Thanks for this excellent review and the detailed points. It is good to see the many things that Shōgun got right.
Did you read Azby Brown's short Facebook post about the issues with traditional Japanese architecture in the series? In his words:
"Shogun was entertaining and deserves its awards. But its much-touted historical accuracy doesn't include its architecture, which has glaring and easily-avoided 'fakeness.' I did an informal survey of colleagues who are experts in Japanese architectural history, and everyone agrees these mistakes are laughably bizarre. All of it could have been spotted at the design sketch stage. They really need better experts!"
His post features photos with notes of errors.
Brown is the author of "The Genius of Japanese Carpentry: Secrets of an Ancient Woodworking Craft" and other books about traditional Japanese architecture.
Azby is a friend, and he actually drew a "ninja house" for my book Ninja Attack! Azby's an architect and passionate about architecture and I respect that. But I don't agree with his take.
Admittedly, I'm no expert on Japanese historical architecture, but I do know that constructing (and fixing and maintaining) traditional structures like castles, temples and shrines requires a very special set of skills. It requires specialists called miya-daiku, who pass down traditional skills from masters to apprentices over the generations. Just speaking personally, I think it's a little unfair to expect perfectly accurate temples and castles in a television series. So while I agree some things may have felt a little "off," I think it's harsh to call them “laughably bizarre."
Toranaga’s son’s funeral scene also felt right to me. In fact it struck me as very interesting, and in keeping with what I’ve read about period funerals in books. The idea that Buddhist monks and Shinto symbology must be separate and would never be together is too reductive.
The fundamental question isn't, was it perfect? But rather, was it done with respect? And I think the answer to that is a definite yes. Whether it is 100% accurate is definitely an interesting question, but to my Japanese eyes, none of it took me out of the world, or felt truly weird as so many other Hollywood portrayals do.
Hi Hiroko and Kjeld. I'm just seeing this.... Long reply warning! As Hiroko has pointed out so well, the new Shogun series gets so many things right, better than any other non-Japanese historical production I'm aware of. Kimono, body language, tools and implements, and most of the interiors all seem very accurate. They also spent a lot of time on the boats (more on that below). Which is why I was scratching my head about why there were so many easily-corrected errors in the architecture, specifically the shoin-style residential buildings on the castle grounds. It's not really disputable that these are inaccurate in several major respects, and my Japanese architecture expert colleagues were laughing at them. I’m the first to acknowledge that these are geeky nitpicks, though, but since all of the show's PR touts its extreme accuracy as a major selling point, I think we can expect better. When I think about how the bad designs ended up being used, based on long experience in the film world I have a few hunches. About the lack of upward sweep of the roof eaves, a set carpenter might have balked at it. But these scenes seem to have been shot on a sound stage, with a lot of CG, and in that case it's common to use easily shaped materials like styrofoam and balsa, or to use CNC machines to shape plywood, suitably textured and finished. It wouldn't have been hard to "dummy it up" accurately, especially since these elements are never seen close-up. No need for a miya-daiku (they worked only on temples and shrines, BTW, with castles and elite residences being built by carpenters from separate guilds). But I think what we see is probably exactly what the filmmakers wanted for whatever reasons. About the totally invented large "ohiroma" reception room, with no ceiling and never-before-seen arched trusses and clerestory windows above, I think this was done for dramatic reasons, to allow light from above to highlight characters and create specific moods. (cont'd)
The Kano-style gold leaf paintings on the fusuma in that set and some other details are really good. I suspect the director felt that a historically accurate interior would have been too dark and not allow enough control of lighting. About the funeral with four white torii gates, Hiroko, who knows a LOT about Shinto, rightly points out that ceremonies sometimes combined Shinto and Buddhist elements. But there's a lot of documentation about daimyo-level ritual from the period -- literally instruction books -- and I've never seen anything remotely like what is shown. Neither have my more expert Japanese colleagues. A friend who advised on the boats for the series noted that the filmmakers rejected using a historically accurate large Japanese ship design in favor of one from an earlier era, because they liked how it looked. And that, my friends, is how it goes....
