I found it interesting that you referenced the feudal Japanese there...
I have been unable to read books for the last 5-7 years due to my eyes, and just got glasses that seemed to help, so...my first book I am re-reading is...
“Shogun”!
Heh, Japanese feudal politics...:)
I get my Japanese feudal politics every year with the outstanding year-long Taiga Drama series on the NHK broadcast. They even have an English subtitles version they broadcast 2 months later.
We nothing in the U.S. quite like it, but we should.
Imagine a historical series with 50 famous actors and hundreds of extras. High production recreations of 16th century Japan with 42 minutes of programming every week for 50 years of the year — no commercial interruption.
Imagine a series where they catch a historical figure either in childhood or early adult life and go through the whole person’s life till his or her death.
This is the what the Taiga Drama series is all about. Probably 80% of the annual dramas are of the samurai period, but regardless there are always acts of heroism and human struggle throughout.
The copyrights are strong. From year to year, NHK pulls almost all the episodes off YouTube. But you can see the opening 3 minutes of this year’s series on General Mitshide Akechi, who was famous for killing the first unifier of Japan, Oda Nobunaga (his boss) in a surprise attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UckZsPuG-ZY
These dramas certainly play up the characters of history, but they try to stay true to history (at least the fable agreed upon).