Frederik Cryns brings the history of Shogun to life in this breezy biography of the real John Blackthorne.
In The Service of the Shogun by Frederik Cryns, Reaktion Books, 214 pgs. plus notes
Enter The Anjin
Frederik Cryns has blood on his hands. Specifically, horse blood. As the primary historical consultant on the Sengoku Era for Shogun (a role he’s filled for domestic jidaigeki in Japan), Cryns, a Dutch-born, Japanese-resident scholar at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, was behind a major change to James Clavell’s novel in episode 4 of Shogun. Yes, that one, as recounted in the Official Podcast by host Emily Yoshida for the same episode. But when he’s not masterminding the evisceration of men and animals with chain-shot in our favorite drama, Cryns studies the historical interactions between Westerners and Japanese in the pre-modern era. Fortunately, his latest work, In The Service of the Shogun: The Real Story of William Adams, has arrived this summer at a halfway point between Shogun‘s glorious conclusion in April and its inevitable winning of a boatload of Emmys in September.
I Have No Lords
While not an official tie-in with play-by-play comparisons to the show or novel, Cryns speaks highly of Clavell’s work and the book is endorsed by none other than Justin Marks, the co-runner and head writer with Rachel Kondo of Shogun. What emerges is an engaging and efficient historical narrative that combines scholarly rigor and references to multiple perspectives with clear prose and an avoidance of jargon. Aided by his immense facility in a variety of European languages as well as Japanese, Cryns traces the life of William Adams, Clavell’s model for John Blackthorne, from youth in England to his service to the Tokugawa and fall from favor in late middle age. What emerges is a portrait of a contradictory man; more capable and principled than the show’s John Blackthorne, but equally afflicted by restlessness and wanderlust; torn between admiration for and assimilation to his new home with a fidelity to the old one that he never quite abandoned.
Hatamoto-ing
Along the way, we learn fascinating details about Adams himself, the panoply of mishaps his crew endured in their voyage, and the complexities of European engagement with Japan, where for fifteen years Adams, with diplomatic finesse rather than swashbuckling valor, skillfully furthered the interests of the Dutch and English through his relationship with Ieyasu while marginalizing the often-blundering Portuguese and Spanish. Bucking modern expectations, the Adams of these pages comes across as neither white savior nor arrogant colonizer but a man of humility and deep experience who often clashed with his own countrymen over their shabby treatment of the Japanese, yet on many occasions seemed ready to abandon his family and fortunes in Japan in favor of return to England, however often he deferred doing so. Likewise, through Adams’ letters and contemporary Japanese sources we gain insight into Ieyasu as an adept politician, economist, and strategist, who, like Toranaga, sought to avoid war as often as possible, managed trade relations with the European powers for Japan’s benefit, refrained from getting involved in the often petty squabbles of the European powers around him, and at times showed ruthlessness in destroying the power of the Jesuits and the Toyotomi clan after winning the shogunate.
In The Service Of The Shogun
In 1614, Ieyasu permitted Adams to resign his post as official interpreter to the European powers and return to England, after which Adams spent several years piloting on behalf of the English East India Company to locations such as the Ryukyu islands, Southeast Asia, and Thailand. Though he entertained notions of returning to England all his life, as Cryns observes, his actual conduct suggested more of a desire for absolute freedom than a true willingness to return. Adams is shown to have been brave and at times selfless, going so far as to intercede on behalf of a man who had nearly murdered him in a trade dispute from being executed. In a particularly touching and somewhat bromantic moment, Ieyasu is shown to have recalled Adams to his court at Sunpu in order to order a mission of Franciscans to leave the country in obeyance to his expulsion edicts. Whilst there, Ieyasu offered to restore his position with even greater wealth and favor, though Adams declined. As with Toranaga, Ieyasu was not one to release a prized vassal willingly.
Adams’ influence collapsed with the accession of Ieyasu son’s Hidetada to full power after the former Shogun and long-reining ogosho’s death. Though Ieyasu had favored Protestants, Hidetada greatly expanded the persecution of Christians of all sects and confined all foreigners to Hirado and Nagasaki. Adams’ time in the service of the Tokugawa came to a definitive end, as did all European ambitions of significantly trading with or colonizing Japan for two and a half centuries. Adams died in Hirado and was buried at the estate he retained as hatamoto outside Edo.
Verdict
Of particular note to this account is Cryns’ multilingualism, objectivity, and clarity as a prose writer. While he lacks the stylistic flair of earlier writers on William Adams like Giles Milton in Samurai Will, he eschews the latter’s penchant for salacious orientalism. Cryns’ account of the doomed voyage of the Liefde (i.e. the Erasmus) and its fleet as well as Adams’ career in Japan is meticulously factual, often drawing from sources in all four of the major European languages (Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and English) relevant to the period as well as records of Adams in the contemporary Japanese chronicles and diplomatic material. We learn of battles fought by Adams and his flotilla around South America against the Iberians, as well as his own participation in privateering in the Mediterranean and service against the Spanish Armada. Perhaps the only major disappointment is Cryns’ dispute of the legend that Adams himself served under Ieyasu at the battle of Sekigahara (though the cannons on board his ship were definitely used in the conflict). Maybe Shogun can embellish that if we get to see Sekigahara in Season 2. All in all, In The Service of the Shogun is a quick read manageable in a day or two that combines scholarly rigor with an accessible style that makes it a good buy for any Shogun fan interested in the inspiration for the show but not overly accustomed to the historical genre.
Cover image property of FX. The Path is an independent site and not affiliated in any manner with Frederik Cryns, Reaktion Books, or FX.
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