{"id":67474,"global_id":"townhallseattle.org?id=67474","global_id_lineage":["townhallseattle.org?id=67474"],"author":"5","status":"publish","date":"2025-08-20 12:56:24","date_utc":"2025-08-20 19:56:24","modified":"2025-12-03 11:33:22","modified_utc":"2025-12-03 19:33:22","url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/event\/david-spafford\/","rest_url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/events\/67474","title":"David Spafford with Paul Atkins","description":"<p data-aura-rendered-by=\"4776:793;a\">When\u00a0<em>Shogun<\/em>\u00a0was released last year on Hulu, it featured a great cast, spectacular visuals, and a gripping story. It was a commercial and critical success on release, and again when awards season came around. So of course, academic historians fretted. Were they concerned that it painted sixteenth-century Japan as another\u00a0<em>Game of Thrones<\/em>\u00a0(with more ninjas and fewer dragons)? Maybe a little. But most scholars were anxious because they understood how important the show would be, how profound an impact it would have, for years to come, on the public\u2019s perception of Japanese culture and history \u2014 all the more so because the story captures a moment of extraordinary significance, in such vivid detail, on such a vast canvas.<\/p>\n<p data-aura-rendered-by=\"4776:793;a\">In this talk, David Spafford, Associate Professor of Premodern Japanese History at the University of Pennsylvania, takes a closer look at the complexities of the period and unpacks why this particular moment in history matters so much \u2014 and how the hit\u00a0<em>Shogun\u00a0<\/em>series<em>\u00a0<\/em>does (or doesn\u2019t) help us understand it.<\/p>","excerpt":"","slug":"david-spafford","image":{"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/david-spafford.jpg","id":67478,"extension":"jpg","width":800,"height":400,"filesize":341902,"sizes":{"medium":{"width":300,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":18422,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/david-spafford-300x150.jpg"},"thumbnail":{"width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":11054,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/david-spafford-150x150.jpg"},"medium_large":{"width":768,"height":384,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":79822,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/david-spafford-768x384.jpg"},"et-pb-post-main-image":{"width":400,"height":250,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":32300,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/david-spafford-400x250.jpg"},"et-pb-portfolio-image":{"width":400,"height":284,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":34846,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/david-spafford-400x284.jpg"},"et-pb-portfolio-module-image":{"width":510,"height":382,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":53349,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/david-spafford-510x382.jpg"},"et-pb-gallery-module-image-portrait":{"width":400,"height":400,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":48812,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/david-spafford-400x400.jpg"},"et-pb-image--responsive--phone":{"width":480,"height":240,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":37167,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/david-spafford-480x240.jpg"}}},"all_day":false,"start_date":"2025-12-08 18:00:00","start_date_details":{"year":"2025","month":"12","day":"08","hour":"18","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"end_date":"2025-12-08 18:00:00","end_date_details":{"year":"2025","month":"12","day":"08","hour":"18","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"utc_start_date":"2025-12-09 02:00:00","utc_start_date_details":{"year":"2025","month":"12","day":"09","hour":"02","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"utc_end_date":"2025-12-09 02:00:00","utc_end_date_details":{"year":"2025","month":"12","day":"09","hour":"02","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"timezone":"America\/Los_Angeles","timezone_abbr":"PST","cost":"$10 \u2013 $35 Sliding Scale","cost_details":{"currency_symbol":"$","currency_code":"USD\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=","currency_position":"prefix","values":["10","35"]},"website":"","show_map":false,"show_map_link":true,"hide_from_listings":false,"sticky":false,"featured":false,"categories":[{"name":"Arts &amp; Culture","slug":"arts-culture","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":54,"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","description":"","parent":0,"count":290,"filter":"raw","id":54,"urls":{"self":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/categories\/54","collection":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/categories"}}],"tags":[],"venue":{"id":62007,"author":"2","status":"publish","date":"2023-12-20 07:18:59","date_utc":"2023-12-20 15:18:59","modified":"2023-12-20 07:18:59","modified_utc":"2023-12-20 15:18:59","url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/venue\/the-great-hall\/","venue":"The Great Hall","slug":"the-great-hall","image":{"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin.jpg","id":63111,"extension":"jpg","width":1868,"height":934,"filesize":59051,"sizes":{"medium":{"width":300,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":5384,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin-300x150.jpg"},"large":{"width":1024,"height":512,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":27540,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin-1024x512.jpg"},"thumbnail":{"width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":3737,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin-150x150.jpg"},"medium_large":{"width":768,"height":384,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":18575,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin-768x384.jpg"},"1536x1536":{"width":1536,"height":768,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":47743,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin-1536x768.jpg"},"et-pb-post-main-image":{"width":400,"height":250,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":9538,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin-400x250.jpg"},"et-pb-post-main-image-fullwidth":{"width":1080,"height":675,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":35109,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin-1080x675.jpg"},"et-pb-portfolio-image":{"width":400,"height":284,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":10197,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin-400x284.jpg"},"et-pb-portfolio-module-image":{"width":510,"height":382,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":15036,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin-510x382.jpg"},"et-pb-portfolio-image-single":{"width":1080,"height":540,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":29867,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin-1080x540.jpg"},"et-pb-gallery-module-image-portrait":{"width":400,"height":516,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":14191,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin-400x516.jpg"},"et-pb-image--responsive--desktop":{"width":1280,"height":640,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":36944,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin-1280x640.jpg"},"et-pb-image--responsive--tablet":{"width":980,"height":490,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":26303,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin-980x490.jpg"},"et-pb-image--responsive--phone":{"width":480,"height":240,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":9690,"url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin-480x240.jpg"}}},"address":"1119 Eighth Avenue (enter on Eighth Avenue)","city":"Seattle","country":"United States","zip":"98101","json_ld":{"@type":"Place","name":"The Great Hall","description":"","image":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin.jpg","url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/venue\/the-great-hall\/","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"1119 Eighth Avenue (enter on Eighth Avenue)","addressLocality":"Seattle","postalCode":"98101","addressCountry":"United States"},"telephone":"","sameAs":""},"show_map":true,"show_map_link":true,"global_id":"townhallseattle.org?id=62007","global_id_lineage":["townhallseattle.org?id=62007"]},"organizer":[],"custom_fields":{"_ecp_custom_27":{"label":"Event Format","value":"In-Person|Livestream"}},"json_ld":{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Event","name":"David Spafford with Paul Atkins","description":"&lt;p&gt;When\u00a0Shogun\u00a0was released last year on Hulu, it featured a great cast, spectacular visuals, and a gripping story. It was a commercial and critical success on release, and again when awards [&hellip;]&lt;\/p&gt;\\n","image":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/david-spafford.jpg","url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/event\/david-spafford\/","eventAttendanceMode":"https:\/\/schema.org\/OfflineEventAttendanceMode","eventStatus":"https:\/\/schema.org\/EventScheduled","startDate":"2025-12-08T18:00:00-08:00","endDate":"2025-12-08T18:00:00-08:00","location":{"@type":"Place","name":"The Great Hall","description":"","image":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Default_blog_tile_thin.jpg","url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/venue\/the-great-hall\/","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"1119 Eighth Avenue (enter on Eighth Avenue)","addressLocality":"Seattle","postalCode":"98101","addressCountry":"United States"},"telephone":"","sameAs":""},"offers":{"@type":"Offer","price":"$10 \u2013 $35 Sliding Scale","priceCurrency":"USD\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=","url":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/event\/david-spafford\/","category":"primary","availability":"inStock","validFrom":"2025-08-20T00:00:00+00:00"},"performer":"Organization"},"is_virtual":false,"virtual_url":null,"virtual_video_source":""}