Shogun is a gripping, ridiculously ambitious novel with the vast scope and political maneuvering of Game of Thrones and Stephen King’s character growth.
The book has multiple povs and delves deep into 1600 feudal Japan with reasonable historical accuracy. Yet, it stays at heart the story of one man, which is what made me really fall for this novel.
The man in question is John Blackthorne, a driven and bold naval pilot who gets stranded on the coast of Japan and taken captive by the locals. Blackthorne is soon renamed Anjin-san (Mr. Pilot) by the Japanese unable to twist their tongues around the Ls and Rs of his name and he struggles with his sudden lack of freedom and trying to keep his crew safe. Then, he catches the interest of Lord Toranaga, the eponymous Shogun of the book, a brilliant strategist and politician who is on his own quest for power. In deciding Blackthorne could prove useful for his own goals, Toranaga allows him to live and thrive.
There were other great povs: Mariko, a Japanese woman serving as Blackthorne’s interpreter, is a resourceful, fascinating character who shines even brighter in a society dominated by men.
Still, the slow trust and later tentative friendship that builds between Blackthrone and Toranaga were what kept me reading this book deep at night.
The plot is engaging, has plenty of riveting action and the politics, however complex, weren’t too hard to follow.
The other aspect of Shogun I absolutely loved though was the culture clash between western and eastern culture and the way it was portrayed.
It’s the 17th century, there are only a few westerners in Japan and the country is a confusing puzzle for Blackthorne and his crew. The Japanese bathe regularly (which every European knows is a health hazard), eat obnoxious amounts of raw fish, are quite sexually free and show a baffling disregard for human life. There were misunderstandings ensuing because of cultural and language barriers that had me rolling. Some of those scenes were truly the highlights of the book.
Get to the part where Blackthorne gets at long last some meat to eat and starts butchering a pheasant in front of the horrified locals and thank me later.
Edit: I had to specify that Blackthorne was a *naval* pilot because a lot of people were asking if he got to Japan on a hot air balloon lol
Edit 2: also u/robaato72 suggested this free PDF called ‘Learning from Shogun’, which sounds super interesting:
[http://www.columbia.edu/\~hds2/learning/index.html](http://www.columbia.edu/~hds2/learning/index.html)
It outlines the real people the characters of Shogun were based upon, gives more details of historic Japanese culture, and also provides some amusing notes on Clavell’s lack of actual knowledge of the Japanese language *(Ugokuna! Dozo!)* and more.
by TheChopinet
25 Comments
This is my ‘desert island’ book. I’ve read a dozen times and every time it feels like visiting an old friend and meeting a new friend at the same time. I know it’s white-washed and inaccurate and hokey and HIGHLY romanticized, but I love it so much.
However, despite its inaccuracy, it got me interested in the actual history of the period.
Been on my shelf for years after randomly buying it in a discount book store for a dollar despite knowing nothing about it. Def going to check it out when I’m in the mood for a such a thick book.
My favorite book to read after a good pillowing.
I think my favorite depressing part of the book is when >!Blackthorne goes back and visits his old crew. He’s gotten accustomed to the Japanese way of life and bathes regularly, but his crew doesn’t and when Blackthorne’s on his way back out of the barn they’re living in, he realizes that he’s covered in lice from the visit and tears his clothes off. The Japanese crew escorting him know almost immediately what happened and they laugh when he calls his old friends “untouchables.” Really underscores how Blackthorne has adapted over the months.!<
Unpopular opinion, but I just could not get into this book. And I’m usually all for billion page political epics. Got about 500 pages in, realized it wasn’t even half over, and quit. It’s a sun in this sub, I know.
Loved it and just started Tai Pan!
The whole Asian Saga is just peak pulpy goodness. I devoured each book. Clavell is a master of pacing these gigantic stories with tons of characters and bringing it all together, not just within each book, but across them too, with all the connections. Noble House is by far the best in my opinion, just stunning imagination and character moments.
In 1977, I was working in a 10 person bullpen in a large Western US manufacturing facility. One of the guys had read Shogun in paperback and raved about it. He cut his copy into stapled numbered sections. of approx. 25 pages. One guy started reading and then another. You had a two day limit to read your current section as the next guy was eager to get it. No spoilers allowed. Within 3 weeks, we had circulated the sections through the group and completed them. We had some interesting discussions at breaks and lunch after we were done.
I skimmed the comments, and didn’t see anyone point out that the book is loosely based on real events. Blackthorne is based on the historical exploits of William Adams. Toranaga is based on the real shogunate of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
I think I’ve read Shogun at least five times, and never become bored with it. One of the things that fascinates me is that you learn some Japanese along the way. Then, when there’s a couple of untranslated lines of dialog in Japanese, you read them with no trouble.
There’s a dogeared paperback copy of Shogun in the International Space Station. Saw it in a documentary, tucked into someone’s bunk.
> There were misunderstandings ensuing because of culture or language barriers that had me rolling.
Perhaps anjin-San wants to have sex with a duck?
Saw the miniseries when it was broadcast when I was in high school, and immediately read the novel.
The book is incredible. It’s weird that not only is the miniseries great, it doesn’t ruin the book and vice versa. It’s as if they form one whole cohesive piece of art.
I own the miniseries and watch it a couple of times a year, and reread the novel every five years or so.
It’s one of the few books I reread that I don’t skip to favorite scenes in, it’s so immersive.
*The Killer Angels* and the movie *Gettysburg* are like this also.
You lost me at “Stephen King’s character growth”.
I always thought the story was really about Toranaga, it’s just told from Blackthorne’s point of view.
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If you are interested in the actual history that Shōgun was loosely based on, there’s a free-to-read PDF book “Learning from Shogun” that can be found here: [http://www.columbia.edu/~hds2/learning/index.html](http://www.columbia.edu/~hds2/learning/index.html)
(if the link doesn’t work at first, pls. note that it is not an https link and some browsers may be set to reject those…)
The book outlines which real people the characters of Shogun were based upon, gives more details of historic Japanese culture, and also provides some amusing notes on Clavell’s lack of actual knowledge of the Japanese language *(Ugokuna! Dozo!)* and more.
Fantastic book.
I hope I am never stuck in a basement slowly filling up with rotting fish guts and seawater.
The mini series from 1980 is fun as hell and I watch it yearly.
Story is based on William Adams. In 2019 his grave was rediscovered in Japan.
I love this book and my only issue with it is that it wasn’t 200 pages longer.
I read it years ago (I’m 73) and really liked it. I’ve recently downloaded the audiobook from Overdrive. I hope I got the good narrator!
After having read it a few times now, I’d say it’s really the story of one man, Toronaga. But using the narrative of Blackthorne to drive the narrative…
Working on the new show of this book right now!
The sets are some of the biggest constructed sets I’ve worked on.
Someone gave me Shogun, Tai-Pan and King Rat recently. Haven’t read them yet. This write up has convinced me to start
It’s worth mentioning that Blackthorne is the opposite of a Mary Sue (and her racist cousin, the White Saviour), in that the larger story doesn’t revolve around him, he’s not at all hypercapable, and he doesn’t really save the day at all. His function in the story is mostly to provide a pair of Western eyes through which 17th century Japan is viewed. He’s not useless either, there are just so many people more important than him