July the 9th 1983, SHOGUN, a weekly TV show
that would not only fascinate America, but also the whole of France, was released on
the French TV channel TF1. In this series, a Dutch ship steering by the
English navigator John Blackthorne, ran agroud on the coast of Japan in the 17th century
following a storm. Filth will you obey me! The Jesuits living on the island for decades,
wanted to keep their influence and tried to discredit the one that the Japanese will call
Anjin-San. They saw him as a rival, accusing him of piracy
and had him thrown in jail. Blackthorne's navigation books and maps were
confiscated by the Jesuits so that they could maintain their commercial and religious exclusivity with Japan. But Toranaga, general-in-chief of the eastern
armies, wanting to reach the rank of Shogun, took an interest in Anjin-San, then an affection
for him. Seeing that the latter does not trust the
translation made by the Jesuits, Toranaga calls upon Mariko, in order to establish a
direct communication without filters. A long romance will be established between
the two characters, in which Anjin-San, will learn with pain the customs and codes of a
Japan he does not know. Anjin-San will reveal to Toranaga, the existence
of a treaty written by the pope, in whitch, Spain and Portugal share all the new discovered, lands including Japan. Toranaga will make Anjin-San climb the hierarchical
ladder of the Japanese society, in exchange, for his knowledge in politics and military
strategies, so that Toranaga can defeat the current shogun, and thus take his place. Anjin-San has risen as a flash in the Japanese’s
society, so Toranaga made him a Samurai. A series that fascinated a whole generation
forever. You will learn about the conditions under
which the series was released and how the Americans were able to work closely with the
Japanese teams. I will tell you the behind-the-scenes stories
of the 1980 TV series, SHOGUN. It all starts in 1975, James Clavell signed
a novel entitled SHOGUN, it takes place, in the 17th century and tells the ascension of
Toranaga, a Japanese lord, who will rise to the rank of Shogun, general and military governor of the country, the Shogun is in the 17th century, the only leader of Japan. Toranaga will use the technical and shipbuilding
knowledge of John Blackthorne, an English sailor who ran aground on the coast of Japan,
to overthrow the current Shogun and take his place The novel is based on the true story of William Adams, also known in Japan as Anjin-Sama, who wanted to trade with Japan and was taken
in by Ieyasu Tokugawa, a local lord, who used Adams' knowledge to become Shogun. Adams will be the first European to rise to the rank of Samurai, and then become a high Japanese dignitary.
The novel sells millions of copies and quickly becomes a bestseller, so much that NBC and Paramount want to adapt it as a television mini-series. On February 9th, 1979, Gary Nardino, Paramount's TV programs director hired Eric Bercovici, screenwriter of many episodes of “Hawaii Five-0” and “Man from Uncle”, to write the script for the future series. Bercovici, with the agreement of James Clavell, will rewrite the whole story while remaining faithful to the novel, but from the exclusive point of view of John Blackthorne this script trick allows the spectator to plonge into the story, making the audience the direct witness of Blackthorne discovers. Jerry London was chosen by James Clavell and Eric Bercovici to direct the entire series. James Clavell wants the British actor Sean Connery to play the role of John Blackthorne, but having never made television, Sean declines the offer the production also approaches Roger Moore and Albert Finney, but also without success, because it wants someone known, someone famous. At the end of the 70s, the actor Richard Chamberlain performs at the theater, someone advices him backstage to read the book Shogun, it could be an interesting role for the actor, even if the novel is a bestseller, Chamberlain has never heard of it. It was his destiny, this role is made for him and Chamberlain will do everything to get the role of John Blackthorne. He went to Paramount's offices wearing a false beard and speaking in a throaty voice. Despite the reluctance of James Clavell who wanted Sean Connery, Eric Bercovici scriptwriter and co-producer on the series hires him, because the actor has a wide popularity, especially through his interpretation of Dr. Kildare in the eponymous series that made him very famous, but also for his interpretation of the Earl of Monte Christo in 1975. Richard Chamberlain will play at the age of 45 years the English sailor John Blackthorne. 