CONTEXT: “Anjin-San” (“John Blackthorne,” as played by Richard Chamberlain), after being shipwrecked in “The Japans,” had proven himself hugely invaluable to Lord Toranaga (Mifune Toshirō, arguably Japan’s greatest film actor of all time), and consequently received land, wealth, status and servants.

In this scene, he’d earlier bagged a pheasant, and as per the Euro tradition of the time, left it hanging out ‘to age’ on a rope. He also commanded his servants not to touch it while he was away. In this clip we see him returning home and wondering what happened to the missing bird.

His dialogue in Japanese (from a non-speaker) is roughly:

“What’s going on?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Who?”
“Where?”

Shōgun (based on James Clavell’s magnum opus) was originally a long-form, 5-part miniseries which ran for 12hrs, and one of the early pioneers upon television miniseries, helping to launch the format in spectacular, popular and critically-applauded fashion. And of course, it was also adapted in to a couple theatre films, with a 2hr version showing in Europe, and a 3hr version which played in Japan.

If you enjoyed this scene, then know that what came after was a combination of moving and heart-breaking, but ultimately rather uplifting. I believe there are additional clips for those, so have at it.

Last thoughts-- both Blackthorne, Toranaga and others were based on real people! I’ve also seen a bunch of the 2024 remake series, and found it lacking in many ways, compared to the original. Good, but not absolutely great, like the original. But… old-man bias talking here, haha.