Shogun (TV miniseries)

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This page is about the TV miniseries. For other meanings of Shogun, see Shogun (disambiguation).

Shogun is a Japanese-United States miniseries based on the namesake novel by James Clavell. The first episode was broadcast on September 15, 1980 on NBC in the United States. As with the novel, the title is often shown as Shōgun in order to conform to Hepburn romanization.

The story is based on the adventures of British navigator William Adams.

The miniseries starred Richard Chamberlain as John Blackthorne (Anjin-San), Toshiro Mifune as Lord Toranaga, Yoko Shimada as Lady Toda Buntaro a.k.a. Mariko, John Rhys-Davies in one of his first major roles as Portuguese Pilot Vasco Rodrigues and Michael Hordern as Friar Domingo.

The mini-series was one of the highest-rated programs in NBC history, and sparked a wave of historical-based miniseries over the next few years. A shorter version of the mini-series, edited down to only two hours, was released to home video and some theatres as a feature film; this version of the film includes nudity, sexuality and violence that was not included in the broadcast version.

Shogun broke several taboos for American broadcast TV. It was the first network show allowed to use the word "piss" in dialogue, and to actually show the act of urination. A man shown being beheaded early in the first chapter was another first for network TV (although the film version of the sequence was more bloody). The miniseries was also noted for its frank discussion of sexuality, nudity, and of matters such as Japanese ritual suicide (seppuku). Till date, it is only USA-based TV show/miniseries to be entirely filmed on location in Japan (possibly even anywhere outside the USA). Even the studio shots were done in Japanese studios.

[edit] Trivia

• According to the documentary The Making of Shōgun, featured on the North American DVD release, James Clavell wanted Sean Connery to play Blackthorne, but the actor balked at doing television. Other actors considered for the role included Roger Moore and Albert Finney.
• Only two Japanese characters speak English in the entire production: Mariko (Yoko Shimada) and Urano (Takeshi Ôbayashi). Shimada herself did not actually know the English language at the time the miniseries was made, and relied on a dialog coach to help her with English dialog.
• The success of the miniseries was credited with increasing awareness of Japanese culture in America. In the documentary The Making of Shogun, it is stated that the rise of Japanese food establishments in the US (particularly sushi houses) is attributed to Shogun.
• During the week of broadcast, many resturants and movie houses saw a decrease in customers. The documentary states many stayed home to watch Shogun; which was unprecendented for a television broadcast. (The broadcast predated popular use of the home VCR by several years.)

[edit] External links

• Shogun at the Internet Movie Database