John Blackthorne | |
---|---|
Shōgun character | |
First appearance | Shōgun (novel) (1975) |
Portrayed by | Richard Chamberlain Cosmo Jarvis (2024 TV series) |
In-universe information | |
Religion | Protestant (formerly) Shinto-Buddhist |
Born | 1564, England |
Died | c. 1620, Japan |
Pilot major John Blackthorne, also known as Anjin (按針, lit. "Pilot", "Steuermann"), is the protagonist of James Clavell's 1975 novel Shōgun. The character is loosely based on the life of the 17th-century English navigator William Adams, who was the first Englishman to visit Japan. The character appears in the 1980 TV miniseries Shōgun, played by Richard Chamberlain,[1] and by Cosmo Jarvis in a 2024 series based on the book.