6 months before the beginning of the shooting Frank Cardea executive producer of the series, Eric Bercovici, Jerry London, and James Clavell also producer on the series, fly to Japan, in order to locate the various places of shootings and to gather the Japanese casting. They discovered a beautiful little wild bay, so Owase Bay, now called Miura Beach in Mie Prefecture, was set up as a the film location, the main place of John Blackthorne's arrival on Japanese soil. Bulldozers will then create a path to access the bay. Fishermen's huts are built, as well as a whole village representing a small Japanese fishing harbor of the 17th century, called Anjiro. The constructions are handmade by real Japanese craftsmen. One week before the first shooting, the actress who was to play Mariko left on tour and left, so the whole production was stuck. Jerry London contacts Paramount, the straight answer, to take an American actress and to dress her as a Japanese. For Jerry, this makes no sense and would discredit everything they have fought for until now. A casting is organized at short notice and the choice is made for the Japanese actress Yoko Shimada, but speaking very bad English, Luca Bercovici is in charge of giving her diction lessons. The village is responsible for Anjin-San, he told them that if you did not make any improvement within 6 months the village would be burned. Frankie Sakai, a Japanese actor and musician very well known in Japan, was hired thanks to his English language ability, which allowed him to get the role of Lord Yabu. Frankie will help a lot the production, making the link between the Japanese and the Americans. The production could not afford to pay the Japanese actors are not paid as much as the American ones, that's why the Japanese couldn’t afford to leave their work and came to shoot the scenes during their free time, it was a real headache for the production. Part of the technical team and actors are housed in Kii Nagashima, and were not able to receive the whole team, then the others went in hostel. Toshiro Mifune is at that time an international star, having played in many films by Akira Kurosawa, including the 7 Samurai, but also in Red Sun an international production with Alain Delon and Charles Bronson The actor also knows how to ride a horse and handles a sword to perfection, so the production hired him because he is a bankable star, but the very tight schedule of the actor Mifune, forces the production to adapt it. Indeed the actor is not committed to the entire series and the production must constantly renegotiate the availability of the actor, depending on the days he can come to the shooting of the series. According to Jerry London, Mifune does not have the majestic presence in life that he has in his films, but when he puts on his costume, he is inspired, with an aura that transcends the character he plays, because Mifune does not play the role of Lord Toranaga, he is Toranaga. The Golden Hinde, a replica of Francis Drake's ship, was rented by the production to play the role of the Erasmus, a ship piloted by John Blackthorne. The ship was equiped with an engine and left England, stopped in San Francisco and in Yokohama and then came to anchor in Owase Bay to serve as the main set for the series. Then the ship is made up to look like a ship of the 17th century, the real crew is also wearing period clothing. The shootings at sea are a real challenge, ordeal for the technical team and the actors. Toranaga's galley was built in Japan especially for the needs of the series, but the Japanese have not built one for nearly 300 years, the ship pitches a lot, giving nausea to its passengers. In addition, the overwhelming heat with a humidity level close to 100% forced the actors to change clothes several times during the day. On the shooting of the scenes at sea, Richard Chamberlain seems absent and detached, indeed the actor removes remains sensless, and economizes himself, because he knows perfectly well that he must hold a day of 12 hours of shooting in full humidity under an overwhelming heat. Unlike John Rhys-Davies who works like an electrical cell, but around noon the actor no longer has the energy, seems tired and ends the day exhausted. The day after shooting, a typhoon hit the small bay of Owase, destroying the whole set in its path. The production would later learn that this is a well known way of typhoons. In order to fill the language’s gap, no less than 14 interpreters were hired to bridge the gap between the American and Japanese teams, but there was always a semantic loss in the translation. Then, during the first month, the production team realized that 50 words were enough to communicate between the two teams. They learned them and invented a vocabulary that went straight to the point, so they could speak directly to their listeners and not to an interpreter. The emblem of the Toranaga clan, used in the series is derived from an authentic coat of arms, belonging to the clan of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, Daimyo, and great unifier of Japan during the Sengoku period, the particularity of the lords attached to the Toyotomi clan, are recognizable because their coats of arms are composed for the most part of 3 leaves of Kashiwa oak which interpenetrate. The emblem of the Toyotomi clan is still present in Japan, because it became the official logo of the 1st Japanese minister. In the 17th century the Japanese armies, although they have visual recognition signs classified by