in the alleys of some tiny village of Ajiro." [Laughs] I think the smile is kind of appropriate, because he is Shogun.

Why Yabushige's Death Was So Impactful For Shogun Season 1

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Though it established its lethal stakes right from the start, the final few episodes of Shogun season 1 properly highlighted how deadly the world of feudal Japan was for everyone from local fishermen to the lords of a region. Between Mariko's explosive death in episode 9 to Nagakado's incidental death in episode 7 and Yabushige's aforementioned killing in the finale, showrunner Justin Marks kept everyone's fates unpredictable, save for those familiar with James Clavell's novel the show adapted.

Yabushige's Shogun death, though, remains one of the most impactful for a few major reasons. The first is the fact that he and Toranaga were generally depicted as being longtime friends prior to the events of season 1, which made his frequent betrayal of the Kanto lord all the more heartbreaking for viewers to watch, including his refusal to warn Toranaga at the start of the show, resulting in the full-circle line of "Why tell a dead man his future?". Furthermore, because his actions were also the reason for Mariko's death left many audiences feeling Yabushige's death was all the more deserved.

Related Who Can Return In Shogun Season 2? 8 Characters We Think Will Be Back Fx's Shogun is officially returning for two more seasons, opening the door for the return of eight of the show's most intriguing characters.

The biggest reason Yabushige's Shogun season 1 death left such an impact, though, was his relationship with Blackthorne, aka Anjin. Much like Mariko, Yabushige served as a sort of guide for Blackthorne about Japanese culture, helping him learn the ways of the samurai and the local political system. Though not fully explored in the season 1 finale, given Shogun season 2 is currently in development, it will be interesting to see if this impact of Yabushige's death on Blackthorne will be tackled in greater depth in the show's next chapter.