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Anna Sawai on Shōgun: ‘Our show taught women it was OK to stand up and say no’

Sawai’s astonishing performance as the fierce Lady Mariko won her an Emmy – and inspired women worldwide. She talks J-pop, kimonos and epic sword-fights

When Time magazine subsequently listed her in the Time100 Next 2024, her co-star Hiroyuki Sanada, who starred as future titular shōgun Yoshii Toranaga, penned an uncharacteristically glowing tribute: “Anna Sawai could play any role on this Earth, or in space,” he said. In Shōgun, meanwhile, she steals the show in Crimson Sky, the penultimate episode widely hailed as the best TV anyone has watched in years, warding off regiments of samurai warriors and handing Toranaga victory without his opponents even realising they have been defeated. Just three years ago, when she got her first big international break with 2021’s Fast & Furious 9, Sawai’s sister Reina, a ballet dancer, took to Instagram with a hug of a post: “There’s something so beautiful and admirable about working hard silently and tenaciously without bragging.

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