Shogun

1411 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Abstract of japanes culture

Shogun

"Shogun" is a book written by a famous writer James Clavell telling us about the way of life, customs and traditions existing in feudal Japan in the sixteenth century and about life and adventures of one shipwrecked English ship pilot who suddenly finds himself in medieval Japan with its rival war-lords, samurai, seppuku, geishas and other things and notions looking strange and even wild for a European man.

The book's main characters are John Blackthorne, an English ship pilot of the Dutch ship "Erasmus"; a beautiful lady Toda Buntaro Mariko who falls in love with him; the most important Japanese feudal lord and warlord Yoshi Toranaga, the leader of half the country aiming at becoming Shogun (a supreme military dictator); and his rival Ishido.

The novel begins with the description of the violent storm that caught a Dutch ship "Erasmus" not far from the coast of Japan. The British pilot-major John Blackthorne with part of his crew who managed to survive find themselves on a strange island captured by strange people following strange and unknown customs and code. The ship is confiscated along with Blackthorn's stolen protégées "rutter" which I their only map home.Everything is strange and unknown for Blackthorne. He finds that the town he is in is ruled by a samurai named Omi. The author describes a terrible scene in which Omi decapitates a peasant just for nothing – for not bowing, it is shown here that in this country life costs nothing, it is also shows that disrespect can cost one's life. The samurai Omi put the pilot and his crew members into a pit that is used as a jail. It became clear to the samurai that the only captive worth dealing with was the pilot-major, Blackthorne. After the torture and death of one of the crew members and Omi's threat to do harm to other members if he misbehaves, the pilot agrees to behave. And after that he's allowed out of the pit. It is difficult for the Japanese to pronounce "Blackthorne", so Omi renames him "Anjin" which means "pilot".

When Blackthorne or Anjin realizes that he is really out of prison, he can hardly believe it. It becomes clear later that it was Toranaga who threw him into jail for the purpose of keeping him from his enemy Ishido.

Show More
Related

  • An Indepth Look at Warfare in Medieval Japan in Joseph Conlans' State of War; The Violent Order of Fourteenth Century Japan

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    Joseph Conlans “State of War; The Violent Order of Fourteenth Century Japan” is an depth look at Japans emerging warrior class during a time period of constant warfare in Medieval Japan. His work however doesn’t revolve around the re-fabrication and in-depth analysis of battles sieged like many contemporary examinations of wars and battles won and lost. Instead the author vies to navigate the reader on journey into the warrior class’s lives and how they evolved through a statistical analysis of records. This illustrates how warfare changed and transformed with the constant evolving of the Samurai, but it also includes how their actions affected their Political environment as well as the society in which they dwelled from the bottom up. Through his survey of records and documents, Conlan is able to give readers a compelling look into the Warrior class and at times shatters in the process many of the pre-conceived general notions that one may hold about this ancient class of professional warriors. Many of the notions & common misconceptions debunked in this scholarly piece include the idea that the Samurai was a male only fraternity, reserved for those of impeccable candor and loyalty. When truth be known, woman and young men (boys) were also trained in the art of war and thus were as likely to be found on the battle fields as men when times were tough and solider numbers were depleted. Further, another misconception (Generally thought to be caused by the popular and well known; “The Bushido Code: The Eight Virtues of the Samurai”) of the warrior class is that all of these men were truly Samurai which translated to “one who serves” when really, loyalty for the warrior class as Conlan points out only went as far as ones right to ...

    Read More

  • The Caste System Ideology in Akira Kurosaw’s Seven Samurai

    421 Words  | 1 Pages

    Akira Kurosaw’s Seven Samurai is a film that encompasses various ideologies in order to allow the audience to understand the lives of Japanese people during the 1600’s. The film delves deep in social issues of the roles of the people within the society, the expectations as well as the obligations within the respected castes and elements within groups of ; suffering, working together, protecting family and working for the better good of the community.

    Read More

  • Samurai

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    Musui’s Story is the exciting tale of a low class samurai’s life towards the end of the Tokugawa era. Although one would normally imagine a samurai to be a noble illustrious figure, Musui’s Story portrays the rather ignominious life of an unemployed samurai. Nonetheless, this primary account demonstrates the tenacity of samurai values and privileges present at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. The social status of samurai had been elevated to such a state that even someone like Musui was easily able to gain influence in everyday affairs with his privileges. Not only that, but he had retained his values as a warrior and still kept great pride for his arts in weaponry.

