The hit TV show, based on James Clavell's novel, SHOGUN, is the 270-year precursor to Natalie Jacobsen's GHOST TRAIN.
By: Natalie Jacobsen
Have you finished reading (or watching) SHOGUN, and looking for your next Japan-based story? Look no further than my upcoming novel GHOST TRAIN. It can be found anywhere books are sold from October 15, 2024. SHOGUN, nominated for a record-breaking 25 Emmy's is renewed for a second season, but you don't have to wait until 2026 to go back in time to visit pre-modern Japan.
Immerse in Japanese culture and history by stepping into the summer of 1877 in Kyoto, the setting for GHOST TRAIN. Based on true events and real urban legends, prepare to be haunted by the consequences of the choices we do — or don't — make.
These characters' decisions were set in motion as far back as during the era of SHOGUN, nearly three hundred years before the events that take place in GHOST TRAIN.
But let's back up. How could SHOGUN, set almost three hundreds before GHOST TRAIN, affect the story line? And in turn, what does GHOST TRAIN have to do with SHOGUN? Aren't they both fictional, and told by different storytellers?
Well, yes, and yes. They're fictional accounts of true historical figures and events. While neither can constitute a documentary or be classified as non-fiction, both depict how history played out in a medieval Japan, and in a modern Japan. James Clavell and I, are very different story tellers with vastly different approaches to retelling Japanese history.
James Clavell took real people and turned their lives and events they lived through into an epic tale of medieval Japan: SHOGUN. In GHOST TRAIN, I take true historical events and urban legends, then ask: what if those ghost stories and demons were real?
At the dawn of the 1600s, and the end of the Sengoku period (1467 - 1615), feudal rulers were desperate to reassemble a shredded and divided Japan. Emperor Go-Yozei and the Kugyo (elite class of ruling men, typically within a palace or court), were losing their footing and power, and the shogunate were rising in theirs. International nations were using the Japanese as pawns unbeknownst to them, eager to claim lands and widen their kingdoms. Further, Catholicism was spreading across the nation, along with trade and conspiracy. The Portuguese were enslaving Japanese and taking them to India or as far as Europe, forcing them to serve the upper class; Japan was on the brink of colonization. The emperor's policies were leaving many poor, and others in limbo, and the country vulnerable and unprotected; the Japanese were in need of change. There had been nearly two hundred years of bloodshed and civil war, and everyone wanted it to end.
Tokugawa Ieyasu wanted it to end too, but only if he were in power.
Sound familiar?
Tokugawa Ieyasu has a different name in SHOGUN: Yoshii Toranaga. In the SHOGUN book and TV series, Toranaga, just like his real-life counterpart, Tokugawa, relies on advisers and spies to help him out-maneuver his rivals in different prefectures of Japan, all seeking to control the fragile country. In the TV show and book, John Blackthorne is a European who befriends the Japanese at their behest; they've claimed his ship and his people. In reality, William Adams was indeed the first Englishman recorded in Japan, and he did help negotiate trade, as well as establishing some diplomatic relations. However, unlike Clavell's depiction of historical events, Blackthorne never knew "Mariko" (Akechi Tama in real life) as he does in SHOGUN.
Nearing the climax of SHOGUN, Ishido (his name is slightly different in real life: Ishida Mitsunari), raids an Osaka mansion, intending to take Tokugawa's closest allies hostage. In real life, those hostages included the Hosokawa family and Akechi Tama — nicknamed "Maria" by Europeans for how devout she was to their God. However, she reportedly committed suicide (potentially assisted by one of her servants, as to her suicide was considered a sin ever since she converted to Catholicism), and foiled Ishido's plans to have the upper hand and rule Japan. Her death convinced Akechi's husband, a strong samurai, to join forces with Tokugawa and enact revenge in a final battle that has only one outcome: Tokugawa becomes the ruling shogun.
Now, here is where the TV show and book versions of SHOGUN end. Ironically, the story ends at the beginning of the era of the Shogunate, when the shogun begin their rule of Japan. Those tumultuous three years depicted in the show and book were pivotal to Japanese history, and set the course for how the following two hundred and fifty years would play out. The change was night and day.
Shortly after, Japan rapidly transformed. Tokugawa's shogunate moved the capitol from Kyoto to Edo (present-day Tokyo). They stripped power from Osaka, Nagoya and Satsuma castles, and assigned daimyo and samurai in each court to implement their policies in a uniformed fashion across all of Japan. Tokugawa is considered Japan's "great unifier." He reformed Japan's economic structures, making way for a merchant class. He closed borders officially to foreigners and international trade, and banned Catholicism. Japan became a closed, self-isolated nation during the Edo period (1603 - 1868), nicknamed the "sakoku period."
Then, nearly 250 years of self-proclaimed "peace" followed. The facade of a unified Japan for the first time in centuries, beneath one strong leader, concealed the underlying tension and truth of the bakufu-ruled era.
The emperor remained in his palace in Kyoto, serving as the "Heavenly Sovereign" of Shintoism, the official, and indigenous, religion to Japan. He didn't have the power to influence political or diplomatic decisions, military movements, or judicial or economic maneuvers as the Shogunate could. The shogun respected the emperor's position as holy, even if they kept him far from their place of reign. Hence, why it was critical the shogunate operated out of Edo as opposed to Kyoto.
In reality, this "peacetime" was not as peaceful as claimed. In comparison to the three hundred preceding years, yes: there were fewer civil wars, less foreign inquisition, and more freedom and options for peasants and merchants. However, the bloodshed spilling did not subside, and inequality stymied social progress. Samurai enjoyed free reign to both help merchants and peasants, and were often hired for tasks — and murders of an enemy (no matter how petty the quarrel) — while shogun and daimyo raised taxes on their land and people. The choked trade restricted the variety of food and goods that came into Japan, and the southern region Satsuma secretly kept their ports open to select traders, creating a rift between the North and South.
