Shōgun: The Real History Behind the Series

The 2024 series opens with the Dutch ship Erasmus and its starving crew arriving at Ajiro on the Izu Peninsula. The real ship was the Liefde, and it came ashore far to the west: on the coast of Bungo, now Usuki City, in April 1600. Adams and Jan Joosten were among the few survivors. Usuki remembers the landing as the start of Dutch–Japanese trade, and the city is famous for its Stone Buddhas, a National Treasure.

Location precision: The exact landing point on the Usuki coast is not recorded; the pin marks the city's harbour.

Visitor guidance: Usuki is on the Nippō Main Line, south of Ōita.

In the series, Osaka Castle is Ishido's stronghold, where four regents move to impeach Toranaga and where Blackthorne is brought before him. The real castle was Toyotomi Hideyoshi's, begun in 1583; it passed to his son Hideyori. In 1600 Ishida Mitsunari took it over while Ieyasu was in the east, and in 1614 Ieyasu besieged it, starting the Siege of Osaka. The keep you see today is a concrete reconstruction with a museum inside; the grounds are a public park.

Visitor guidance: The keep houses a museum; the surrounding grounds are a public park.

The series kills Mariko at Osaka Castle, standing in front of a storehouse door as it explodes. The real Hosokawa Gracia died in the family mansion just south of the castle: when Ishida's men came to take her hostage in August 1600, her retainer Ogasawara Shōsai killed her and set the house alight. The mansion site is now the northwest corner of St. Mary's Cathedral's grounds at Tamatsukuri. A memorial stone to Gracia stands nearby, and statues of her and Takayama Ukon stand in front of the cathedral.

Visitor guidance: The cathedral is at 2-24-22 Tamatsukuri, Chuo-ku; the memorial stone stands nearby.

In the series, Toranaga stops Blackthorne and orders the construction of a fleet. The real Ieyasu put Adams to work at Itō on the Izu Peninsula, where in 1604 he built Japan's first Western-style sailing vessels. The first was an 80-ton ship for surveying; the second, the 120-ton San Buena Ventura, sailed to Mexico. Itō remembers him with a street named Anjinmiuradori, and the harbour is still a fishing port.

Location precision: The 1604 dock itself is gone; the pin marks Itō harbour, where Adams's account places the shipyard.

Visitor guidance: Itō is on the JR Itō Line; Anjinmiuradori runs through the city and the harbour is a working fishing port.

In the series, Edo is where Blackthorne's surviving crew have ended up, and where Salamon confronts him in the slums. The real Adams had a house in Edo, in the district that became Anjin-chō, in modern Nihonbashi. The town was later renamed Nihonbashi Muromachi 1-chōme, but a street called Anjin-dori still carries his name. The area is now a business and financial district with department stores.

Location precision: Adams's exact house plot is not known; the pin marks Anjin-dori, the street in Nihonbashi Muromachi that still bears his name.

Visitor guidance: Anjin-dori runs through Nihonbashi Muromachi 1-chome, near Mitsukoshi and the Nihonbashi bridge.

Toranaga confesses to Yabushige that he had destroyed the Erasmus to keep Blackthorne in Japan, and Blackthorne starts to salvage it. The real Adams chose to remain in Japan: he died at Hirado on 16 May 1620, aged 55, and was buried beside a memorial to Francis Xavier. His grave is now in the William Adams Memorial Park on Sakigata Hill; forensic tests in 2020 confirmed the bones as his. His old townhouse, Anjin no Yakata, survives as a sweet shop, and Hirado's Dutch trading post is a National Historic Site.

Visitor guidance: The memorial park is on Sakigata Hill; Anjin no Yakata is at 431 Kihikidacho.