Shōgun

Yoshii Toranaga is a powerful bushō from a feared lineage.

As a young man, Toranaga didn't have the most powerful army, but he had a keen mind for strategy and bested warlords twice his age with armies twice the size of his own. He seemed unstoppable — until he met Nakamura, the soon to be Taikō. Unable to best the peasant warlord, Toranaga joined forces with Nakamura, helping him to unite Japan and end the decades of civil war.&nbsp;When the Taiko was on his deathbed, he appointed Toranaga to the Council of Regents, a group that would rule until his son came of age. Toranaga serves loyally on the Council, but the other members have slowly united against him, seeing his power as a threat.With war looming, Toranaga may find the key to survival in two unexpected allies, the barbarian pilot Blackthorne, and the outcasted noblewoman, Mariko.

Yoshii Toranaga is based on the historical figure Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of Japan's most famous warlords. Born at Okazaki Castle in 1543 as the eldest son of Matsudaira Hirotada and Odai-no-kata, he was given the name Takechiyo as a child. The Matsudairas were warlords from Mikawa (present-day eastern half of Aichi Prefecture), with an ancient lineage said to date back to the Minamoto shōguns.When Takechiyo was a child, the Matsudaira clan was in a precarious position, with the Oda clan invading from the west, and the Imagawa clan from the east. Hirotada allied with the Imagawa clan, but because his wife’s family was allied with the Odas, the couple divorced, separating young Takechiyo from his mother at the age of three.Takechiyo spent his childhood as a hostage, captured by the Odas at 6 years old, during which time his father died. When he turned 8, Takechiyo became a hostage of the Imagawa Clan, and was treated well because of his father’s prior loyalty. Takechiyo took the name Motoyasu, and married his captor’s niece, Princess Sena (later Lady Tsukiyama), becoming an important vassal of Imagawa Yoshimoto, the clan’s leader.

After fighting his first battle for Yoshimoto at 17, he led an attack against Oda Nobunaga (Kuroda in Shōgun) at the Battle of Okehazama when he was 20. When this battle ended in defeat, Motoyasu fled to his family’s former stronghold of Okazaki Castle, reclaiming his position as ruler. When the Imagawa forces weren’t enough to stop the Oda army, Motoyasu changed sides and allied with Oda Nobunaga.At this time, Motoyasu changed his name to Ieyasu, dropping the kanji 'moto' he had received from his former captor, Yoshimoto. Now an enemy of the Imagawas, he attacked their strongholds and strengthened his position in the Mikawa region.&nbsp;After defeating the Imagawas, the fierce local nobility in Mikawa, and the militant followers of the Ikkō-ikki sect, in 1566 Ieyasu changed his family name to Tokugawa. With this noble name he was formally recognized by the emperor as the ruler of Mikawa.But his troubles were far from over, as the powerful warlord Takeda Shingen invaded his domain. 'He was badly defeated and fled to Hamamatsu Castle, but his life was saved when Shingen died on his way back from the battle.

Meanwhile, Ieyasu proved to be a loyal ally of Nobunaga. The alliance between the two clans was sealed by the marriage of Nobunaga's daughter Tokuhime to Ieyasu's eldest son, Nobuyasu. The marriage, however, proved to be detrimental.&nbsp;Fed up with her stepmother, Tokuhime wrote a letter to her father informing him that Lady Tsukiyama was secretly corresponding with the Takeda clan. When Ieyasu learned of these accusations, he promptly killed his wife and forced his son to commit seppuku, thus maintaining his alliance with Nobunaga.

The combined armies of the Oda and Tokugawa would then take on Shingen's son, Katsuyori, decisively defeated him at the Battle of Nagashino, later destroying the Takeda family forever. During this time, Ieyasu supported Nobunaga's efforts to unify the country and fought many battles at his side.However, in 1582, when Nobunaga was at the height of his power, one of his generals, Akechi Mitsuhide (Akechi Jinsai in Shōgun), betrayed him and attacked the Honnōji temple in Kyoto. Outnumbered, Nobunaga committed seppuku. Ieyasu fled, and assisted by shinobi, he embarked on a perilous journey, crossing the mountains of Iga and returning to Mikawa by sea.He consolidated his position by taking possession of the Kai and Shinano domains, then marched to confront Akechi, only to find that Toyotomi Hideyoshi (the Taikō in Shōgun), another of Nobunaga's generals, had already defeated him.&nbsp;Hideyoshi had subdued the other generals and taken power for himself. Ieyasu confronted Hideyoshi's army at the Battle of Komaki-Nagakute, and although the battle ended in Ieyasu's favor, he was unable to overcome Hideyoshi's power and submitted to his rule.After assisting Hideyoshi in his conquest of Odawara, Ieyasu was ordered to move to the Kanto region, where he built the castle and city of Edo from scratch as his new stronghold. While remaining loyal to Hideyoshi, he concentrated on extending his power eastward and biding his time.Ieyasu had many concubines. In particular, Lady Acha (Kiri no kata in Shōgun) is known to have taken care of the family's affairs and to have followed him wherever he went, even to the battlefields.Meanwhile, Hideyoshi chose Ieyasu as one of his council of five regents to care for his infant son, Hideyori, after his death. When Hideyoshi died in 1598, Ieyasu soon became the most powerful of the regents, incurring the wrath of the other regents and the five ministers, of whom Ishida Mitsunari (Ishido Kazunari in Shōgun) was the most influential.Ieyasu settled in the West Palace of Osaka Castle to rule the country in the name of Hideyori, but there he found himself in a situation of intrigue and assassination plots. It is in this period that the show begins.

A barbarian ship washes ashore.Host Emily Yoshida and guests break down episode 1 of FX’s Shōgun. Featuring showrunner Justin Marks, actor Hiroyuki Sanada "Toranaga," historian Frederik Cryns and costume designer Carlos Rosario. From cultural bonding and falcon training to dressing samurai and Dutch sailors, join them as they discuss the first chapter to the epic tale.

Episode 1 - Anjin

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Lord Yoshii Toranaga is a powerful bushō from a feared lineage.

Lord Toranaga in full busho armor standing in front of his war camp amid torchlights

Yoshii Toranaga | FX's Shōgun

The Legend

Historical Background

Episode 1 - Anjin

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Blackthorne

Mariko

Yabushige