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IsShoguna Japanese show or an American one?
Im not sure there has ever been anything quite like it.
The Japanese protagonists, in contrast, are regal, cunning, and in command of their own destiny.
Japanese history, very roughly speaking, can be described as alternating between periods of war and peace.
In this Japan, the courtesans killed one another in their sleep.
Shogunis set on the cusp between war and peace at the tail end of the Sengoku period.
Japans ruler has died and been succeeded by an heir who is too young to govern.
So Toranaga and Blackthorne become dependent on each other for survival.
Meanwhile, Toranaga is engaged in a constant thrust and parry with the council.
As Mariko explains, Accepting death isnt surrender.
Flowers are only flowers because they fall.
But other works of art take a less rosy view of Japans cult of beauty.
Take KurosawasRan, set at nearly the same time.
InShogun, this admiration for the Japanese way betrays all kinds of hidden American yearnings.
