Shōgun (novel)

Shōgun

First edition (UK)
Author	James Clavell
Cover artist	Ed Vebell (illustrated edition only)
Country	United Kingdom, United States
Series	The Asian Saga
Genre	Historical fiction
Publisher	Delacorte Press (US) Hodder & Stoughton (UK)
Publication date	1975
Media type	Print (hardback and paperback)
Pages	1152 pp (first edition, paperback)
ISBN	0-440-08721-X (US) – ISBN 0-340-20316-1 (UK)
OCLC	9326267
Dewey Decimal	823/.914 19
LC Class	PS3553.L365 S5 1975
Preceded by	N/A
Followed by	Tai-Pan

Shōgun (1975) is a historical fiction novel by Australian author James Clavell. It is the first novel published, as well as the first chronologically set, in his Asian Saga. By 1990 it sold worldwide 15 million copies.

It is a telling of events immediately prior to the advent of the Edo period. It is the first novel published, as well as the first chronologically set, in his Asian Saga. By 1990 it had sold 15 million copies worldwide. It has been adapted into two TV miniseries (1980, 2024) and a stage musical, Shōgun: The Musical. In addition, three video games and a board game have been produced.

Premise

Set in feudal Japan, months before the pivotal Battle of Sekigahara of 1600 helped usher in the Edo period, Shōgun details how Lord Toranaga, loosely based on daimyō Tokugawa Ieyasu, set the stage to become Shogun through early moves coinciding with and facilitated by a newly arrived English sailor John Blackthorne, broadly patterned after the Japanese exploits of William Adams. The novel begins with Blackthorne's arrival and capture in Izu, starting an odyssey taking him through Anjirō, Mishima, Osaka, Edo, and Yokohama as he rises to Samurai and Hatamoto.

Plot

At the end of long unfortunate voyage claiming many lives, including its captain, the Dutch ship Erasmus, which has been secretly instructed to use piracy and the forging of military alliances to disrupt and take over Portugal's lucrative East Asian trade, is marooned in Izu's peninsular harbor.

The first Western Europeans to reach Japan, the surviving Dutch crew and English pilot Blackthorne are imprisoned by Izu's daimyō Yabu who seizes the "barbarian" ship's records, armaments and coin. A spy reports the ship to Yuba's liege Toranaga, Lord of the Kantō and president of the Council of Regents. Seeing the ship as an advantage against his chief rival in the Council Lord Ishido, Toranaga dispatches his commander-in-chief General Toda "Iron Fist" Hiro-matsu via galley to claim the ship, its contents and its crew. Of the Erasmus' crew, only Blackthorne is aboard for Hiro-matsu's return to Osaka.

In Osaka, Toranaga privately questions Blackthorne while a Portuguese Jesuit dutifully and accurately translates despite the Protestant making negative and divisive comments about the Jesuits and Portuguese traders. As Toranaga realizes the extent of Christian divisions, Ishido appears to see the barbarian he was not to know of. The interview ends.

To sequester Blackthorne from Ishido, Toranaga imprisons him. While confined, a Franciscan friar and inmate teaches Blackthorne rudimentary Japanese and relates Japan's current political dynamics. He reveals how collusions between Portuguese traders and Jesuits over the silk trade have made the Portuguese Crown huge profits. Ishido's men try to steal the Englishman from jail, but they are intercepted by Toranaga's men who instead deliver him to their lord's Osaka compound.

Toranaga's subsequent questioning of Blackthorne is translated by Lady Toda Mariko, a Catholic educated by Jesuits who professes loyalty and obedience only to Toranaga, not her church. Mariko faithfully translates as Blackthorne tells an offended Toranaga of how the Pope had assigned Portugal the right to claim Japan and East Asia as its territory in return for propagating Catholicism in the region.

The night before the Council of Regents meets, a mysterious rampaging assassin seeded in Toranaga's household for years as a maid fails to kill her target Blackthorne. The Council does meet, but it goes badly for Toranaga who resigns to avoid a Council's order to commit seppuku. Still unsafe, Toranaga and a handful of his court secretly escape with the critical aid of some antics from Blackthorne. To clear Osaka's blockaded harbor, Toranaga reluctantly surrenders Blackthorne to the Jesuits in return for the Portuguese firing canon. However, a Portuguese pilot owing Blackthorne for saving his life during their earlier voyage to Osaka, throws him overboard to swim and board Toranaga's galley then safely en route to Anjiro.

In Anjiro, Blackthorne’s Japanese improves as does his knowledge and appreciation of the culture, which the Japanese, to a degree, come in time to recognize and esteem. Still, the Japanese are conflicted: Blackthorne is disparaged as a leader of a filthy, uncouth and disgraceful European rabble. Regardless, he continues to advance in stature, in part due to his knowledge of how to fire canons more accurately than the Japanese could imagine, and partly due to Blackthorne post-earthquake pulling Toranaga's from underneath rubble. He becomes elevated to samurai and hatamoto – the latter of which accords him rights of direct audience. As Blackthorne is more acquainted with Toranaga, his respect for him grows. The same is also so for Mariko, with whom he has affair. A chance encounter with his old crew is emblematic of his immersion. Their revulsion is mutual: the Dutchmen despise him for his adopting Japanese ways while the European character of their coarseness disgusts him.

