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 the 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
- Shogun Nobusada Toranaga - heir to the title of Shogun and to the Toranaga family; also mentioned in Noble House and Whirlwind
- Lady Yazu, wife of Nobusada, stepsister of Emperor Komei
- Lord Nori Anjo - daimyo of Kii and Mikawa, head of the Council of Elders
- Lord Sanjiro - daimyo of Satsuma
- Katsumata - advisor of Sanjiro and secret head of the shishi
- Lord Ogama - daimyo 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
Read more about this topic: Gai-Jin (novel)
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