The Sho must go on

RETURN OF THE EPIC TALE OF BRIT WHO BECAME A JAPANESE SAMURAI

- JAMES MOORE

THEY were the fearsome sword-wielding warriors of Japan featured in the upcoming Disney+ hit, Shogun.

And now we can reveal that the swashbuckling action is based on a real-life British hero who joined their ranks, nicknamed "the blueeyed samurai" The series, based on the hit 1975 novel by James Clavell, sees Cosmo Jarvis play John Blackthorne, a shipwrecked foreign sailor who rises to become one of the elite clan.

In the 10-part drama he's thrown into a power struggle in the warring feudal country.

Along the way he encounters the ambitious Japanese Lord Yoshii Toranaga, played by Hiroyuki Sanada, vying to be the Shogun or military ruler of the country and the mysterious Lady Mariko, played by Anna Sawai.

Cue plenty of battle scenes, romance and double crossing. Blackthorne's character was inspired by William Adams, a genuine intrepid seafarer who was the first English person to ever visit Japan back in the year 1600.

Clavell got his idea for the story after reading a line in his daughter's school textbook about Adams.