Event though Toranaga with Mariko and Blackthorne has escaped, Ishido keeps the other daimyōs, some of whom are Catholic, underfoot by holding them and their families hostage. Disingenuously calling his hostages 'guests', Ishido believes this will stave off attacks. To end this advantage, Toranaga sends Mariko and Blackthorne back to Osaka. She is directed by Toranaga to openly attempt leaving Osaka to get Ishido to admit he holds noble families hostage. Ishido's men respond with violence until an intentionally unharmed Mariko gives up on leaving. Saying, as instructed by Toranaga, that she is disgraced, Mariko promises to kill herself the next day. Mariko does almost end her life when Ishido grants her request to leave at the last minute. This is only a delaying gambit to keep Mariko hostage and alive. At night Ishido’s ninjas, aided by the duplicitous Yabu, slip into Toranaga's compound to kidnap Mariko. Instead, the explosives they set on a barred door kill her. The death of Mariko Ishido had sought to prevent forces him to free his hostages, leaving him weakened against the other lords. As for Yabu, Toranaga learns of his treachery and orders him to commit seppuku. Yabu complies, giving his prized katana to Blackthorne.

At the book's end, Toranaga in an inner monologue reveals that he destroyed the Erasmus to bring the Catholic daimyōs to his side and to have them agree to not kill Blackthorne, whose karma is to never leave Japan, as Mariko's karma was to die for her lord, and as his karma was to be Japan’s absolutely powerful shogun.

Mariko's will gives Blackthorne enough money to build a new ship, for which Toranaga provides needed craftsmen.

In the brief epilogue, Toranaga captures Ishido at the Battle of Sekigahara and buries him up to his neck until he dies three days later.

Characters

Shogun is a work of historical fiction based upon the power struggle between the successors of Toyotomi Hideyoshi that led to the founding of the Tokugawa shogunate. Clavell based each character on a historical figure, but changed their names in order to add further intrigue to the story.

• John Blackthorne – Miura Anjin (William Adams) (1564–1620)
• Yoshi Toranaga – Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616)
• Yoshi Sudara – Tokugawa Hidetada (1579–1632)
• Yoshi Naga – Matsudaira Tadayoshi (1580–1607)
• Ishido – Ishida Mitsunari (1559–1600)
• Ochiba – Yodo-dono (1569–1615)
• Yaemon – Toyotomi Hideyori (1593–1615)
• Onoshi – Otani Yoshitsugu (1558–1600)
• Harima – Arima Harunobu (1567–1612)
• Kiyama – Konishi Yukinaga (1555–1600)
• Sugiyama – Maeda Toshiie (1539–1599)
• Zataki – Matsudaira Sadakatsu (1560–1624)
• Toda Mariko – Hosokawa Gracia (1563–1600)
• Toda Hiro-matsu 'Iron Fist' – Hosokawa Fujitaka (1534–1610)
• Toda Buntaro – Hosokawa Tadaoki (1563–1646)
• Toda Saruji – Hosokawa Tadatoshi (1586–1641)
• Kasigi Yabu – Honda Masanobu (1538–1616)
• Kasigi Omi – Honda Masazumi (1566–1637)
• Goroda – Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582)
• Nakamura – Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536–1598)
• Akechi Jinsai – Akechi Mitsuhide (1528–1582)
• Lady Genjiko – Oeyo (1573–1626)
• Martin Alvito – João Rodrigues (1561/1562–1633/1634)
• Johann Vinck – Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn (1556?–1623)
• Spillbergen – Jacob Quaeckernaeck (?–1606)
• Father Dell'Aqua – Alessandro Valignano (1539–1606)
• Brother Michael – Miguel Chijiwa (1569?–1633)
• Captain-General Ferriera – Horatio Neretti, captain of the Black Ship in 1600

Historical accuracy

Blackthorne's interactions with Toranaga are closely based upon accounts in the diaries of Adams. However, while Adams served in Tokugawa's army at Sekigahara, he did not become a retainer or a samurai until after the battle.

Adams never met Hosokawa Gracia, in contrast to Blackthorne's intimate relationship with Toda Mariko.

The novel contains numerous Japanese language errors, as well as mistakenly depicting Japanese castles as having portcullises and 17th-century samurai as using socket bayonets. Carrier pigeons, used extensively by Toranaga, were unknown in Japan at the time.

Background

Clavell was an officer in the Royal Artillery during World War II and was a prisoner of war at Changi Prison in Singapore from 1942 to 1945, an experience that formed the basis of his first novel King Rat. Despite this experience, he admired Japan and the Japanese people, and described Shogun as "passionately pro-Japanese."

