Shogun: In 2 minutes, the series of events will no longer have any secrets for you!

Do you know the story of the first white samurai? His story is told in the Shogun series, which is based on a novel inspired by authentic historical facts, and the character is still celebrated by the Japanese today. And no: this is not the hero played by Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai! Do you want to know everything about this extraordinary story? Come, we will tell you everything!

Here are five things you should know about Shogun, some of which are very surprising!

The series was not filmed in Japan!

One of the main features of Shogun is the meticulous work of historical reconstruction. From kimonos to samurai armor to majestic castles, the Japan of the time has rarely been represented so realistically in a series, especially an American one.

The large budget available for the program is certainly not related to this result, since it is the most expensive series by the FX channel. How exactly the information is classified, but there is a budget.

If Japan is perfectly defined in the series, Shogun was not filmed in Japan at all! The footage actually took place in the Vancouver area of ​​Canada! Of course, it’s common to move American productions to the northern neighbor, but the choice not to film Shogun in the country where the action takes place may still be surprising.

Several reasons explain this choice. First of all, a favorable system of tax reductions that encourage filming in Canada. Then it would have been much more expensive to move the production to Japan, especially since the shoot took place during the Covid period with a health protocol that was still very strict and therefore not conducive to long trips.

Finally, Canada has movie studios big enough to handle the reconstruction of footage. Especially for this reason, Shogun was able to shoot mostly in the studio, and the most famous sequences of the series – starting with Lord Toranaga’s castle – could be built entirely in Vancouver.

An original novel inspired by the author’s own experiences!

In the origin of the shogun is a book that was published in 1975. The book was a true bestseller of over 1,000 pages upon publication, a success that catapulted its author, James Clavell, to international fame. The life of the latter is very reminiscent of the intrigue of his writings, to the point that Shogun can be considered a semi-autobiographical work.

While earning a living with his pen, James Clavell joined the army. Mobilized during World War II, he was captured by the Japanese army and interned at Changi Camp in Singapore. The particularly difficult conditions of placement in this prison did not break the spirit of the British soldier, on the contrary.

During this period, James Clavell decides to forget about his everyday life and begins what he calls his “university years” in contact with his cellmates. Alumni or not, each of them imparted knowledge that enabled the future writer to acquire the fine art of survival.

At the same time, James Clavell became fascinated by Asian culture, especially Japanese culture, from his cell. A passion that would never leave him and that would greatly influence his literary work throughout his career. The story of John Blackthorne, this Englishman, being held captive by the Japanese is also his!

Note that Shogun belongs to a cycle called the Asian Saga. Consisting of six independent parts, this anthology is a cornerstone of James Clavell’s work. This cycle includes, in particular, the novel Un Caïd, inspired by his experiences as a prisoner, or the fascinating mural Taï-Pan, dedicated to the capture of Hong Kong by the British Empire and the resulting Opium War.

A popular novelist, James Clavell was also successful as a film screenwriter. If he himself wrote the screenplay for the adaptation of his novel Un Caïd, he also became famous for signing the screenplay for La Mouche Noire (which inspired David Cronenberg to make his film La Mouche), but also for co-writing The Great Escape. , one of the most famous war films ever made. Also nourished by his experience as a prisoner?

The White Samurai really did exist

So let’s be clear: don’t look in the history books, you won’t find any mention of John Blackthorne in 1600s Japan. The main character of Shogun was actually created from scratch by James Clavell. But the British writer was still inspired by an authentic historical character to write his hero! A certain William Adams.

On the Dutch ship De Liefde (not the Erasmus as in the series), William Adams escaped off the coast of Japan in 1600. He only escaped execution for piracy after being granted an audience by Ieyasu Tokugawa, an ambitious lord. at war with the other regent clans of the time.

Intrigued by his outlook, but also by his knowledge of shipbuilding, the Tokugawa decide to spare Adam and give him an official title. William Adams then became Miura Anjin, the first white samurai. The special story of this sailor, who entered the history, gives rise to the commemoration day in Japan on June 15 of every year.

The series features Blackthorne acting as a kind of shadowy advisor as he absorbs a culture he knows absolutely nothing about. An outwardly free man, in reality he is a prisoner in an open cell, for he is not free to move about as he pleases. William Adams was also beholden to Lord Tokugawa: for the rest of his life, he was, for example, forbidden to leave Japan to return to his native England.

Shogun depicts the close relationship between Blackthorne and Yoshii Toranaga, the name given to the authentic Lord Ieyasu Tokugawa in James Clavell’s novel. This is a fictionalized version of the facts, as the sailor did not hold a position of great importance among the daimyo, but he actually served as a strategic asset in the Tokugawa’s ambitions.

The latter’s fortune and thirst for power earned him the status of the third unifier of Japan. His conquest of the shogunate ushered in a lineage that lasted for more than two centuries until the Meiji Restoration in 1868 and the rehabilitation of Emperor Mutsuhito as a fully vested authority figure.

Considered the first white samurai in history, William Adams then paved the way for other foreigners who would in turn write the history of Japan. We especially think of Yasuke, the first African samurai, or even Jules Brune, the French officer who inspired Tom Cruise’s role in The Last Samurai!

This story was already adapted into a TV series 40 years ago

The Shogun series available on Disney+ is not the first adaptation of James Clavell’s novel. Already in 1980, the first mini-series produced by the American channel NBC met with great success in the United States, but also throughout the world, especially in France.

This first version consisted of ten one-hour episodes starring Richard Chamberlain and Japanese film legend Toshiro Mifune. The success of the program was such that Japanese culture became known to the Western public; It is also estimated that the series predicted the massive arrival of sushi restaurants in the Americas!

Ironically the Shogun was not successful with the Japanese. The changes made to the historical facts and the overall caricature and western look caused a lot of criticism, to the point where Toshiro Mifune was criticized for his involvement in the project.

For all that it has remained iconic over the years, Shogun is getting a facelift today with a new adaptation. Backed by a substantial budget, this second adaptation aims to be closer to the original novel but also to historical fact. The choice to film much of the dialogue in Japanese also marks a break with the first version.

Many consultants were involved in the design of the project, including Frédéric Krins, a Belgian historian who specializes in the Sengoku period and whose fascination with Japan followed him… after discovering the first Shogun series. Therefore, these two adaptations complement each other, as well as closely related!

Why won’t the series have a second season?

Airing on Disney+ from February 27th, Shôgun is definitely a must watch series for the start of 2024. A true critical success but also a public success with an average audience rating of 4.4 out of 5 on AlloCiné, the series has also been a hit with audiences ever since. It has already broken FX’s all-time record with over nine million American viewers every week!

However, Shogun will not have a second season, as confirmed by the two creators of the series, Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks. The 10 episodes adapted James Clavell’s entire novel and there was never any question of a sequel in their minds.

Add to that the fact that production on this scale takes a long time, so it’s unlikely, if not impossible, that a second season will ever see the light of day.

But many Internet users are not disappointed and are now demanding a second season in the form of an anthology series. The history of Japan is indeed full of events and characters that can be the subject of exciting stories.

Added to this are five more parts of James Clavell’s Asian saga. So there are many ways to explore the more or less direct continuation of this story.

While you wait for the official decision made by FX, remember that episodes of Shogun can be seen exclusively on the Disney+ platform!

Discover the list of series currently available on the platform!