Hiroko Y: Terrific review on the important cultural aspects of Shogun. I haven't yet seen it but have read a number of reviews commenting along the same lines as you. As for Jedi and jidaigeki - thanks. You seem to have missed out YAMADA Yōji's three samurai movies of the 2000s - Twilight Samurai, The Hidden Blade and Love & Honor - the first of which starred SANADA Hiroyuki - my first time to take note of him. Very impressive. Also - beyond the Tora-san movies - of YAMADA Yōji - who lived many years post-WWII return from China in a city I lived in for many years - Ube-shi in Yamaguchi-ken (not as the Wikipedia entry says - Yamagata-ken). In fact he told an audience in Ube - around 20 years ago now - that he based the neighbourhood of Tora-san not in the Tōkyō area as is otherwise suggested - but on post-war Ube. The Last Samurai - a story destroyed by the ahistorical character of Tom Cruise - but with WATANABE Ken - and SANADA Hiroyuki to offer a glimmer of positive appreciation - was of course based on the South-West Rebellion led by Saigō Takamori in 1877. SADOWARA Suketoshi (b. 1835 Nichinan-shi - now Miyazaki-ken) the great grand-father of the Japanese wife of one of my Australian cousins fought alongside Saigō Takamori - and died in the battle in front of Kumamoto Castle at the end of March in that year. And the historical (Big River) Taiga Drama - NHK Sunday night series - the attention to historical linguistic, cultural detail of those historically set dramas is not to be dismissed - and one I did NOT see because by then I was back after many years to Australia - Hana Moyu (aspects of the life of my personal and paedagogical hero - YOSHIDA Shōin - 1830-1859). I look forward to your next instalment.
I’m all in favor of you examining and talking about the different styles of kimono on both women and men. It teaches us more about the depth and nuance of Japanese culture and tastes of the time.
Amazing breakdown as a Kimono noob looking for the future installments 🙌
Thanks for this excellent review and the detailed points. It is good to see the many things that Shōgun got right.
Did you read Azby Brown's short Facebook post about the issues with traditional Japanese architecture in the series? In his words:
"Shogun was entertaining and deserves its awards. But its much-touted historical accuracy doesn't include its architecture, which has glaring and easily-avoided 'fakeness.' I did an informal survey of colleagues who are experts in Japanese architectural history, and everyone agrees these mistakes are laughably bizarre. All of it could have been spotted at the design sketch stage. They really need better experts!"
His post features photos with notes of errors.
Brown is the author of "The Genius of Japanese Carpentry: Secrets of an Ancient Woodworking Craft" and other books about traditional Japanese architecture.
https://www.facebook.com/azby.brown/posts/pfbid06czTWButSZTnk1U7cyBMAqbUgUCaKHZdhRXhZuqC2igA79bDQTeSV2ALqUQ4drMzl
Azby is a friend, and he actually drew a "ninja house" for my book Ninja Attack! Azby's an architect and passionate about architecture and I respect that. But I don't agree with his take.
Admittedly, I'm no expert on Japanese historical architecture, but I do know that constructing (and fixing and maintaining) traditional structures like castles, temples and shrines requires a very special set of skills. It requires specialists called miya-daiku, who pass down traditional skills from masters to apprentices over the generations. Just speaking personally, I think it's a little unfair to expect perfectly accurate temples and castles in a television series. So while I agree some things may have felt a little "off," I think it's harsh to call them “laughably bizarre."
Toranaga’s son’s funeral scene also felt right to me. In fact it struck me as very interesting, and in keeping with what I’ve read about period funerals in books. The idea that Buddhist monks and Shinto symbology must be separate and would never be together is too reductive.
The fundamental question isn't, was it perfect? But rather, was it done with respect? And I think the answer to that is a definite yes. Whether it is 100% accurate is definitely an interesting question, but to my Japanese eyes, none of it took me out of the world, or felt truly weird as so many other Hollywood portrayals do.
