Shogun

dfk41

Being an old fuddy duddy I was around in the seventies to read the James Clavell book Shogun. It was an acclaimed read, partly because the writing allowed it to explain patterns of thought behind decision making. It was followed by a film and a mini series which skimmed over the 1400 or so pages in the book.

I see FX have just released their attempt in the form of a 10 part series. I have watched the first episode and bearing in mind it is a long time ago now, seems to be sticking to the basic storyline. It might just be worth a look, especially if you have read the book!

Elcarajillo

dfk41 Read the book and have the disc somewhere.

BillyG

I remember the mini series coming out as a child, but didn’t watch it nor have I read the book. I am looking forward to the new series, will start it this weekend, thanks!

dfk41

The trailer is not the best. They speak Japanese with subtitles although a fair bit is also spoken in English.

chlorox

The original had Richard clayderman as the English pilot and It was one of the TV shows that were most memorably remembered by me from that period. I am not sure that mifune’s depiction of toranaga can be exceeded by an actor of today but ithe new version should be worth watching to see how they interpret the novel. It sounds much more gore filled than the original though from the marketing around it.

dfk41

chlorox The original had Richard clayderman as the English pilot

I think it was Richard Chamberlain…..was the bloke you mentioned not a French pianist?

Amberale

One of my enduring memories from the book and original series is of the pheasant being hung from the rafters by its tail feathers until it fell to the floor.
What may have been suitable aging of game meats in old Blighty didn’t quite work in Japan.

dfk41

Amberale That was funny, as were many other scenes. I think the original English way to hang game was by the neck and when eventually the head fell off the bird was ready! Personally, I like Pheasants 3 or 4 days old and the meat came become very ‘gamey’ with time!

chlorox

Amberale
Yes and the terrible consequences that ensued. Turned out the entire community found it socially disgraceful and his own household found it repulsive but no one could confront him about it since they were all his vassals. So the gardener volunteered to dispose of the pheasant and to Bury it, and then immediately offered himself to be beheaded by the house hold samurai as punishment for destroying the master’s pheasant. That deeply shocked anjin and he realised just how alien that culture was to his.

chlorox

dfk41
LOL Yes u r right - not clayderman but chamberlain. For some reason I keel mixing the two names up - probably because chamberlain kept appearing in mini series on TV at the time and clayderman’s piano music was popular then.

Rob666

dfk41 I think the original English way to hang game was by the neck and when eventually the head fell off the bird was ready! Personally, I like Pheasants 3 or 4 days old and the meat came become very ‘gamey’ with time!

There is a theory that the whole hanging for days/weeks business came about from the nobility giving the old birds which had been hanging for ages to the servants…
I reckon two or three days, depending on the ambient temperature, is plenty.