Shogun: The First Novel of the Asian saga

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There are other secondary characters that I would like to mention, but I could really go on for hours... Every character in the book was 3 dimensional and real. This will be a book I will be rereading many many times and I know I will love it more with every rereading and I will be learning something new. And the story will stay with me forever. And I will be going to bed tonight with a smile on my face, thinking about this amazing masterpiece. Which is not to say it's not very good -- it is. It's amazing. It's... well, just ask anyone who's read it -- you'll not find someone who didn't like it. But the historical anthropology of the book isn't as well integrated into the narrative as it is in, say, Whirlwind or Noble House.

a b Petski, Denise (September 30, 2021). " 'Shōgun': Anna Sawai Joins Hiroyuki Sanada & Cosmo Jarvis In FX Limited Series; Full Cast Set". Deadline . Retrieved 2023-06-20. 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 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.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, 1983 taiga drama about the life of Ieyasu, the basis for Lord Toranaga, aired two years after Shōgun 's Japan release. The discovery of the customs of this culture, the difficulty in communicating, the difference in ways of acting, the deceptions and political machinations, one is delighted to discover together with the protagonist this fantastic and brutal world in which life has different, strange values. Now I cannot speak to the accuracy of the Japan Clavell created. It was sort of a slight skewing of historical events in a manner similar to Under Heaven. Names and places were changed a bit as were some relationships between historically inspired characters, but I don't think this detracted from the story one bit. I approached it as a work of pure fiction and accepted the world Clavell laid down without worrying about how authentic his portrayal of Samurai or ninjas or Japanese society was. This book isn't meant to be a history book, but a historical fiction with liberties taken to make the story enjoyable and engaging. 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.

That being said, this is a remarkable work -- it is perhaps the most sweeping of Clavell's epics, in that it covers greater distance and time than his other books do. And, despite the fact that the cultural anthropology isn't seamlessly welded to the plot, it is certainly always engaging -- and one of the most rewarding parts about reading the book.Whitesell, Paul (June 26, 1980). "Graphic scenes are reportedly intact in 'Shōgun' series for TV". Toledo Blade. The tabletop game publisher FASA published James Clavell's Shogun in 1983. This was the third of four boardgame titles based on Clavell novels.