Shōgun stars on achieving "authenticity": "It was a big responsibility"

Set in 1600s Japan, the series follows Hiroyuki Sanada's Lord Yoshii Toranaga as he struggles for complete power in the midst of a civil war and an uprising against his rulership.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com, Sanada opened up about how important it was for the project to have a sense of "authenticity" when it came to representing Japanese culture.

"It was a great opportunity to introduce our culture and spirit to the world. That's why we try to make it authentic as much as possible.

"It was a great cooperation between the western and Japanese crew, together with the actors as well. It was a great experience for me," he said.

Sanada, who western audiences will recognise from The Last Samurai, The Wolverine and John Wick: Chapter 4, is also a producer on the project, which was adapted by Top Gun: Maverick's Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks.

The actor revealed how having control behind the camera allowed him to infuse authenticity by hiring Japanese crew members.

"As producer, I could hire a Japanese crew, the specialist for the samurai drama, experts for each department; wig, costume, props, master of gesture, the ceremony master," he explained.

"We had a great team that was so helpful to create the authentic drama on set.

"The preparations as a producer helped my role as an actor, as well. After preparing everything I was so comfortable and confident to stand in front of the camera. To just be there and stay in character and that's it, just simple and joyful, I really enjoyed that balance."

Fellow Shōgun cast member Cosmo Jarvis, who plays English pilot John Blackthorne, added: "I was vaguely aware of the subject matter, and especially after understanding the amount of pride that was going into manifesting this world and the story.

"It was a big responsibility, which was a great encouragement for everybody to try and do their best work, and so it was a challenge, but it was a good challenge."

Anna Sawai, who plays Toda Mariko, also stressed how important authenticity was during her initial talks with Marks and Kondo.

"I was afraid of getting into my first conversion with Justin. He made it clear he wanted to do it with more authenticity, more accuracy, and he wanted to learn from Japanese people," she revealed.

"What I learned from him is that he is so confident in his work and able to just trust the Japanese people to guide him. I've met a lot of people who are so precious about their work that they can’t do that."

She added: "Justin and Rachel were not like that at all, they wanted to learn and wanted us to tell them if anything was wrong, even if it was in the background.

"They just wanted to delegate to the Japanese consultant, and it was just mind-blowing to just watch them do that."

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Shōgun premiered on Disney Plus on Tuesday 27th February with its first two episodes, with future episodes released weekly. You can sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now.

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