Shogun World, A Westerners Perception Of Edo Era Japan

Published May 21, 2018 · Updated July 6, 2022

Guys (and Gal),

I think the specific historical setting of Shogun World is at the START of the Edo period (early 17th century CE).

As Big D mentioned on the Instacast, the Edo period is seen in Japanese history as a time of peace, stability and artist flowering, which resulted in world cultural icons like Hokusai’s Great Wave pic. For a western comparative, this period was similar to the Roman Empire period of the “Pax Romana” (Roman peace) in the early CE era.That been said the rise of the Tokugawa shogunate at the start of the Edo period (in the early 17th century CE) was far from peaceful.

The key point I want to make, is the view in the west of pre-Meiji Restoration Japan (before 1868) is all about katana’s, ninja’s and samurai’s. This perception was popularized by movies such as Ran (1985) (a Japanese retelling of the King Lear story) by the famous Japanese’s director Kurosawa and by novels like “Shogun” by James Carvell and the subsequent 1980’s mini series with Richard Chamberlain. I am seeing a very disturbing commonality in the settings of all the worlds we have seen this season – a very western, imperialist and anarchic view that aligns with the perceptions of the target market (guests who are mainly rich white Europeans and Americans).

On a separate but related topic – Shogun World clicked in my CPU that an underlying theme for this season is that to get to a period of peace (the valley beyond, a Blue Tongue free herd, or Maeve’s reunion with her child) violence and destruction is required – aka Edo period Japan after a long period of chaos, the great 19th western expansion followed the US Civil War, the perceived “golden age” of Raj India after the Sepoys 1857 rebellion.

Keep safe from the Blue Tongue and talk soon!

Regard
Tom Finn from Chicago.

P.S. Fun fact -Edo was the old name for Tokyo – it was changed in 1868 when the shogunate was replaced.

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