Shōgun

2024 is indeed the year I fell in love with Japanese culture and literature.  It all started with “In a Grove”, which I taught in the second-year English language syllabus in the month of June. This short story authored by Akutagawa Ryunosuke was adapted by Akira Kurosawa as “Rashomon”. I was introduced Japanese crime fiction in the year 2023 with Keigo Higashino’s “The Devotion of Suspect X”, the first in his Detective Galileo series which was followed by “Malice.” This year, I read the other three books in Detective Kaga series namely, “Newcomer”, “A Death in Tokyo” and “The Final Curtain”. 

For my classroom discussions with my students, I delved deep into the Japanese concepts like Ikigai ( purpose and reason for living ), Kaizen ( continuous improvement ), and Wabi-Sabi (accept impermanence). My exposure to Japanese culture continued when I happen to watch an interview with Francesc Miralles, the co-author of the best-selling book “Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life”. “Perfect Days” by Wim Wenders was another window into the world of Japan and the life of Hirayama. One episode in the  Netflix documentary “WWII in Color Road to Victory” presented the historical background of the Pearl Harbour attacks. 

 

Last night, I completed the first season of the series “Shōgun” in Disney Hotstar. The first season of the series had ten episodes, and the second season is expected in 2026. For me “Shōgun” was a continuation of the movie “Silence” by Martin Scorsese. Since the movie came out in 2016, and the series in 2024, the audience had to watch history topsy turvy. It is mentioned that the movie and series are  30 years apart. Both are based on highly acclaimed novels. “Silence” is based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Shūsaku Endō and “Shōgun” is adapted from the 1975 novel by James Clavell. It is interesting to note that James Clavell wrote, produced and directed “To Sir, with Love” featuring Sidney Poitier and based on E. R. Braithwaite's semiautobiographical 1959 book. He spent three years researching and writing Shōgun (1975), about an Englishman who becomes a samurai in feudal Japan.  

 

It was interesting to watch the deceitful ways Portuguese (Roman Catholics) and the Protestant Dutch fought for supremacy in a Japan which didn’t have a Central Ruler Shōgun. The series is slow paced because the Japanese life is also slow paced. Hiroyuki Sanada excels in the role of Lord Yoshii Toranaga. It was good to watch the performance of Hiroyuki Sanada after watching him in the series “Lost.” It was a treat to watch Anna Sawai as Toda Mariko. The last time I watched her perform was in Apple TV+ series “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters”. I think she has mouthed some of the best lines in the series like “Life and death are the same. Both can have value and purpose.” She talks about the Eightfold Fence which is an impenetrable wall you build within yourself. She says, “Do you know “The Eightfold Fence”? From the time we are small, it is something we are taught to build within ourselves. An impenetrable wall, behind which we can retreat whenever we need. You must train yourself to listen without hearing. For instance, you can listen to the sound of a blossom falling or the rocks growing. If you really listen, your present circumstance vanishes.” Mariko sama is more like a tour guide (translator) for John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) , the marooned sea captain. It is through Mariko-sama's  eyes; we understand the culture of Japan in detail.