Clavell stated that reading a sentence in his daughter's textbook that stated that "in 1600, an Englishman went to Japan and became a samurai" inspired the novel. Shogun was therefore based on an actual series of events involving Adams, who reached Japan in 1600 and became involved with the future shogun Tokugawa. He achieved high status managing commercial activities for Tokugawa's shogunate, though much of the interaction between the various characters in the novel was invented. The first draft was 2,300 pages and Clavell cut it down to 1,700 with the help of his editor, German Gollob. However, Shogun was edited lightly in comparison to Clavell's earlier novels.

Themes

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 (retired Kampaku), the deceased supreme leader of Japan, is too young to rule, and five daimyōs chosen by the late Taiko for their ability 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.

Portugal, which holds the sole right to trade with Japan, and the Catholic Church, mainly through the Order of the Jesuits, have gained a religious, economic, and political foothold and seek to extend their power in Japan (as they have done in nearby places such as Goa and Macao). Guns and other modern military capabilities brought to Japan by the Portuguese, and indirectly by Blackthorne, are still a novelty and coveted by powerful lords looking to gain an advantage over their rivals, but are despised by many samurai as a threat to their traditional methods of fighting. In contrast, however, the silk trade is viewed as essential, and the Portuguese traders regularly amass huge profits via their annual "Black Ship" fleets from Macao.

Japanese society is shown to be very insular and xenophobic, with foreigners referred to as "barbarians" and shunned for their arrogance, eating habits, lack of fluency in the Japanese language, and inability to respect Japanese social customs. As a result, there are many internal conflicts between the "Eastern" and "Western" cultures – especially to do with duty, honor, sexuality, cleanliness, diet, obligations, hierarchies, loyalties, and – more particularly – the essence of 'self'. Blackthorne is also torn between his growing affection for Mariko (who is married to a powerful, abusive, and dangerous samurai, Buntaro), his increasing loyalty to Toranaga, his household and consort, a "Willow world" courtesan named Kiku, and his desire to return to the open seas aboard Erasmus so he can intercept the Black Ship before it reaches Japan.

A recurring motif in the book is Toranaga engaging in falconry. He compares his various birds to his vassals and mulls over his handling of them, flinging them at targets, giving them morsels, and bringing them back to his fist for re-hooding. There are other recurring themes of Eastern values, as opposed to Western values, masculine (patriarchal) values as opposed to human values, etc. Another is the granting of honours and favours to those who display loyalty - including the trading of secrets by a mama-san called Gyoko, which allows Toranaga to gain an upperhand in his power play for the shogunate.

Reception

The New York Times's Webster Schott wrote, "I can't remember when a novel has seized my mind like this one [...] It's almost impossible not to continue to read Shōgun once having opened it". In addition to becoming a best-seller, with more than six million copies of the novel in 14 hardcover and 38 paperback printings by 1980, Shōgun had great impact on westerners' knowledge of, and interest in, Japanese history and culture. The editor of Learning from Shōgun: Japanese History and Western Fantasy (1980) estimated that 20 to 50% of all students in American college-level courses about Japan had read the novel. He described the book as "a virtual encyclopedia of Japanese history and culture; somewhere among those half-million words, one can find a brief description of virtually everything one wanted to know about Japan", and stated that "In sheer quantity, Shōgun has probably conveyed more information about Japan to more people than all the combined writings of scholars, journalists, and novelists since the Pacific War". Criticizing inaccuracies in the author's depiction of Japan, History Today wrote that "Clavell is in effect delivering a sermon on the errant ways of the West", contrasting Blackthorn and other Christian Westerners' barbaric ways to the superior "meditative and fatalistic posture of the Japanese samurai". The author of James Clavell: A Critical Companion called the novel "one of the most effective depictions of cross-cultural encounters ever written", and "Clavell's finest effort".

Clavell said that Shōgun "is B.C. and A.D. It made me. I became a brand name, like Heinz Baked Beans." 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.

Adaptations

Television

In 1976 Clavell employed Robert Bolt to write a screenplay. Later, in 1978, he selected Eric Bercovici to write a miniseries for NBC. Clavell and Bercovici decided to simplify the story for an American television audience by omitting one of the two major plot lines of the novel, the struggle between Toranaga and the other warlords, and focusing on the adventures of Blackthorne and his romance with Mariko. Due to the focus on Blackthorne's perspective, most of the Japanese dialogue was not subtitled or dubbed. This nine-hour television miniseries aired in 1980, starring 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.

On August 3, 2018, it was announced that FX would be adapting the novel into a miniseries. The 2024 miniseries stars Hiroyuki Sanada, who also served as co-producer, Cosmo Jarvis, Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano, Takehiro Hira, Tommy Bastow and Fumi Nikaido. The trailer was released in late 2023 and the first two episodes premiered on February 27, 2024. In contrast to the 1980 miniseries, this closely follows both plot lines of the novel and translates the dialogue between the Japanese characters.

Stage musical

A stage musical adaptation was produced in 1990.

Games

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.

The tabletop game publisher FASA published James Clavell's Shogun in 1983. This was the third of four boardgame titles based on Clavell novels.

External links

• Shogun at FactBehindFiction.com