In the first episode of FX’s acclaimed 10-part series “Shōgun,” a man is boiled alive, but somehow Kashigi Yabushige, played by Tadanobu Asano, continues to captivate us. Like all samurai, he lives by a strict code. Unlike others, he is willing to break that code to survive in a land where life is cheap and death is glorious. Such a land is feudal Japan. The year is 1600 and the events that unfold are a mix of fiction and reality based on the bestselling novel by James Clavell.
The series has been nominated for a record 25 Emmy Awards, including a supporting actor nomination for Tadanobu, best known to American audiences as Hogun in the Thor films and Lord Raiden in “Mortal Kombat” and its upcoming sequel. A longtime punk rocker in his homeland, he formed the band Mach 1.67 with filmmaker Sogo Ishii in 1996 and later played in the bands Peace Pill and Safari. His recordings include 1999’s “Bloodthirsty Butchers” and “Codeine Slash” with Joujoku.
“I spoke to the costume department and they said, ‘Yabushige is a rocker. ’ I was pleasantly surprised that we were going in that direction. I loved it,” Tadanobu tells The Envelope.
With five regents in Osaka united against him, Lord Yoshii Toranaga, played by Hiroyuki Sanada, fights for the title of shōgun in an effort to undermine a corrupt power structure and unify Japan under one leader, ending the cycles of internal wars. Leading his forces are men like John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), a shipwrecked English sailor known to locals as Anjin, and Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai), who acts as Anjin’s translator and spiritual guide through medieval Japan. Last but not least is Yabushige, a survivor who can be counted on to put his own interests first, even if it means quietly switching sides.
“In a situation where people are afraid, he’s not that afraid because his curiosity always outweighs his fear,” Tadanobu says. “It’s not that he’s strong or weak. I’d say he’s probably grown a bit over the course of the series, but his basic animal instincts haven’t changed.”
He is a weasel with a sword, the stereotype of the drunken samurai, like the tragic jester Kikuchiyo, played by the great Toshiro Mifune in Akira Kurosawa's classic “Seven Samurai.”
“I talked to the costume department and they said, ‘Yabushige is a rocker. ’ I was pleasantly surprised that we were going in that direction. I loved it,” says Tadanobu Asano, who once played in a punk band.
(Katie Yu/Special Effects)
“Honestly, everything is important, not just what Mifune did, but also De Niro, Method, anything from the present to the past,” Tadanobu says of his approach to acting. “With Yabushige, he’s an important character, but I always had to find a place where it was grounded in realism using all of that.”
Tadanobu, who credited his performance to the script by showrunners Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks (also an Emmy nominee), found the biggest challenge was being on set and trying to understand the reaction of Marks, the crew and his fellow actors.
“With a mix of Japan, Canada and all over the world,” he says, referring to the shoot in British Columbia, “I say it in Japanese without them seeing any subtitles. So it was really important to see what their reaction was. If I didn’t get any reaction, then I would go through the process of resending the message when I got home the next day.”
Tadanobu, who was feeling homesick throughout the shoot, leaned on his old friend Sanada, with whom he worked on the Keanu Reeves film “47 Ronin.” “In ‘Shōgun,’ Yabushige was a problem for Toranaga, and I think even for me personally, I was probably a problem for him as well,” Tadanobu sighs.
Originally from Yokohama, he was introduced to acting by his father, a talent agent, and landed his first role at age 16 on the TV show “Kinpachi Sensei.” He’s since worked with masters like Hirokazu Kore-eda, Wong Kar-wai, Martin Scorsese and Kenneth Branagh, but samurai fans may know him best for 2003’s “Zatoichi,” where he played the legendary blind swordsman.
“In my career, I’ve had different roles, small and big, and now I’m at a point where I’m taking on bigger roles that have a bigger impact on the story being told. It’s just where I built my career and that’s where I’m at,” says the 50-year-old actress, a five-time nominee for the Japan Academy Film Prize and first-time Emmy nominee. “I can probably start saying no to smaller roles or things that I feel don’t contribute to the bigger story.
“I am very excited and happy that ‘Shōgun’ has been accepted,” he adds. “And what comes next, who knows?”
