I managed to visit Japan, when I was much older. And it was great because it was early April and it was cherry blossom season in Osaka. Some readers might have been upset to have much of the plot resolved at the end via a combination of foreshadowing achieved through Toronaga’s thoughts and several afterward sentences. Providing those details in a more thorough manner would have required a sequel book and I suspect that such a book would have ultimately proved unnecessary. I think the strongest aspect of this book was the characters. All of them were very vividly realized and you got a very strong understanding of what their motivations were, why they acted the way they did, and what drove their decisions. They were all fully formed individuals with virtues and vices that suited their personal histories. At no point did I feel Clavell made a character do something that was not informed by that character's nature. The story was advanced in line with character developments and choices, not simply because it had to advance. And it wasn't a male dominated cast by any means. The female characters were just as important and competent as the men (if not more so in some cases). In fact I would put Mariko on my list of top line badass characters for all she accomplishes and does in this book. The sixth and eighth episodes are directed by Hiromi Kamata and Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour, respectively. [6] Takeshi Fukunaga directed one episode of the series. [7] The fourth through tenth episodes are written by Nigel Williams and Emily Yoshida, Matt Lambert, Maegan Houang, Matt Lambert, Shannon Goss, Rachel Kondo & Caillin Puente, and Maegan Houang & Emily Yoshida, respectively. [4] Production [ edit ] Development [ edit ]

Tokugawa Ieyasu was Shogun for a couple of years before ceding power to one of his five sons. But effectively his rule continued until his death, bolstered by having his children in positions of authority across Japan and by tactics such as holding the wives and families of the territorial lords hostage at the Shogun palace at Edo (later Tokyo). He is remembered for his successful unification of Japan and for bequeathing it a long-absent stability through the establishment of the Tokugawa dynasty.East vs West – Japan and the bushido culture. One commentator on this book stated that it was "one of the most effective depictions of cross-cultural encounters ever written". Clavell has achieved not just an epic novel of feudal Japan, but more importantly and impressively, has crafted an exhaustive comparison of the two civilizations.

The main theme of the novel is the precarious peace of Japan in 1600, a nation consumed by endless civil war and political machinations. The heir to the Taiko, the deceased supreme leader of Japan, is too young to rule, and five daimyōs specifically chosen by the late Taiko for their inability to work together hold power as a Council of Regents until the boy comes of age. The novel details the intense power struggle between the two most powerful daimyōs, Toranaga and Ishido, as they both seek to thwart the other's ambitions. As a subtext, there is also the political manoeuvring of the Protestant and Catholic powers in the Far East. This translates an internal conflict in Japan between Christian daimyōs (who are motivated in part by a desire to preserve and expand their religion) and the daimyōs who oppose the Japanese Christians as followers of foreign beliefs and potential traitors whose loyalty is questionable. In Japan, Shōgun was cut to a 159-minute version and released theatrically on November 9, 1980. [12] Stuart Galbraith IV described this version of the film as "fatally cut to ribbons". [12] [13] It was later restored to its full length for a home video release in Japan. [12] [13] Shogun showed me a new side of the world, it changed my views on many things, and made me understand just as many things. a b Smith II, Henry D., ed. (1980). Learning from Shōgun: Japanese History and Western Fantasy. University of California, Santa Barbara / The Japan Society. pp.xi–xii, 18, 151. Archived from the original on 23 January 2009 . Retrieved 2 February 2007.In researching “Shogun” after reading it, I found many who agreed that it was quite accurate in its portrayal of life in Japan during the era presented. Quibbles could be made regarding small mistakes, but Clavell’s achievement was undeniable.

The classic epic novel of feudal Japan that captured the heart of a culture and the imagination of the world, by the #1 New York Times bestselling author and unparalleled master of historical fiction, James Clavell In 1976 Clavell employed Robert Bolt to write a screenplay. [8] The novel was adapted as a nine-hour television miniseries in 1980. It starred Richard Chamberlain, Toshiro Mifune, Yoko Shimada, and John Rhys-Davies. This was edited into a two-hour theatrical release. A 5-disc DVD release appeared in 2003 and a 3-disc Blu-ray release in 2014.That story focus helped the book to more-easily translate into a widely-seen television mini-series adaptation. The mini-series adaptation of “Shogun” helped lift the NBC network out of some of its struggles at the time and that success foreshadowed a strong programming run for the network through the 1980s and 1990s. A word of warning that this article gets deep into the plot particulars of “Shogun” and includes spoilers) There have been three computer games based on the Shōgun novel. Two text-based adventure games with sparse graphics were produced for the Amiga and PC, marketed as James Clavell's Shōgun by Infocom and Shōgun by Mastertronic. A unique graphical adventure game, Shōgun, was also produced for systems including the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and IBM PC by Lee & Mathias and released by Virgin Entertainment in 1986. Fast forward to the year 2000. I was browsing through my parent's library and found the book. I was in between jobs at the time (though I was looking) and decided to give it a try. I enjoyed it tremendously. It's fast moving, engrossing and exciting. It does exactly what the best of this genre should do. It takes you away and makes you feel as if you're actually in another time and place. What more can you ask? Clavell said that Shōgun "is B.C. and A.D. It made me. I became a brand name, like Heinz Baked Beans". [6] He reported that the ruler of a Middle Eastern petrostate offered him a full oil tanker for a novel that would do for his country what Shōgun did for Japan. [7] Adaptations [ edit ] Television [ edit ]

Shōgun. Dir. Jerry London. Paramount Home Video, 1994. OCLC 53026518 ISBN 978-0-7921-9332-6 (2003).Giappone 1600, La Spagna e il Portogallo hanno da decenni il controllo incontrastato dei mari e dei commerci con le Indie e con il misterioso Giappone, territorio quasi sconosciuto ai più. I can't remember when a novel has seized my mind like this one", The New York Times 's Webster Schott wrote. He added, "It's almost impossible not to continue to read Shōgun once having opened it". [3] I first read Shogun about one year after it was originally released, in 1975. I was studying karate at the time (and for many years thereafter) and wanted to know as much as I could about Bushido. Bushidō (武士道?), literally "the way of the warrior", or the way of the samurai. I was taught much about the way of the combatant in the book, but that was merely a setting for the real voyage that the story takes you upon. The book was a constant weighing between cultures – Western European versus Japanese. The complexity of the story’s plot was there merely to present each culture’s élan or perhaps moral underpinnings. The purpose was to give you the reader the opportunity to determine who were the barbarians. The Westerners or the Japanese of the 1600s. I’ll give you a hint as to the author’s conclusion – one society bathed constantly the other – well perhaps never at all. The book does manage ones considerations of who was the beast very well. The teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius, who advocated keeping people in their place amongst other things, gained prominence.