I have a hard time watching historical dramas. I’m almost always put off by grossly inaccurate historical retellings. As a result I couldn’t watch more than a few seconds of this Netlix series before turning it off.
It starts off with the narrator saying that it is: “1551, Japan is in chaos, After centuries of rule, the central government has lost control… “ WHAT? … “and the nation has been plunged into a brutal civil war.” CLICK ... I turned it off.
Stories don’t have to be historically accurate by any stretch of the imagination in order to be entertaining. I loved Gladiator and Spartacus; was entertained by 300 “This is Sparta” even though it was laughably inaccurate. 300 was watchable because it didn’t take itself seriously, although I must say I very disappointed that the movie did not show the Spartan shield wall, I was looking forward to that. A Knights Tale with Heath Ledger was another fun historical fiction. I’ve seen it many times, enjoying it each and every time. Playing Queen’s “We Will Rock You” in the opening scene and having the crowd do the wave set the tone that this movie was not to be taken seriously.
But Netflix’s Age of Samurai does take itself seriously therefore I expect that large scale plot anchors be correct.
Saying that there was a central government that had “lost control” could not be further from the truth. 1561, the date where the story starts, was smack in the middle of a period of almost constant warfare that had started almost a hundred years earlier. Not to mention the fact that from the time of samurai supremacy - 400 years before the start of the movie - there hadn't been any central government control of Japan.
The Japanese Emperor, at this time, NEVER had control over Japan; at least not in practice. Unlike China the Japanese emperor had little to no political, economic, or military power and often lived in relative poverty.
If you don’t know anything about Japanese history then this video by Bill Wurtz will be perfect. It’s really funny and really informative at the same time. It’s a difficult combination to pull off, but he did. Unfortunately it’s not on any alt-tech site that I could find – so here’s a link to YouTube.
Bill Wurtz’ History of Japan: https:/ / youtu.be /Mh5LY4Mz15o