The reason John keeps seeing himself as an old man is because that's a possible future he sees for himself, one where he makes it back to England. That vision finally goes away when he tries to commit seppuku, because that act marks his permanent change to truly being a son of Japan. And the reason Toranaga asks Yabushige, "Why tell a dead man the future?" is because that's exactly what Yabushige asked when he thought Toranaga was about to die. This episode was about coming full circle and if you go back and watch the earlier episodes, you'll see how that works. Such as John looking at the empty spot where Mariko used to sit, that's a callback to when Kiku was telling her apprentice to notice the absence of the teacup, basically saying that a thing is most felt when it's no longer there. That was foreshadowing of Mariko's fate and the loss John would feel once she was gone. Just as when Fuji told John to let his hands be the last to hold Mariko's cross, that was a callback to when Mariko had told everyone to let Fuji's hands be the last to hold her son. Another callback was when Omi politely asked for John's gun instead of trying to take it, and John relinquishing it politely in turn. Finally, the reason it ends the way it does is because you already know what happens next, seeing the actual battle would just be gratuitous and doesn't accomplish much other than showing cool sword fights, but the show was never about that. Toranaga repeatedly says it's not about just rushing into the fray like someone else's falcon, it's about waiting until the right time to strike. It's always been about the events leading to the Battle of Sekigahara and showing you the players involved, as well as what was going on in the mind of the man who won it. That honestly took an incredible amount of restraint in today's Hollywood, where it would be so easy just to have 15-20 minutes of a battle that could've been better spent with the character arcs we see here. Personally, I wouldn't trade those character moments for anything.

Toranaga secret heart is that he’s very menacing. Which he hid from everyone. Thus when yobu died and said he all along wanted to be shogun he smiled at him before cutting off his head. Toranaga was pretending to be good but in actuality he craved power in the very beginning.

Not John older but John dreaming of a future that never happened. After every dream scene the next shot is of John waking up

The poem has a bit of a deeper meaning. Naturally the first line Mariko gave Ochiba, but Ochiba also means "leafless branch" (or similar). Ochiba then uses the words Mariko said to her before she left "Flowers are only flowers because they fall" She then adds in her bit "Thankfully, the wind". Toranaga later is asked how it feels to bend the wind to his will. He says he does not, he only studies it. Lots of little meanings scattered throughout.

Toranaga's secret heart is extremely ambitious and ruthless.. It now makes sense why the council were all concerned with Toranaga in Episode 1 as he allied power closer to himself + his fief increased by double the size. They were actually right all along.

"Why tell a dead man the future?" is what Yabu said to Omi about Toranaga in an earlier episode. When Toranaga says it to Yabu, Yabu knows that Toranaga knew everything he was doing the whole time.

Remember the title of this episode “A Dream of a Dream”. John never went back to England, cause like shown throughout the series, he’s become too estranged from his people and to engrained into the Japanese culture and people. And yes as you’ve spotted, Toronagas plan was always to become shogun. So irl after these events. Tokogawa would partake in the battle of Sekigahara and would win. Interestingly enough, the battle would go evenly to begin with however, Ishida’s force would soon begin to overwhelm Tokogawa’s. However, during the battle one of Ishida’s lords would remain with his army on a hill on the flank of both armies. Both sides would send messagers to ask why they remained completely stationary and neutral throughout the battle but all would be sent away with no reply. As the battle turned, the lords men would charge down the hill into the flanks… of Ishida’s army, breaking it and winning the battle for Tokogawa. Why? Well there’s a bit of backstory with this Lord. During the build up before this battle, this Lord was promised massive bits of wealth and power by Ishida to fight for him - hell he literally did, serving in a siege alongside Ishida but 2 weeks before this battle. So why swap sides? Well during Hidioshi’s failed conquest of Korea and China (Taiko in the series) Ishida blamed this Lord for much of their failures resulting in parts of his lands and wealth being stripped from him, however thanks to Tokogawa, they were restored to him when he helped intervene. Well let’s just say between power, wealth and title vs an old bitter grudge… that old bitter grudge won out. With Sekigahara won, Tokogawa would claim shogun… for about 2 years. He wasn’t killed or assassinated, he actually retired and passed it off to his eldest son who had a lot of experience in both war and running his father’s estates and regions. So it wasn’t like he was unqualified for the job, he was extremely qualified. And that’s what made it safe. He appointed a person with a proven track record and not only that, it meant that on his death, there wouldn’t be another scramble for power since his heir would already be shogun and in the job for several decades before he passed. Tho… don’t think Tokogawa (Toronaga) is a good man. The heir and his mother… well lets the Tokogawa clan constantly pricked and prodded the Hidotori clan to make a mistake and essentially try prod them into rebellion/war… however after 15 years of trying… they just came up with an excuse - essentially they were “insulted” by a message on a bell - and used this as justification to crush Hidioshi’s heir and on capturing both forced both to commit seppuku. The reason they justified it was to prevent any competition or rallying behind Hidioshi’s heir in rebellion for the Shogun. As such with them eliminated, only Tokogawa held the title to power.

Saeki Nobutatsu is Toranaga’s half-brother (by a different father, and not brother in law

The earthquake was a symbolic natural phenomenon that changed the fate of Toranaga (Ieyasu). Without the first great earthquake, he would have lost the war and there would have been no Edo period. Japan's culture developed rapidly during the Edo period. Sushi is one of them. Without the earthquake, sushi might not have existed.

There actual battle was such a mess that Clavell didn't write it into the novel. Interestingly, that bay where they filmed the ashes and cross scene at the end is where James Clavell's actual ashes were spread upon his death.

3:05 this guy is the chess master Japan's and foreign wars have completely different ways of thinking. It's as different as chess and shogi in a board game. In chess, you can't use your opponent's piece if you take it, but in shogi, if you take your opponent's piece, you can use it as an ally. As you can see from the religious wars in Europe, the purpose was to kill the enemy, but it is said that even the Battle of Sekigahara, which unified Japan, killed less than 10,000 people.

Japanese style and aesthetics is to not allow it to be completely digested.

@10:37 thats me second on the left.

There’s no season 2

It was not brilliant. There was no climax, the finale was an epilogue, and it was completely contrary to history. It would be like a series about the American civil war leaving out the actual war while having it end with Lincoln explaining that he schemed with some of his enemies who betrayed his other enemies. Nobody wants the plot explained with narration and dialogue, we want to see it on screen, that's the point of the medium. They rushed the ending to save millions of profits that would have been spent on more episodes and battles. And I haven't even mentioned the other rushed subplots, such as the conflict between the co-protagonist and his lover's husband. It was a terrible ending.