Shōgun made history at the 2024 Emmy Awards ceremony, walking away with a record number of awards — including a much deserved Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series award for Hiroyuki Sanada and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Anna Sawai. But one cast member didn’t walk away with an award. Although he was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, Tadanobu Asano lost the award to Billy Crudup. While Crudup’s performance as Cory Ellison on The Morning Show is a grounding presence for the outright insane leaps of logic the series can take, I feel that Asano was worthy of a win based on his multilayered performance as Kashigi Yabushige, the servant to Sanada’s Lord Toranaga. In fact, there’s one scene in Shōgun that makes him a worthy contender for the award.
Tadanobu Asano Makes Yabushige One of the Most Important Characters in ‘Shōgun’
Yabushige plays an important role in Shōgun as he is responsible for bringing John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) to Toranaga, in an attempt to play Toranaga against the Council of Regents — particularly Toranaga’s rival Ishido Kazunari (Takehiro Hira). Yabushige is willing to do anything to save his own skin; he tries to hide Blackthorne’s ship, the Erasmus, from Toranaga until one of Toranaga’s men comes to claim it. Then, as his schemes start rapidly becoming undone, Yabushige attempts to try to convince Blackthorne to sail to Europe — only for the two men to learn that the Erasmus was destroyed. What keeps Yabushige’s failures from teetering into comic territory is Asano’s physical performance. As Yabushige, his dialogue mostly consists of grunts or laughs, especially around Blackthorne, but his face usually betrays his true expression. Take the seizing of the Erasmus, for example; though Yabushige willingly gives it up, there’s anger and shame dancing in his eyes.
These facial tics come into play in a major way during the penultimate episode of Shōgun, “Crimson Sky”. Yabushige, along with Blackthorne and Sawai’s Mariko, are trapped in a storeroom at Ishido’s castle — and when shinobi hired by Yabushige set explosives to blow open the door, Mariko is killed in the explosion. This has a profound effect on Yabushige, who is shown begging for forgiveness in the following episode “A Dream of a Dream”. Asano perfectly captures the grief and guilt of a man whose ambition has greatly backfired on him, which writer/producer Caillin Puente expanded upon on the official Shōgun podcast. “I think Yabushige’s like kind of facing the consequences for the first time of seeing, like, he’s betrayed people, he’s dabbled in all of this different treachery, but Mariko is this unimpeachable, honored, revered, famous figure, and he’s just put her in so much danger, and it’s his fault,” Puente said.
Yabushige’s Seppuku Scene Proves That Tadanobu Asano & Hiroyuki Sanada Bring Out the Best in Each Other
“A Dream of a Dream” has Toranaga confronting Yabushige and revealing that he knows about his deception while also unveiling how he’s been one step ahead of his rival. He also commands Yabushige to commit seppuku, which the other man agrees to as long as Toranaga takes care of his nephew. Asano and Sanada play wonderfully off of each other, with the former’s peformance growing more and more desperate as his web of lies unravels. But in the end, he accepts his fate with a quiet dignity and a dark smile before his head is cut off. While the two had worked together on projects, including the Mortal Kombat reboot and the ill-fated 47 Ronin, “A Dream of a Dream” is a solid reminder of just how well they work together. It is also one of Shōgun‘s best scenes, even if Asano had some “complicated feelings” about Yabushige’s final fate.
Asano losing out on the supporting actor award is a shame, especially as Shōgun gears up for its second season. His performance as Yabushige was part of the rich, layered story that made Shōgun true “peak TV”, especially that final scene with Sanada. One can only hope that Asano’s next project will net similar attention and another chance at awards glory.
Shōgun is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
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