Shogun (novel)

:This page is about the James Clavell novel. For other meanings of Shogun, see Shogun (disambiguation).

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Shōgun is the first novel in James Clavell's Asian Saga.

Related Topics:
Novel - James Clavell - Asian Saga

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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.

Related Topics:
Japan - 1600 - Tokugawa Ieyasu - Shogunate - William Adams

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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.

Related Topics:
Japan - Kanto - Tokyo

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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.

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The novel has been adapted as a television miniseries, a Broadway musical, and several computer games, including an Infocom text adventure.

Related Topics:
Television miniseries - Broadway - Infocom - Text adventure

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