What a view | Gore galore on Netflix docuseries Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan, which explores how samurai shaped the country

Netflix documentary series Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan should probably come with an “unsuitable for vegetarians” sticker. Heads (lots of them) roll, guts are spilled and blood spurts as this gory show tells the tale of how arguably history’s most revered warriors rose from servants to slashers supreme, shaping what would become modern Japan along the way.

But while the battlefield re-enactments are the show-stoppers in a production that sometimes thinks it’s a thriller, it is not all sport. Any dramatisation of the past that is comparable to the Discovery or History channel models requires scholarly input; accordingly, the talking heads featured here all make essential contributions.

In this they are assisted by having such rich content on tap: it’s hardly surprising that samurai deeds continue to generate so much creative endeavour.

There’s Oda Nobunaga, the vicious, sadistic warlord who wants to unite feudal, clan-ruled Japan under his own banner. Here’s Lady Tsukiyama, destined to make a spectacular, dead-end career move by trying to betray her warlord husband. And we have Japan’s battle-ready Buddhist monasteries – yes, really – formidable centres of military might that aren’t going to roll over for any opposing army, no matter how brutal.

In this, the Sengoku era (1467-1615), warfare begins to take on an industrial dimension, with new technology (notably the arquebus long gun) helping to ramp up the slaughter. Which makes Age of Samurai all rather sobering. You probably won’t want to party like it’s 1569.

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