Shogun

Shōgun is a Japanese-American television 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, with narration by Orson Welles, 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.


Ratings

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. 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


Sexuality and violence

Shogun broke several taboos and firsts 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).
To date, it is the only USA-based TV show/miniseries to be entirely filmed on location in Japan (possibly even anywhere outside the USA).[citation needed] Even the studio shots were done in Japanese studios.
Out of all the Japanese hired to be part of the cast, only two Japanese spoke English in the entire production: Mariko (Yoko Shimada) and Urano (Takeshi Ôbayashi). At the time the miniseries was made, Shimada did not actually know English and relied on a dialog coach to help her with English dialog.

Originally, according to the documentary The Making of Shōgun, featured on the North American DVD release, James Clavell wanted Sean Connery to play Blackthorne, but Connery balked at doing television. Other actors considered for the role included Roger Moore and Albert Finney. It was also noted that during the week of broadcast, many restaurants and movie houses saw a decrease in business.[citation needed] The documentary states many stayed home to watch Shogun — unprecedented for a television broadcast. (The broadcast predated popular use of the home VCR by several years.)

Cast

Richard Chamberlain as John Blackthorne (Anjin-san)
Toshirô Mifune as Lord Toranaga
Yôko Shimada as Mariko (Lady Toda Buntaro)
Damien Thomas as Father Alvito
John Rhys-Davies as Portuguese Pilot Vasco Rodrigues
Takeshi Ôbayashi as Urano
Michael Hordern as Friar Domingo
Yuki Meguro as Omi
Frankie Sakai as Yabu
Alan Badel as Father Dell'Aqua
Leon Lissek as Father Sebastio
Vladek Sheybal as Captain Ferriera
Hideo Takamatsu as Lord Buntaro
Nobuo Kaneko as Ishido
Hiromi Senno as Fujiko
George Innes as Vinck
Hiroshi Hasegawa as Galley Captain
Akira Sera as Old Gardener
Atsuko Sano as Lady Ochiba
Miiko Taka as Kiri


Awards

1981 Peabody Award
1981 Golden Globe, won:
Best TV-Series - Drama
Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series - Drama: Richard Chamberlain
Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series - Drama: Yôko Shimada
1981 nominated American Cinema Editors "Eddie" Award, Best Edited Episode from a Television Mini-Series(episode 1): James T. Heckert, Bill Luciano, Donald R. Rode, Benjamin A. Weissman, Jerry Young
1981 Emmy, won:
Outstanding Limited Series: James Clavell (executive producer), Eric Bercovici (producer)
Outstanding Costume Design for a Series (episode 5): Shin Nishida
Outstanding Graphic Design and Title Sequences (episode 1): Phill Norman (graphic designer)
1981 Emmy, nominated:
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special: Richard Chamberlain
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special: Toshirô Mifune
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special: Yôko Shimada
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special: John Rhys-Davies
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special: Yuki Meguro
Outstanding Achievement in Film Sound Editing (episode 3): Stanley Paul (supervising sound editor), William Andrews (sound editor), Leonard Corso (sound editor), Denis Dutton (sound editor), Jack A. Finlay (sound editor), Robert Gutknecht (sound editor), Sean Hanley (sound editor), Pierre Jalbert (sound editor), Jack Keath (sound editor), Alan L. Nineberg (sound editor), Lee Osborne (sound editor), Tally Paulos (sound editor)
Outstanding Art Direction for a Limited Series or a Special (episode 5): Joseph R. Jennings (production designer), Yoshinobu Nishioka (art director), Tom Pedigo (set decorator), Shoichi Yasuda (set decorator)
Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited Series or a Special (episode 4): Andrew Laszlo
Outstanding Directing in a Limited Series or a Special (episode 5): Jerry London
Outstanding Film Editing for a Limited Series or a Special (episode 5): Donald R. Rode, Benjamin A. Weissman, Jerry Young, Bill Luciano
Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series or a Special (episode 5): Eric Bercovici (writer)