    Read More

  • The American and Japanese Trading: The Meiji Restoration

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    The samurai were the hereditary warrior class of feudal Japan who trace their creation to the “Heian period in around 794 when the capital was moved to Heian-Kyo” . The warriors were hired by wealthy landow...

    Read More

  • Influence of the Samurai on Modern Japanese Society

    1723 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout History, there have been many different groups or events that are still widely known today. Groups of people such as the Indians or Vikings are popular groups which are referenced constantly in today’s society. However, none of these groups is more known or referenced than the Japanese Samurai. Originating in 646 AD, these Japanese warriors developed from a loose organization of farmers to the dominant social class in Feudal Japan. Along with their dominant military and political standing, the samurai brought with them a unique code or moral belief that became the core of Samurai culture. Because of this, the Samurai and their principles still affect modern day Japanese society with social customs today deriving directly and indirectly from the beliefs of the Samurai.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Religion Of The Samurai

    1616 Words  | 4 Pages

    "Shoguns, Samurai, and Japanese Culture." Shoguns, Samurai, and Japanese Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

    Read More

  • Religious Freedom in Japan

    1474 Words  | 3 Pages

    Masatsusu, Mitsuyuki. 1982. The Modern Samurai Society: Duty and Dependence in Contemporary Japan. New York: AMACOM.

    Read More

  • Snow Falling on Cedars

    1653 Words  | 4 Pages

    A changing world and a sense of dominance over other groups of people allows Etta Heine’s racism towards Japanese-Americans to be explicitly evident in the novel. During the 1940’s, the predominantly Caucasian country of America was gradually changing to incorporate a cultural diversity between several groups of individuals. Etta Heine’s lack of appreciation of a changing world enables her to develop a deep hatred towards foreign groups, “Carl’s heart failed him one clear October night in 1944…Carl junior was away at the war, and Etta took advantage of this circumstance to sell the farm to Ole Jurgensen” (Guterson 115). As Etta Heine prepares to take the stand in Kabuo Miyamoto’s trial, the narrator explains how Etta’s husband passed away. After Carl’s heart failed, Etta was quick to sell the land, despite her husband’s agreement with Zenhichi, to Ole Jurgensen. This signifies Etta’s deep hatred towards Japanese people since the death of her husband was merely a tactic used in her advantage to eliminate the deal her husband made with Zenhichi. A lack of mourning over the death of her husband was expressed, enabling the reader to develop assumptions about Etta’s character. Consequently, this proves how devious, cruel, and heinous Etta can be. Etta’s hateful attributes are deeply rooted with issues of certainty and structure that cause her to develop racist ideologies. Although America allows Japanese individuals to reside in their country, the law banning Japanese people from owning lands enabled Etta to justify her actions in a court of law. This portrays that Etta is a stubborn and traditional human, who has relatively made peace with Japanese individuals occupying “Etta’s country”, yet her husband’s deal with Zenhinchi caused he...

    Read More

  • Feudal Europe and Japan similarities and differences

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    Japan lasted from 1185-1603. During that time Japan had emperors, shoguns, daimyos, samurai, and peasants who were all apart of a social class, and all together it was called the Samurai Society. The emperor was just a figurehead for the shogun. The shogun was a powerful military leader that ruled in the emperor’s name. Daimyo were powerful landlords. The daimyo often led armies of samurai. These samurai were trained professional warriors who served daimyo and shoguns. The samurai had to follow a certain code of rules for samurai called Bushido. One of their rules included to always have self-discipline to become a good samurai. The samurai warriors wore light armor, helmets (usually shaped like an animal), and had two swords around their waist. Their armor had a lot of detail and color to it, like their unique helmets. After the samurai comes the peasants, which included farmers and fishermen. They usually always work, then pay takes to the shogun. They usually gave the shogun what they earned from working like food or crops. What made their jobs a bit difficult was their topography. Japan’s topography included many mountains, undersea volcanoes, and barely any flat land to farm on. The Japanese didn’t only work they also practiced their religion. For example, they practiced Confucianism, Buddhism (...

    Read More

  • What's in a Name?

