Why did John Blackthorne hang the Pheasant in Shōgun?

John Blackthorne hung the dead pheasant outside his house in order to make the meat more ripe, which would ensure that it tasted better upon being cooked.

The culturally accurate Shōgun is based on the book of the same title written by James Clavell and revolves around John Blackthorne, an English sailor and navigator, who after a shipwreck lands in Japan when it is witnessing political distress amidst Lord Yoshii Toranaga’s rule. The show displays various themes like honor, loyalty, and other noble qualities of Japanese culture that counter the European and English cultures of that era.

While our protagonist Blackthorn struggles to navigate himself through all the power struggles that take place amongst the feudal lords of Japan, he somehow ends up becoming a key factor in strengthening the ambitious warlord Toranaga, who is one of the rulers of Japan.

The Reason Why John Blackthorne Hung The Pheasant

John Blackthorne was given the pheasant as a gift by Toranaga for training his warriors in British naval warfare. Blackthorne accepted that present as an honor and hung the bird outside his house for days.

As days passed by, the bird’s body began decaying, producing a rotten smell and attracting flies. John Blackthorne had hung the bird outside for this very reason. He wanted the pheasant’s body to rot so he could then cook it. As mentioned above, the riper the meat, the better it would taste when cooked.

Why did John Blackthorne’s gardener kill himself?

During the fifth episode of Shogun, John Blackthorne receives a gift from Lord Toronaga as a sign of respect for training his men during his absence. The gift was a pheasant (a bird), which for John is a delicacy, and he decides to cook it in his own way, as a treat to the lords present. As the episode continues we see John tying the pheasant upside down, as per the English man’s tradition from his hometown. One condition that John gave all the workers and servants in his home was not to touch the bird at any cost, but due to the language barrier and having no one to translate, John used his broken Japanese stating, “if touched-die!”

After the pheasant kept rotting for a couple of days outside of the house, it started giving out a bad smell which started disturbing everyone in his house as well as the villagers. Later in the episode, it was revealed that the gardener Uejiro had taken down the pheasant and disobeyed the command given by Blackthorne, resulting in him getting executed. After learning that Uejiro had done this intentionally knowing the consequences, John grieved and felt guilty about Uejiro’s death.