When Blackthorn read Mariko's letter after she died it begins "If you are reading this letter I am dead at Osaka". How did she know that she would die and that Blackthorn would survive? He was supposed to be killed when he went to Osaka with Mariko, Yabu, and the samauri. How would Mariko have known she wouldn't make it out alive. And why bother with the production to kill herself, if she knew she would die anyway? Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
shareShe intended to die in the last battle.
It's not clear in the mini but in the book you learn that she has wanted to die for a very long time, since her father ruined the family honor. But her husband and Toranga had forced her to stay alive so she could be of use.
By the end of the story, she has fulfilled her obligations to Toranaga and can finally die as she should have done with the rest of her family.
And by leaving her fortune to Blackthorn, she allows him the hope of building a new ship, since she is aware that his ship will be destroyed as the price (of the church) of letting him live.
She was very selfish then. Why was she so obsessed with suicide? By our standards, she would be psycho.
She said she loved Blackthorne, so wouldn't she want to be with him? Doesn't she care about how much it would hurt him if she died? I don't understand why her death was necessary.
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You need to read the book, really, to get an insight into the way of thinking of the samurai class. Personal happiness is not important, honour and loyalty are what matters.
It's always interesting to compare the Western emphasis on the individual with the Eastern emphasis on the group; this still obtains even today.
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I read recently that there was a Japanese man on the Titanic doing some kind of official business in England. During the evacuation they were calling out for more people to board the lifeboats, but nobody else offered to get on so he did. Later he was demonized by the Japanese, asked to commit suicide, and even fired from his job, because he did not go down with the ship and die honourably.
shareWWu777:
She was very selfish then. Why was she so obsessed with suicide? By our standards, she would be psycho.
She said she loved Blackthorne, so wouldn't she want to be with him? Doesn't she care about how much it would hurt him if she died? I don't understand why her death was necessary.