Shogun
In 1975, Clavell published Shogun, his magnum opus that took the literary critics by storm. New York Times book reviewer Webster Schott wrote, “Clavell has a gift, he breathes narrative; his hero is not a person but a place and a time, medieval Japan on the threshold of becoming a sea power” (Schott 1975). The novel seized the popular imagination, and Blackthorne, Toranaga, Lady Mariko, arigato, and konnichi-wa soon became household words among his readers. Book sales exceeded seven million copies.