Historical relevance and general plotline: Portugese missionaries/traders used a secret base at Macau (near present day Hong Kong) and Japanese mercenaries (Ronin) to run guns, infiltrate, and destabilize Japan in order to pit warlord against warlord in order to establish additional "missions" with the intent of installing a Catholic-controlled elite to control Japan while controlling all international trade routes and profiting handsomely. [missionaries appeared to be Jesuits, series starts around 1598 with some flashbacks to ~1568]
Neither side paid any attention to Pope Alexander's bulls.[7] Instead, they negotiated the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, which moved the line further west to a meridian 370 leagues west of the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands, now explicitly giving Portugal all newly discovered lands east of the line.[11]
During the age of discovery Portuguese sailors explored the coasts of Africa and Asia. The sailors later established posts at Goa in 1510, and conquered Malacca in 1511, driving the Sultan to the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula from where he kept making raids on the Portuguese. The Portuguese under Jorge Álvares landed at Lintin Island in the Pearl River Delta of China in 1513 with a hired junk sailing from Portuguese Malacca. They erected a stone marker at Lintin Island claiming it for the King of Portugal, Manuel I.
Sounds like the series is pretty accurate then, I know they’ve gone to great lengths to make sure everything is historically accurate. The show has been fantastic.
Better than the original mini-series from the 1980s that appeared to have been cut short. I went back and watched the older one, and it appeared to be very, very compressed into just four episodes. Original source material book is probably much richer than the shows, but I have not read it.
However, it gives a different view of the same events. What I notice is the Sun Tzu adagium to keep your plans dark and appear weak when you are strong are well shown.
Historical relevance and general plotline: Portugese missionaries/traders used a secret base at Macau (near present day Hong Kong) and Japanese mercenaries (Ronin) to run guns, infiltrate, and destabilize Japan in order to pit warlord against warlord in order to establish additional "missions" with the intent of installing a Catholic-controlled elite to control Japan while controlling all international trade routes and profiting handsomely. [missionaries appeared to be Jesuits, series starts around 1598 with some flashbacks to ~1568]
Full series: https://moviesjoy.is/tv/shogun-106618z
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter_caetera
History of Macau: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Macau
Sounds like the series is pretty accurate then, I know they’ve gone to great lengths to make sure everything is historically accurate. The show has been fantastic.
Better than the original mini-series from the 1980s that appeared to have been cut short. I went back and watched the older one, and it appeared to be very, very compressed into just four episodes. Original source material book is probably much richer than the shows, but I have not read it.
This show deviates tremendously from the book.
However, it gives a different view of the same events. What I notice is the Sun Tzu adagium to keep your plans dark and appear weak when you are strong are well shown.
You are going to love the next couple episodes. Episode 8 insane Sun Tzu:
I've never seen the Richard Chamberlain series, but I've heard it's good. I'm tempted to read the book but I know it's very long.