“In the first episode, I feel like she’s very closed off,” Anna Sawai says of Ms. Mariko, the character she plays in FX’s “Shōgun.” “She’s never been tasked with becoming a translator or playing any important role in this male-dominated society.”
In the movie “Shogun,” which is based on James Clavell's novel of the same name and is set in the feudal era of the 1600s,
Japan, Ms. Mariko is tasked with interpreting for Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) and Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), a ship captain who joins a society preparing for war.
At first, Lady Mariko was wary and did not fully trust Blackthorn. She was also given a new purpose: “If she can serve her lord and fulfill his needs—which is to help him understand who this barbarian is—then she is happy to do so,” Sawai explained.
Ms. Mariko's character at the beginning is very different from the woman she eventually becomes. The show's craftsmen helped visualize Ms. Mariko's story through their own crafts.
While costume designer Carlos Rosario was designing her clothes, he found a line in episode 6 that was very helpful in deciphering her identity. Buntaro (Shinosuke Abe) complains to Toranaga that his wife Mariko “has always been icy.” Rosario also thought about Mariko's backstory and the assassination of her family – as the sole survivor, he felt she was soulless and heartless. At first, her costumes were mostly black and white.
“The first costumes had a black and gold curve. It was a specific pattern during that period to represent the snow covering the grass,” says Rosario. “I felt that pattern was very symbolic of who Mariko was at that moment. Emotionally, she was dead inside.”
Fashion designer Carlos Rosario used symbols on Ms. Mariko's clothes to reflect her journey.
Rosario also used symbolism in her prints as another way to reflect her emotional state throughout the series. The crane prints on her formal kimono “expressed freedom and release.”
It is worth noting that the costumes were multi-layered, which reflected what women were going through at the time. “It was like being trapped,” says Sawai. “Women were very restricted, controlled, and had little room to breathe.”
On a musical level, composer Leopold Ross worked with his brother Atticus Ross to create a melody for Mariko, something that reflected her poise and embodied her composure. “We wanted a melody that sounded very delicate but had room to develop into something grand and powerful,” says Leopold.
The composers settled on a solo flute for Mariko. Once that was in place, Japan-based arranger and producer Taro Ishida added layers of traditional Japanese gagaku sounds and music—the imperial court music of the time. “This will allow us to reveal those layers as the season progresses.
Lord Toranaga gives Mariko a sense of purpose in her role as translator. She finds a new connection with Blackthorn and finds herself opened to a world of new possibilities she never had before.
Before that, Rosario incorporated red camellias into her outfits. “The color red has always been important to me. The way to incorporate this heart energy was to paint camellias onto her winter canvas.” [outfit] “To symbolically reflect that she was opening herself up to life.”
As Mariko's arc progresses, crimson becomes more dominant in her color palette and
The patterns get bolder. It all builds up to episodes eight and nine where Mariko finally feels liberated. “There’s only one place to go, and she’s walking in a straight line, and I felt this freedom and determination,” Sawai says.
Buntaro asks Mariko to kill herself with him that night, so that they may die as husband and wife. Mariko refuses, telling him that death is a means of escape, not a means of unity. By episode 9, Mariko confronts Ishido Kazunari (Takehiro Hira), the warlord, and confronts him. “I will never be a prisoner, a hostage, or a cornered one,” she tells him.
Her strength and will are at their strongest. When the castle gates are closed, she takes over.
The castle guards fail. Mariko vows to commit seppuku, ritual suicide. But then Isehido grants her permission to leave Osaka. However, the castle is attacked and Mariko declares that she will sacrifice her life for the greater cause. Mariko ends up dying in the explosion.
Cinematographer Sam McCurdy rarely places Mariko's line of sight below anyone else's—and that's deliberate.
“She’s always front and center,” he says. “We got rid of the restrictions we had imposed on her earlier. The language of the camera around her was always free. She was in charge of everything, she was always in charge of everything.”
Hers [destiny] “McCurdy wanted to give the character the weight he deserved, so going forward, they used wider lenses for close-ups. “She was front and center in that episode, and we hadn’t done that before,” he says.
Cinematographer Sam McCurdy puts Anna Sway's character Lady Mariko front and center in episodes 8 and 9.
The music also becomes more personalized, coming “at specific moments” but not too often,
“Leopold says.”
When Mariko arrives and meets Ishido, her melody is played to announce her arrival, then silence reigns until she announces that she will not be participating in the poetry contest. He explains, “The music used there carries some pressure because it takes a stand.”
And again, when she departs in defiance, the music returns. It all culminates in her theme reaching its greatest moment when she is in battle. “This is her melody in its greatest style,” says Leopold.
When she announces she's going to commit suicide, “it turns into this very rebellious groove.”
At this point, Rosario's patterns became bolder, but the fabrics became thicker, more armor-like. “Everything feels more structured and architectural,” he says.
When fighting, Mariko wears a red, black, and gold outfit. Her outfit has a butterfly print on it.
Symbolic of her transformation.
Ms. Mariko's clothes became more bold and heavy.
Rosario notes that Ms. Mariko's journey toward empowerment is not linear, so in the end, it merges
Some of the white that appeared in her previous outfits.