colors, the Samurai do not have uniforms as such, but in order to tell the story of the series Shogun or 2 clans clash, the production decides to assign uniforms to soldiers, to differentiate the two sides, making the story clearer for viewers, so thousands of costumes are custom and handmade for actors The kimonos worn by Richard Chamberlain are made of pure silk by the costume designer Shin Nishida, who is also the set designer and paints some of the frescoes in the series. Some exterior scenes are filmed in Himeji castle, in Harima province, which happens to be the former palace of Toyotomi, which for the needs of the series will become the palace of Toranaga. The series is also known for 2 violent scenes that have marked the minds, scenes that I will not show you, for reasons that you would understand. When they arrived at Toho Studios, the only studio with the infrastructure to host such a production, the Americans found the place unhealthy. Indeed, the Toho studio had its hours of glory, but it had fallen into disuse, with equipment that had been outdated for several years and the American technicians were used to work with their own equipment that they had specially brought from the United States. The Americans adapt to the shooting conditions, the camera supports are rather archaic, but this is enough for the production. The storm scenes on board the Erasmus, the ship piloted by Anjin-San, were shot in a tank set up in the Toho studios, in order to receive a replica of the ship for the distant shots during the storm. A part of the ship is also reconstituted at scale 1, for the close-up shots. For the small anecdote the scenes at sea make so much noise due to the explosions of electric arc simulating the lightning, that the neighbors of the studio complain. Toshiro Mifune wrote a letter to them to calm their spirits and James Clavell promised them a translation of his novel into Japanese as well as a few bottles of sake. The Toho studios do not have air-conditioning and the actors' make-up is constantly running and they are regularly sponged. The days of filming are so joinded and the whole team begins to show signs of fatigue because of its long days and nights of trying shooting. After more than 130 days of intensive shooting, the team relaxes, and finally sees the end, millions of meters of 35 mm film were shot. The American team left Japan in December 1979, to return back home. Several editing teams worked in parallel to edit the 10 episodes of 55 minutes. NBC watched the series, but after the 4th episode, it was alerted, indeed the series contains many scenes in Japanese language and not translated, which was one of Eric Bercovici's wishes, in order to make the series more authentic, on the one hand, but not only, Bercovici wished that by watching the series SHOGUN the public learns, 2 or 3 words of Japanese at the same time as Anjin-San. Japanese is actually a very simple language, you already learned a lot in a very short time. For a while, subtitles were mentioned, but they were abandoned in favor of captions during the discussions in Japanese explaining the place and the action. The music of the credits is composed by Maurice Jarre. September the 15th, 1980, the first episode is broadcast on the NBC channel and quickly becomes a success, the ratings go up and does not cease to climb as the episodes are broadcasted, America stops, restaurants and cinemas lose a lot of money, because everyone goes home to watch of the adventures of John Blackthorne aka Anjin-San. The series had many awards, among which, best television series, best costumes and best actor and actress for Richard Chamberlain and Yoko Shimada. TF1 French national TV, broadcast the series only in 1983. Claude Giraud will dub the voice of Anjin-San, who also the voice of Ulysses 31. Yes, it is our custom to be paid, lord, and receive a share of everything we take from the enemy. Orson Wells, the original narrator will be replaced by Jean-Claude Balard. And finally return to American waters this ship was the ERASMUS. Mariko will be dubbed by Jeanine Forney. You are still thinking in your language, if you want to understand Japanese, you must think in Japanese. And Rodriguez by Serge Sauvion, who also dubs Lieutenant Columbo. That's what the word means! Samurai means to serve and if you make the slightest mistake, they serve you your head on a platter. The series is in several ways historical, because it is inspired by the true story of the navigator, William Adams Adams died in Hirado at the age of 56, and never will see his first wife again or his children living in England. Locked up in a cosy Jail, the Tokugawa Shogun alias Toranaga in the series, will keep him on Japanese soil until the end of his life, so that he can continue to deliver all his technical knowledge in shipbuilding and military strategies. His memory is kept alive in Japan, by the street named Anjin-Dori and his tomb is in the city Hirado. A festival is celebrated every year in Japan to pay tribute to the memory of William Adams, better known in Japan as Miura Anjin.
