Shōgun is one of the greatest television series I’ve ever watched. Full stop. The biggest pain right now is knowing that award season is SO FAR AWAY. I’m already prepping my For Your Considerations.

Leading actor in a limited series: Cosmo Jarvis

Leading actor in a limited series: Hiroyuki Sanada

Leading actress in a limited series: Anna Sawai

Supporting Actor in a limited series: Tadanobu Asano (Yabushige)

Supporting Actress in a limited series: Moeka Hoshi (Fuji)

I also think Takahiro Hira (Ishido) and Fumi Nikaido (Ochiba No Kata) could get a supporting actor nominations.

It was written by my friend.

SHŌGUN (2024) Chapter Ten: A Dream of a Dream

SHŌGUN Chapter Six: Ladies of the Willow World

Shōgun (2024) | E09 — Dir. Frederick E.O. Toye

Shōgun (2024) | Episode 6 | Ladies of the Willow World

SHŌGUN (2024)

Chapter 9: Crimson Sky

SHŌGUN (2024) - Chapter Nine: Crimson Sky

Lady Ochiba Costume Design by Carlos Rosario

Lady Ochiba was all about power and wealth. The number of layers, her cotton tabis and her luxurious fabrics determined her higher rank.

Anna Sawai and Fumi Nikaido photographed by Aya Kawachi in Japan for Shōgun (2024)

Men may go to war for many reasons. Pride, conquest, greed, power. A woman is simply at war.

- Women of Shogun + Nikita Gill (poem edited and some lines added by me)

SHŌGUN (2024–) Chapter Six: Ladies of the Willow World

One of my first (but hopefully not last) contributions to the emerging trivia on Shôgun:

Lady Ochiba / Ruri, the mother of the Taiko's heir Yaechiyo, is based on Lady Yodo/Chacha (1569-1615), niece to Oda Nobunaga and second spouse of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. We see her here as the primary moving force shoring up her son's position and the patron of Toranaga's rival Ishido.

Fumi Nikaido as Lady Ochiba, Shôgun, 2024

What makes the casting of this one very interesting is that Fumi Nikaido has played the actual role of Yodo/Chacha in a similar period production, the 2014 NHK taiga drama Gunshi Kanbei (which was primarily about Kuroda Kanbei, the strategist of Hideyoshi played by Junichi Okada).

Fumi Nikaido as Yodo, Gunshi Kanbei, 2014

While there's enough hype for Toranaga (especially as he is portrayed by public favorite and producer Hiroyuki Sanada--rightfully so), I wish to highlight Fumi Nikaido's return to this role as it does help highlight the differences between how Lady Yodo is portrayed in fiction. (It does help that we have no shortage of it now--even if it's mostly in videogames like Samurai Warriors, Sengoku Basara or the more historically-faithful Nioh).

The material we have of Lady Ochiba so far is of a proud, haughty, even disrespectful woman--and perhaps it's not exactly far off from how Chacha is portrayed even in Japanese media. To some extent, even Gunshi Kanbei conceded to this especially in the episodes I'm referring with this photo--what with it precisely being the moment Yodo is fearing coming to pass. A mother seeking to protect her son's patrimony (and by extension, her agency and regency), it's a universal trope in feudal drama. What Shôgun does not give her yet (but Gunshi Kanbei took pains to establish) is the recognition that she is as much a victim of the warring era, turning her into a self-loathing monster only able to survive trying to make sense of it all, and maybe recover their agency in it. Clavell rightfully gave it to his main focus character, Lady Mariko (played very layered and well by Anna Sawai compared to her more recent outings--herself based on Hosokawa Gracia).

It truly amazes me that 10 years has yet to make much of a difference for Fumi Nikaido and this role. The woman whose position at the top was only made possible by misery and her playing by the cruel game of chaos, she portrays both versions with the edge, anxiety and palpable will of a woman who's lost everything before and is at the doorstep of losing them again.

Are you with me, Nilu (edited) + Shōgun

"Your duty is what endures. There is nothing more."

Shogun (2024) Character Posters by IGN