The Real History Behind FX's 'Shogun'

Molly Solly at the Smithsonian magazine offers a piece on the story behind Shogun.

When a powerful Japanese feudal lord with aspirations of seizing control of the warring nation learned that a ragged group of European sailors had landed on the archipelago’s southern shores in April 1600, he was eager to arrange a meeting with their leader. 

The outsiders, Tokugawa Ieyasu believed, could be of assistance in his grand plan. With the Dutch ship’s captain too ill to move, the crew sent English navigator William Adams in his place.

“Coming before [Ieyasu], he viewed me well and seemed to be wonderfully favorable,” wrote Adams in a letter to his wife. “I showed unto him the name of our country, and that our land long sought out the East Indies, and desired friendship with all kings and potentates in way of merchandise, having in our land diverse commodities which these lands had not.

Impressed by Adams’ diplomatic overtures, Ieyasu ignored the advice of Portuguese Jesuit missionaries who urged him to execute the Protestant interloper. Instead, the warlord took Adams into his confidence. Over the next several years, as Ieyasu consolidated power under the newly established Tokugawa shogunate, he treated Adams as a trusted adviser, rewarding him with land, money and other honors.

While Adams’ relationship with Ieyasu was far from the most consequential in Japan’s history of European relations, the pair’s novelty and unlikely dynamic had a comparatively outsized cultural impact. This story of the first Englishman to visit Japan has inspired an array of dramatic works, most notably James Clavell’s 1975 best-selling novel, Shogun, and its 1980 mini-series adaptation, which became a nationwide sensation in the United States.

Forty-four years after the “Shogun” mini-series earned NBC its highest Nielsen ratings yet, a new version offers a contemporary twist on the tale. As Gina Balian, co-president of FX Entertainment, tells Variety, “When you’re taking on an adaptation of something that’s already been adapted, there has to be a reason why.” She adds, “We got more comfortable with needing to tell [the story] as much from the Japanese side, casting Japanese-speaking actors. We evolved as the project evolved.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

The Real History Behind FX's 'Shogun' | History | Smithsonian Magazine

You can also read my previous post on Shogun via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: A Look Back At James Clavell's 'Shogun' 

A Look Back At James Clavell's 'Shogun'

I recorded the first two episodes of FX’s Shogun last night, and I plan to watch them this week.

I was a huge fan of the original Shogun miniseries in 1980, which starred Richard Chamberlain as John Blackthorne, the English sailor and ship’s pilot who lands in feudal Japan in 1600 and becomes involved in Japanese internecine warfare.

Previous to watching the 1980 miniseries, I read and enjoyed James Clavell’s historical novel Shogun, which the miniseries was based on.

Clavell (seen in the above photo), was a British Army officer and prisoner of war in WWII and spent years in a Japanese prison. Despite his brutal treatment, he was fascinated by the Japanese. His first novel, King Rat (made into a film starring George Segal), was based on his experiences as a Japanese prisoner.

Clavell began to write Shogun after he read about an English sailor named William Adams who traveled to Japan in 1600 and became an advisor to a Japanese warlord. Shogun is based loosely on Adams and his Japanese adventures.

Clavell, who was a screenwriter and film director as well as an author, served as an executive producer of the miniseries. He wanted Sean Connery to portray Blackthorne. He said he wrote the novel with Sean Connery in mind.

Sean Connery would have been a powerful Blackthorne, and this would have been one of his finest roles, but sadly Sean Connery was making a forgettable film and was not available. So Richard Chamberlain was cast, and he was very good in the role.

I’ve never seen Cosmo Jarvis (seen in the above photo) in any films or on TV, so I'm curious to see how his portrayal of Blackthorne in the new FX miniseries stacks up against Richard Chamberlain.           

I enjoyed the Shogun novel and the 1980 miniseries as I was and am most interested in Japan. My early interest in Japan came from stories my late father told me about his time as a U.S. Navy UDT frogman in WWII when he fought the Japanese on Saipan and other Japanese-held islands.

My interest in Japan increased in the early 1960s when I read Ian Fleming’s James Bond thriller You Only Live Twice. The novel took place in Japan and Fleming offered fascinating background information about modern Japan and Japanese customs and history. (James Clavell also read and enjoyed Fleming’s You Only Live Twice, especially Fleming's introduction of Ninjas to Western readers. Clavell used Ninjas in Shogun).

And I was thrilled to visit Sasebo and Nagasaki in Japan in 1971 when I was a young sailor serving on an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War.

So based on my interest and experiences in Japan, I eagerly read Shogun in 1975 and watched the miniseries (before VHS recording tapes and DVR devices were invented) in 1980.

James Clavell came under criticism by several historians who pointed out minor historical errors in his novel Shogun when it was published, and today the late author is being accused of racism for his stereotypical depictions of the Japanese.

Nonsense. Shogun is a fine historical adventure novel. 

I look forward to watching the new miniseries, and I'll probably reread James Clavell's novel afterwards.

Note: You can visit James Clavell’s website via the below link:

About the author — JAMES CLAVELL