Hi Hiroko and Kjeld. I'm just seeing this.... Long reply warning! As Hiroko has pointed out so well, the new Shogun series gets so many things right, better than any other non-Japanese historical production I'm aware of. Kimono, body language, tools and implements, and most of the interiors all seem very accurate. They also spent a lot of time on the boats (more on that below). Which is why I was scratching my head about why there were so many easily-corrected errors in the architecture, specifically the shoin-style residential buildings on the castle grounds. It's not really disputable that these are inaccurate in several major respects, and my Japanese architecture expert colleagues were laughing at them. I’m the first to acknowledge that these are geeky nitpicks, though, but since all of the show's PR touts its extreme accuracy as a major selling point, I think we can expect better. When I think about how the bad designs ended up being used, based on long experience in the film world I have a few hunches. About the lack of upward sweep of the roof eaves, a set carpenter might have balked at it. But these scenes seem to have been shot on a sound stage, with a lot of CG, and in that case it's common to use easily shaped materials like styrofoam and balsa, or to use CNC machines to shape plywood, suitably textured and finished. It wouldn't have been hard to "dummy it up" accurately, especially since these elements are never seen close-up. No need for a miya-daiku (they worked only on temples and shrines, BTW, with castles and elite residences being built by carpenters from separate guilds). But I think what we see is probably exactly what the filmmakers wanted for whatever reasons. About the totally invented large "ohiroma" reception room, with no ceiling and never-before-seen arched trusses and clerestory windows above, I think this was done for dramatic reasons, to allow light from above to highlight characters and create specific moods. (cont'd)
The Kano-style gold leaf paintings on the fusuma in that set and some other details are really good. I suspect the director felt that a historically accurate interior would have been too dark and not allow enough control of lighting. About the funeral with four white torii gates, Hiroko, who knows a LOT about Shinto, rightly points out that ceremonies sometimes combined Shinto and Buddhist elements. But there's a lot of documentation about daimyo-level ritual from the period -- literally instruction books -- and I've never seen anything remotely like what is shown. Neither have my more expert Japanese colleagues. A friend who advised on the boats for the series noted that the filmmakers rejected using a historically accurate large Japanese ship design in favor of one from an earlier era, because they liked how it looked. And that, my friends, is how it goes....
Hiroko Y: Terrific review on the important cultural aspects of Shogun. I haven't yet seen it but have read a number of reviews commenting along the same lines as you. As for Jedi and jidaigeki - thanks. You seem to have missed out YAMADA Yōji's three samurai movies of the 2000s - Twilight Samurai, The Hidden Blade and Love & Honor - the first of which starred SANADA Hiroyuki - my first time to take note of him. Very impressive. Also - beyond the Tora-san movies - of YAMADA Yōji - who lived many years post-WWII return from China in a city I lived in for many years - Ube-shi in Yamaguchi-ken (not as the Wikipedia entry says - Yamagata-ken). In fact he told an audience in Ube - around 20 years ago now - that he based the neighbourhood of Tora-san not in the Tōkyō area as is otherwise suggested - but on post-war Ube. The Last Samurai - a story destroyed by the ahistorical character of Tom Cruise - but with WATANABE Ken - and SANADA Hiroyuki to offer a glimmer of positive appreciation - was of course based on the South-West Rebellion led by Saigō Takamori in 1877. SADOWARA Suketoshi (b. 1835 Nichinan-shi - now Miyazaki-ken) the great grand-father of the Japanese wife of one of my Australian cousins fought alongside Saigō Takamori - and died in the battle in front of Kumamoto Castle at the end of March in that year. And the historical (Big River) Taiga Drama - NHK Sunday night series - the attention to historical linguistic, cultural detail of those historically set dramas is not to be dismissed - and one I did NOT see because by then I was back after many years to Australia - Hana Moyu (aspects of the life of my personal and paedagogical hero - YOSHIDA Shōin - 1830-1859). I look forward to your next instalment.
I have now found the edit control and tidied up my comment above... Jim
Thanks for the movie details!
I have yet to watch the show, but am thoroughly enjoying your articles about it.
I have a love for Japanese culture but nowhere as much knowledge as you do.
Such detail- love it!
I’m all in favor of you examining and talking about the different styles of kimono on both women and men. It teaches us more about the depth and nuance of Japanese culture and tastes of the time.