How It All Goes Down
- We're now shown excerpts from the diary of a Dutch merchant in Japan. Most of the entries are pretty normal, like documents of shipments and mentions of religious memorabilia being confiscated.
- At some point, the Dutch are placed under scrutiny because Ferreira and Rodrigues claim that the Church is trying "to send priests to Japan by Dutch vessels" (10.10). The Dutch ships are searched, but nothing is found.
- Finally, the entries end on January 4th with a fumie ceremony.
- That same day, Rodrigues is summoned to the Magistrate's office. This will be the first time he has seen Inoue since his apostasy.
- Inoue gives Rodrigues a new Japanese identity, taken from a dead man—Okada San'emon. Rodrigues will also be given the man's wife and estate.
- Rodrigues returns home. As if on cue, Kichijiro appears, asking the former priest for confession.
- Rodrigues then goes into an internal dialogue with God, confirming that he did the right thing by stomping on the fumie.
- Rodrigues absolves Kichijiro of his sins, his love for God perhaps realer than it has ever been before.