Age of Samurai: A Battle for Japan
Directed by Stephen Scott
Producers John Stead, Simon George, & Kate Harrison
Starring Masayoshi Haneda, Masami Kosaka, Hideaki Itō, Hayate Masao
Narrated by Hiro Kanagawa, Stephen Turnbull, David Spafford, Tomoko Kitagawa
If you think English or French history is soaked in blood, Japan will give you a condescending smile and say, “Hold my sake.” The peaceful and unaggressive Japan of today is very much an outlier.
This six part Netflix documentary covers the years 1551 to 1616, perhaps the bloodiest era in Japan’s history.
It starts with the final years of the Sengoku period, often known as The Age of Warring States. The Japanese islands consist of a dozen or more warring clans, each with its own warlord, or daimyo. One such clan, the Oda, has a brash young son, Nobunaga, ascend to the fore. He proceeds to bring about 2/3rds of Japan under his control before he is betrayed by his leading General, Akehchi Mitsuhide. Chaos ensures, Toyotomi Hideyoshi eventually becomes the leader in a more-or-less unified Japan. He brings peace to the Islands, but now has the difficult problem of thousands of now out-of-work samurai soldiers to deal with. He decides the best thing to keep them busy and out of his topknot is to have them invade China. The only problem is that the best way on foot to get to China is through Korea, and the Koreans, it turns out, are not pleased with this arrangement. More chaos ensures. Hideyoshi dies, leaving five regents to train his 12 year old son. This King Lear-like arrangement goes as you might expect, more chaos, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, essentially the last man standing, becomes the first true Shogun of Japan.
Skillful and historically narrative blends well with recreational acting, with no dialogue to interfere with the voice overs.
If you have an interest in medieval Japan, this is a good place to begin.
Now on Netflix.