But after the great wars, nobody had the power, much less any remaining army, to take on Tokugawa. So, for centuries, Tokugawa became the ruling shogunate over all of Japan. It wasn't until the 1850s when foreign pressures to reopen Japan, and force their political leaders to become diplomatically active on an international level, that the shogunate began to lose their footing. As news spread of opportunity abroad, new technologies, and foreign allies who wanted to restore the emperor, Japanese civilians began to side with the Europeans. Finally, there were enough cracks to take on the Tokugawa, over 250 years after SHOGUN.
Europeans strategically approached samurai who had been long-disgruntled with dwindling wages and opportunities for leadership and growth. The shogun and daimyo were the heads of the shogunate, and never relinquished their seats for the samurai. After a series of droughts, food had become scarce, people were getting desperate, and violent insurrections were beginning at local levels. The motto "Revere the Emperor, reject the barbarians," took hold, and, after years of rallying cries and secret gatherings, the shogun were overthrown with Emperor Meiji ascending to take the throne and ultimate power of Japan, once again.
This ascension is when the era of GHOST TRAIN begins.
It's 1877, and Emperor Meiji has been the ruler of Japan for all of nine years, after reclaiming the throne at age 15. He had barely been born when the calls for the shogun to step down were beginning to sound. Commander Perry, of the United States Navy, was under orders of President Lincoln to reconnect with Japan — during the U.S. Civil War, no less — and reopen its borders. Lincoln wanted respect of the international community, and the world was enraptured with the secrecy behind which Japan operated.
That fascination with Japan has persisted long into more contemporary times.
Bearing letters written in multiple languages (oddly, not Japanese, but English, French, and Mandarin), Perry landed on Japan's shores of Shizuoka (there is a statue commemorating his landing on the coast today), and introduced himself to the local samurai and daimyo. His arrival spelled trouble for the shogun. News of his arrival caught like wildfire, and soon the country was ablaze and craving the change Perry promised. They heard of "manifest destiny" and "all men are created equal." Over the next two decades, Perry and other European allies demonstrated their prowess in military strength by importing newer and improved guns and weaponry, showcased how large their ships were, brought in locomotives, replaced their whale-fat-candle-wax with kerosene in their lanterns, and then eventually brought in electricity, telephones and telegrams.
It wasn't long before Emperor Meiji became the de-facto head of Japan again, and never looked back. Too much information had come into the country now to shut its borders. Meiji was intrigued by the U.S. Constitution, which enshrined men's rights to equality. He rallied samurai to protect him instead of the shogun, and promised Western ideals to his citizens. His technological imports glittered and caught the attention and praise of everyone across the country. Lives were changing rapidly. There was job creation as banks opened and trade was reestablished. They needed translators, historians, diplomats, insurers, and hordes of factories and factory workers to keep up with the new production demands.
There was also a massive lack of communication and understanding what was happening to society during this pivotal time. With the massive overhaul of culture and city life, Japanese were often waking up to see the view outside their front door completely different form when they'd gone to bed. Without frequent news or explanations from the Palace, citizens were left to fill in the blanks — which were often filled in with ghost stories, myths, and folklore — to explain the unexplainable.
After Meiji's first nine years, Japan looked nothing like it had when he moved into Edo's Palace, pushing out Tokugawa once and for all.
Now, I don't want to give too much away in terms of GHOST TRAIN. But now you have the background history, and set up, for the story — all three hundred years in the making. GHOST TRAIN's main character is, in fact, a Hosokawa. Readers will learn quickly how far the Hosokawa family, and all samurai, have fallen in the 270 years since SHOGUN.
GHOST TRAIN depicts the summer of 1877 in Kyoto, the emperor's former home and Japan's former capitol. 1877 is an important year in Japanese history; historians will recognize it as the year of the last samurai rebellion.
Wait, why were the samurai rebelling if they were helping the Emperor?
As with all leaders, there is no pleasing everyone. Yes, Emperor Meiji brought in change and ideals of equality, technology and diplomacy at an international level. But samurai were even further pushed aside. Any hopes of them ever having power again were extinguished. And, while many assimilated into civilian life, accepting the changes and becoming part of the growing merchant class, some were disgruntled, and wanted to demand the Emperor to include them in his government and have a seat at his parliament-style table.
Thus began a summer of chaos. Civil war raged in Satsuma (remember that one port that stayed open to international trade secretly during the Edo period?), and it had a ripple effect across the country, as foreign allies quickly sided with the emperor, causing trade, post, and local politics to be immediately put on edge. With the influx of foreigners coming into Japan, disease followed. All the while, Japan was getting accustomed to the new Western-influenced ways, including education, nutrition, medicine. Their cities now had electric poles. There was a train connecting major ports. Yet, news and information still spread by word of mouth.
And we all know how accurate word-of-mouth communications can be.
GHOST TRAIN, thus, is a depiction of that important summer; the final summer before "old Japan" was truly ushered out, and "modern Japan" was ushered in. This summer, though, would never have happened without SHOGUN. Had Adams never crashed onto the Japanese shores; had Ishida never stormed Osaka castle intending to capture the Hosokawa family; had Akemi never died; had Tokugawa never waged a war that suppressed all other leaders, including the emperor, for centuries, then the summer of 1877, which GHOST TRAIN is based on, may never have happened.
You'll have to read GHOST TRAIN to find out what happens next — and what the ramifications of all of the rapid social changes means for Japan and its people. Because, as the reign of SHOGUN ends, the era of GHOST TRAIN begins.
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