With the surprise hit from FX, the Japanese historical fiction miniseries: "Shogun," coming to an end after the release of its 10th and final episode, Hiroyuki Sanada shares a retrospective angle regarding his role in the show as the indomitable Lord Yoshii Toranaga.
An adaptation of James Clavell's 1975 best-selling novel of the same name, the epic series is set in feudal Japan in the 1600s and finds Sanada's character, Toranaga, amid a life-threatening conflict against enemies that united against him.
Toranaga himself is an iteration of a real-life historical figure named Tokugawa Ieyasu, the famed shogun who reunified the island nation following long periods of civil war known as the Warring States or Sengoku period.
On Playing Lord Yoshii Toranaga in 'Shogun'
As per Sanada's statement to CNN, his character is as mysterious as he is strategic, whilst still bearing the highly respectable quality of a "family man" and a "human being," which puts him outside the archetypical samurai character.
The 63-year-old Japanese actor is also undertaking the producer role in addition to being cast in a headlining role, relishing in the opportunity to introduce his nation's culture to the world "correctly," as opposed to Hollywood's often incorrect depictions.
From costumes, hair, makeup, and even gestures, Sanada said they employed the best Japanese experts on samurai dramas alongside Western crew members to craft a world that is perfectly rooted in authentic history and culture.
One of Japan's finest actors with over six decades of experience, Sanada even took it upon himself to coach the younger actors to properly speak the dialogue apt for the period.
In line with this cultural focus, he said that they leaned more on the Japanese language when it came to the script, as opposed to the approach of the previous 1980 TV adaptation of the book that focused more on the shipwrecked Englishman John Blackthorne.
"This time we put more Japanese lenses to the script," Sanada shared. "Not only through blue eyes," adding that perhaps this is the reason why it spoke to such a huge audience.
