Shogun (novel) Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Shōgun is the first novel in James Clavell's Asian Saga. It is set in feudal Japan somewhere around the year 1600 and gives a highly fictionalized account of the rise of Tokugawa Ieyasu to the Shogunate, seen through the eyes of an English sailor whose fictional heroics are loosely based on William Adams' exploits.
John Blackthorne (given the nickname Anjin , meaning pilot, by the Japanese since they couldn't pronounce his name), pilot and acting captain of the Dutch trading ship Erasmus, is shipwrecked on the coast of Japan. He enters the service of Toranaga, a powerful feudal warlord who rules over the Kanto plain, the site of modern-day Tokyo, and falls in love with Mariko, a convert to Christianity who's torn between her new religion and her native culture, which rejects Christianity.
Despite an inhospitable welcome, Blackthorne slowly gains an understanding of the Japanese people and their culture, and eventually learns to deeply respect it. The Japanese also grow to respect the 'barbarian' and he is eventually granted the status of samurai.
The novel has been adapted as a movie, a television mini-series, a Broadway musical, and an Infocom computer game.
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2 Movie 3 Computer games 4 See also |
The freely available PC games can be downloaded from the-underdogs.org:
James Clavell's Shogun
and
Shogun (Mastertronic).
"Shogun - Total War" can only be found freely available as a demo version.Key to characters
These characters in Shogun are based on historical figures:Movie
Two television series versions of the novel have been made. The first series was 12 episodes of approximately 40 minutes and starring Richard Chamberlain. A second version was released condensing the 12 episodes down to only two.Computer games
There have been three games released by the name of Shogun. Two text-based adventure games (with sparse graphics) for the Amiga and PC, and a 3D war strategy game (titled Shogun - Total War) released around 2002. While the first game is true to the story, the second is an Real Time Strategy war game where troops are archers, horsemen, etc.