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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Domingo say about the prisoners in the place where he and Blackthorne are?
(a) they will soon be forgotten.
(b) they will be used as medical experiments.
(c) they are all condemned to die.
(d) they will all be released.

2. What has Yabu decided to do against direct orders.
(a) sink the Erasmus.
(b) go directly to the shōgun.
(c) remain in Yedo.
(d) not to kill any of the Englishmen.

3. Why is Blackthorne suddenly being treated well?
(a) on orders from Toranaga.
(b) because he has the map.
(c) because he tells the truth.
(d) on orders from Ishido.

4. What is the position of Toda Hiro-matsu?
(a) he is Toranga's adviser.
(b) he is Toranga's rival.
(c) he is the shōgun's general.
(d) he is the provencial governor.

5. What happens to Rodrigues during the storm?
(a) he misses his chance to kill Blackthorne.
(b) he has a religious experience.
(c) he becomes too ill to pilot the galley.
(d) his safety line snaps and he is washed overboard.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does the galley get safely into the harbor?

2. How does Blackthorne divert attention from Toranaga in the palanquin?

3. What does the samurai Omi do when one man fails to bow upon his arrival?

4. What question comes to mind when Blackthorne almost falls off the galley while Rodrigues is piloting?

5. How is Rodrigues found the morning after the storm?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Blackthorne not take Rodrigues up on the offer to copy his rutters?

2. When the samurai who fails to carry through on his actions is ordered to be executed, who is given the job?

3. After escaping the harbor, when Blackthorne awakes from his exhausted sleep, what does he find Toranaga doing?

4. How is tension presented in Toranaga's character after meeting Ishido?

5. What is the first indication of the brutality of the samurai in the novel?

6. How is the Portuguese pilot, Rodrigues, introduced into the story?

7. What is the diversion that allows Toranaga, dressed as a woman, to change places with Kiri in the palanquin?

8. Why is the ship Toranaga is on unable to leave the harbor?

9. What sets up the conflict between Blackthorne and Omi that lasts for the remainder of the novel?

10. During the galley trip to Osaka, what happens with the weather?

(see the answer keys)

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