Character Anatomy: Color palettes, patterns, and music all helped tell the story of Lady Mariko, the 'Shogun'.
SHOGUN: Mariko's TRUE STORY explained
“In the first episode, I think she’s very closed off. She’s never given the task of being an interpreter or playing an important role in this male-dominated society,” Anna Sawai says of Lady Mariko, the character she plays on FX’s “Shōgun.”
In “Shōgun,” based on James Clavell’s novel of the same name and set in feudal Japan in the 1600s, Lady Mariko is assigned to translate for Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) and Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), a ship’s captain who enters a society preparing for war.
At first, Lady Mariko is wary and doesn't fully trust Blackthorne. She has also been given a new purpose: "If she can serve her Lord and his needs — and that is to help him understand who this barbarian is — then she will gladly do so," Sawai explains.