    1080 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...e, so they can be any Japanese at that time and their encounters are just a part of what all Japanese have experienced during World War Two. The second one is that having a name is a basic human right, and being deprived of the right to own a name is the most obvious symbol of their loss of identity. The author means to set the main nameless characters to attract the readers' attention and describe the hardship of Japanese Americans in the U.S at that time. This nameless application expresses that the war hurts the American Japanese deeply and also

    Read More

  • Japanese Samurai Film Genre

    632 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Seven Samurai directed by Akira Kurosawa uses many film techniques and features of the Japanese samurai film genre to engage and influence the viewing audience. The Japanese samurai film genre focuses on the physical martial arts, and is very similar to American westerns. These films are usually set in the Tokugawa era and the main characters are samurai, or Ronin. The Seven Samurai is a stereotypical Japanese samurai movie set in the Tokugawa era about a village full of farmers who hire seven samurai to protect their village from a group of bandits. Kurosawa has used many features of a typical samurai film in The Seven Samurai such as the use of the katana, the samurai were usually clean cut and are seen as socially superior and that the endings were usually described as ‘bittersweet’ as life goes on in the face of tragedy.

    Read More

  • History of Samurai

    2853 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Japanese warrior, known as the samurai, has played a significant role in Japan's history and culture throughout the centuries. Their ancestors can be traced back to as far as can be remembered. Some stories have become mysterious legends handed down over the centuries. In this report you will learn who the samurai were, their origins as we know them, how they lived and fought and their evolution to today. It will be clear why the samurai stand out as one of the most famous group of warriors of all times.

    Read More

  • Meiji Restoration

    1968 Words  | 4 Pages

    The inception of the Tokugawa Shogunate around 1600 would reduce the impact of foreign relations throughout Japanese society. This bulwark helped resist change and development in Japan, although it continued throughout the western world. Following two hundred years of self imposed seclusion from the rest of the world, the forceful re-entry of the foreigner brought about considerable change in Japan. While managing the foreign threat, there was also an imbalance of power in the current feudal system of the Tokugawa Shogunate. This imbalance created uncertainty for Japan and the imperialistic foreigners. This imbalance and uncertainty would lead to the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the emergence of the Meiji Restoration. However, to understand the transition between the current Shogunate government and the modernization through the Meiji Restoration, it is imperative to realize not only the necessity of modernization but also difficulties modernizing presented. To achieve modernization, Japan would have to abandon or modify various traditional cultural institutions and ideologies which were weakening the Japanese Nation.

    Read More

  • The Samurai And The Samurai

    1043 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Samurai class was one of the highest classes to be in medieval Japan .These elite warriors are said to be the best of the best in the system of Japanese warriors. The samurai class had a certain type of weapons used in war and their battles they had 3 different types of swords. The katana, Wakizashi, and the Yari. The swords were usually made by normal sword smiths. However, if a sword for a high ranking samurai was to be mad they would have the best sword smith in all of japan to craft the sword, spear, and dagger. The samurai had different types of armor too for each of their different classes. The shogun had his own type of amour that signified who he was the armor was decorated with a custom helmet made by the best craft man and full body suit which was also made by the top Japanese designers. The normal samurai had their own type of armor but it usually was never custom and depending on the time period. The samurai armor changed over time from a hard type of paper to copper to metal and at the end of the samurai age standard military clothing. The samurai were a class that didn’t start as a class used in army’s. The samurai were first used as personal warriors that were hired by high ranking officials or sometimes the emperor himself. It was not till an emperor decided to use them as Japan’s own army that they were used during warfare but some people still did own private samurai army’s. The two main groups with the most samurai were the Minamoto clan and the Fujiwara clan. These two clans were rivals and hated each other. The two clans had many little skirmishes but at the end the Minamoto clan won and took over as the best clan of Japan. The leader of the clan soon became the first shogun (military leader of japan) he ...

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Contrasting Elements in Yukio Mishima’s The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea

    1163 Words  | 3 Pages

    In every direction the sea rages and growls, tumbling its inhabitants in an ever-lasting rumble. Glory, honor, and duty are washed upon the glimmering golden shores of the Japanese empire. The sturdy land-bearers clasp hands with those thrown into the savage arms of the ocean. This junction of disparate milieus forms the basis of an interlocking relationship that ties conflicting elements and motifs to paint a coherent, lucid final picture. In The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea, Mishima incorporates the impact of contradictory settings of land and sea, combative ideologies of the Western and Eastern hemispheres, and inherent dissimilarities amongst the characters’ lifestyles in order to reinforce the discrepancy between his ideal Japan and the country he observed.

    Read More

More about Shogun

Open Document