Overnight, U.S. television show “Shogun” has gone from contender to champion. On Sunday, the show set at the end of Japan's Sengoku Period received four Emmy Awards in drama, including the award for outstanding drama series, directing, outstanding lead actress and outstanding lead actor. Last week, the show received 14 Creative Arts Emmys, given for technical achievements, the most ever for a show in a single season.
The sweeping period piece is adapted from the bestselling 1975 novel of the same name by British author James Clavell, which is in turn a fictionalization of the historical events surrounding the end of the Sengoku Period (1482-1573). John Blackthorne, known as “Anjin” to the show’s Japanese characters and played by Cosmo Jarvis, is an English navigator who winds up in Japan and unwittingly falls under the protection of one of its most powerful lords, Yoshii Toranaga, played by Hiroyuki Sanada, who’s aided by his interpreter, Toda Mariko, played by Anna Sawai.
The show reportedly spent 10 years in production and is rumored to be the most expensive in the network’s history. The FX production has received critical and fan praise for its attention to detail, large Japanese cast and majority Japanese-language dialogue, and for offering a full ensemble alternative to a white savior-centered narrative.
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