As if her character might get any cooler, Mariko is definitely based mostly on a real-life lady named Hosokawa Gracia, a Japanese noblewoman and Christian convert. A courageous and honourable lady, when her father and his males had been killed in battle, she took of their daughters and widows as her ladies-in-waiting, giving them a spot in court docket — a element not within the books that Frederik subtly included within the present. Her personal dying later was, in truth, a catalyst for the Battle of Sekigahara, the most important and most essential battle in Japanese feudal historical past, which in the end ushered in a brand new, peaceable period.
Some audiences had been additionally stunned to see Mariko wield a spear within the present, assuming it was fictionalised for dramatic impact, however the scene is lots much less farfetched than one may think. “Highborn ladies discovered the artwork of the naginata and would all the time have a dagger with them to guard themselves in the event that they wanted,” mentioned Frederik.
As for her costume, Carlos needed her to seem “ghost-like” to start with as she navigated her disgraced previous. “The primary uchikake (formal Japanese gown), she wears has hand-painted curves on it in gray, black and gold, symbolising snow overlaying grass, however as she finds her goal as a translator, her costume begins to bloom with camellias to signify her discovering her personal voice and reality,” he mentioned.
OCHIBA
FX
Woman Ochiba, or the queen regent to the inheritor in Shogun, was based mostly on Yodo-no-kata, a samurai princess and daughter of a robust warlord. Her position within the present is likely to be probably the most advanced, as she tried to take care of her seat of energy by manipulating the warring lords to do her bidding. Maybe probably the most delicate dynamics depicted is the one between Ochiba and the Daiyoin — the previous queen who failed to provide a viable male inheritor for the late Taiko, or emperor. The connection will not be explicitly defined within the present, and is one fairly particular to how ladies revered one another in feudal Japan. Many viewers, together with myself, had been left scratching our heads — shouldn’t there be bitter in-fighting between the 2 ladies primarily occupying the identical seat? “In Japan, it’s the very reverse,” explains Frederik. “The clan, and the title of the home comes first, so there are lots of cases of the authorized spouse taking in and defending a concubine’s son to make sure that there be an inheritor to the home.” Shogun has proven, time and time once more, that one in every of its ladies’s biggest strengths is their capacity to place apart their very own ego for the better good. Within the final moments of the collection, Ochiba sends one fateful letter to Toranaga asserting her change of loyalties, which modifications the whole course of the conflict — and historical past.
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