interpreter: loosely based on Nakahama Manjirō (1827–1898) Shōgun Toranaga Nobusada: Tokugawa Iemochi (1846–1866) The Emperor: Emperor Kōmei (1831–1867) Lady Yazu: Chikako, Princess Kazu (1846–1877) Lord Anjo: Andō Nobumasa (1820–1871) Lord Sanjiro of Satsuma: Shimazu Hisamitsu (1817–1887) Lord Ogama of Choshu: Mōri Takachika (1819–1871) Rezan Hiraga, alias Ukiya, Nakama and Otami: Itō Hirobumi (1841–1909) Akimoto: Inoue Kaoru (1836–1915) Katsumata: anachronistically based on Yoshida Shōin, though the real-life Yoshida had been executed in 1859, three years prior to the events depicted. Principal characters Malcolm Struan – grandson of Dirk Struan, eldest son of Culum Struan and heir and soon to be tai-pan of the Noble House Jamie McFay – manager of Struan's in Japan Dr. Ronald Hoag – Struan family physician Sir William Aylesbury, KCB – British Chief Minister to the Japans, head of legation Dr. George Babcott – British Deputy Minister and surgeon Phillip Tyrer – diplomat and apprentice Japanese interpreter Norbert Greyforth – head of Brock and Sons in Japan Lieutenant John Marlowe – captain of HMS Pearl, aide-de-camp to Admiral Ketterer Edward Gornt – gentleman Shanghai trader from Virginia, illegitimate son of Morgan Brock through Kristian Gornt. It is through Gornt that Brock's descendants continued to flourish in Asia. His great-grandson Quillan Gornt was a major character in Noble House. Henri Bonaparte Seratard – French Minister André Édouard Poncin, French spy, ostensibly a trader Count Alexi Zergeyev – Russian Minister Angelique Richaud – beloved of Malcolm Struan, ward of the French Minister Lord Toranaga Yoshi – the Guardian of the Heir Misamoto – Lord Yoshi's interpreter Hiraga – also known as Ukiya, Nakama and Otami, leader of the Choshu shishi Shōgun Nobusada Toranaga – heir to the title of Shōgun and to the Toranaga family; also mentioned in Noble House and Whirlwind Lady Yazu, wife of Nobusada, stepsister of Emperor Komei Lord Nori Anjo – daimyō of Kii and Mikawa, head of the Council of Elders Lord Sanjiro – daimyō of Satsuma Katsumata – advisor of Sanjiro and secret head of the shishi Lord Ogama – daimyō of Choshu Raiko – mama-san of Yokohama's House of the Three Carp Ori Ryoma – shishi, leader of a Satsuma cell, obsessed with Angelique Sumomo – shishi, Hiraga's fiancée Secondary characters Culum Struan – son of Dirk Struan, second tai-pan, father of Malcolm Tess (Hag) Struan – de facto tai-pan of the Noble House Gordon Chen – Compradore of the Noble House,