TV SERIES · 1980– · JAPAN
Shogun
34 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
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The filming location for Anjiro, Nagashima, was so remote that finding accommodation for the whole crew was difficult. Because of a misunderstanding, the crew lost their reservations on 1 September rather than the planned 15 September. The changes had to be completed by 1 September, but they managed to do it. On the day filming ended, a typhoon destroyed the set.
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English actors were hired for the six months the production was to last. The same could not be done with Japanese actors, particularly Toshirō Mifune, so during filming there was constant negotiation over his availability as needed to meet the shooting schedule. At some points the negotiations reportedly became very tight and tense.
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Throughout the entire production, only three of the Japanese actors spoke English: Yôko Shimada, Takeshi Ōbayashi and Masumi Okada. During filming, Shimada knew very little English and relied heavily on a dialogue coach to deliver her lines phonetically. English words she could not pronounce were changed or dubbed over in post-production.
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In ancient Japan, a samurai could perform seppuku (ritual suicide) to atone for a crime and/or for failing to carry out his duties, to avoid being captured by the enemy (and then mocked), or even as a (strong) form of protest against a decision handed down by a superior. Compared with execution, it was seen as an honorable way to die. Although there were variations over the centuries, a common way of performing seppuku was to cut the abdomen from left to right (with a dagger or short sword), then turn the blade inside the wound and make a second upward cut. If the samurai was still alive and conscious, he would take the dagger and cut his own carotid artery. The act was extremely painful, and the ritual involved the presence of a second samurai who would behead the first samurai after the first or second cut to the abdomen. Female samurai performed seppuku only by cutting their own carotid arteries.
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In the series, the different clans were depicted in uniform-colored kimono and hakama. This was done so that Western viewers could distinguish between the clans. Such uniform colors were not used in feudal Japan. In battle, clans were identified only by kamon (crest) or shashimono (a banner attached to the samurai's back).
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The series being set in 1600 meant that Father Alvito and his Jesuit countrymen would face a rude awakening twenty years after the story ends, chiefly when Christianity was banned in Japan on September 10, 1622, followed by mass arrests, torture and the execution of all clergy, and no trace of Christianity would remain in Japan until missionaries came after the Meiji Restoration in the 19th century. Father Alvito, who was in his thirties when the series was made, would almost certainly have lived to be an old man who witnessed this great change in the fate of the Catholic Church in Japan.
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Inspired by the account of the Englishman William Adams (which he saw in his daughter's history book), James Clavell combined Adams's account with those of other Western men who traveled to Japan and created a more varied fictional version for his book. It premiered in 1975 and became a major bestseller, selling more than 7 million copies.
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Assistant director Charles Ziarko claimed: "Director Jerry London and producer Eric Bercovici treated the Japanese actors and crew like shit. They treated them as if they were in San Diego. They were foul-mouthed Hollywood people who felt they could be wherever they wanted. From the highest level to the lowest, the Japanese hated them."
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Three actors would play characters eight years later in Noble House (1988), another novel by James Clavell adapted into a miniseries as part of his "Asian Cycle." John Rhys-Davies (Vasco Rodrigues) would play the main villain, Quillan Gornt. Damien Thomas (Father Alvito) and Leon Lissek (Father Sebastio) would also play the supporting roles of Lando Mata and Christian Toxe, respectively.
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Assistant director Charles Ziarko recalled, "We were shooting a night scene where Lord Toranaga comes with his troops to do something, waving a bunch of tents and torches. He [Toshirō Mifune] did it perfectly, came at a gallop, jumped off his horse — and this was a man in his sixties at the time — and the director wanted him to do it again. Maybe on the third or fourth time, as Mifune got off his horse, the horse shied, his foot caught in the stirrup and he was dragged. But he didn't even want to see a doctor. The company sent him to the hospital to be checked. He wanted to get back in the saddle and do the same thing again. He was the best."
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The title and office of "Seii taishogun," or simply "Shogun," was historically a samurai military dictator serving the Emperor, but in reality the Shogun was the country's de facto ruler. The classic era of the Shogun lasted from 1185 to 1867, when the last Shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu (b. 1837–d. 1913), abdicated as the Emperor regained the power lost to the first Shoguns.
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The 16th-century European sailing ship used in the series was the Golden Hinde, a replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship the Golden Hind. It was built in the early 1970s to mark the 400th anniversary of Drake's circumnavigation. After undergoing a restoration program, the ship remains on display at St Mary Overie Dock, Cathedral Street, London, SE1 9DE, United Kingdom.
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