The following article contains spoilers for Shōgun. It also contains a mention of suicide.

Hiroyuki Sanada is one of the most talked-about Japanese actors in Hollywood. It's all due to FX's Shōgun being a period drama and a masterpiece at the same time. In the series, Sanada plays Yoshii Toranaga, a feudal-era Lord of Edo, who works to ensure corrupt politicians and villains like Lord Ishido didn't govern Japan and take the throne.

Many have praised Shōgun for its authenticity and Sanada's intimidating presence. Though Sanada delivers one of the best performances of his career as the titular shōgun, he also may not have gotten there if not for another equally memorable performance in a highly popular Japanese horror franchise. This would be none other than 1998's Ringu, which was remade in 2002 as The Ring starring Naomi Watts. In the iconic horror film, Sanada gave his most underrated performance that showcased his range as an actor, especially as a psychic detective with Batman-like skills.

Who Does Hiroyuki Sanada Play in Ringu (1998)?

Sanada's role as Ryuji Takayama is also one of his most iconic. In Ringu, he was contacted by his ex-wife, Reiko Asakawa (played by Great Teacher Onizuka's Nanako Matsushima), to help unlock clues over the death of her niece, Tomoko, and other young students from her school. It turns out they all watched a cursed videotape in a cabin, which led to a phone call warning them they had one week to live. A supernatural entity would haunt and murder them when their time expired.

Ryuji had no problem joining Reiko as this case piqued his scientific curiosity. Given his psychic abilities, he wanted to challenge his ESP and not only solve the mystery, but push his mind to the limit. This extrasensory perception was something Reiko underplayed in the past. But because she was so desperate, she needed him to help. As a journalist, she knew her boundaries. She required assistance to pierce the metaphysical world as the evidence was thin. Luckily, the opening act set Ryuji up to be her Hail Mary play in one of the best horror franchises ever.

Ryuji Takayama Was Very Important to the Ring Franchise

As the duo worked together, Ryuji was crucial to discovering who the girl was in the videotape and what she was doing inside the well. This was Sadako Yamamura, a young girl who was part of a decades-old unsolved murder. Ryuji got help from Sadako's uncle Takashi on Oshima Island after deciphering cryptic breadcrumbs. He found out Takashi's psychic sister, Shizuko, was vilified after an experiment with Dr. Ikuma went awry.

Takashi brought the press in, and when Shizuko underperformed, she was chided. It led to Sadako using her own psychic powers to kill a journalist. It ended up driving her mother to suicide. Unfortunately, Ikuma grew impatient with Sadako when she got older, and after a disagreement where her powers manifested violently again, the doctor threw her in a well injured, hoping she would die. Ryuji didn't just uncork all this; he located the spot where the well was covered.

Ryuji also set off a chain of events that resulted in the duo figuring out videotapes captured Sadako's rage, with one tape getting out into the real world and spreading her spiritual virus. Ryuji collaborated with Reiko to unearth Sadako's corpse, thinking it would break the curse. Reiko knew it would follow her kin, so she hoped they could stop the demonic infection at the root.

Ryuji Takayama Became Sadako's Ghoulish Counterpoint In the Ring Franchise

Sadly, discovering Sadako's corpse didn't break the spell. Ryuji died from watching the video, with Reiko living due to her giving him a copy. Making a copy and showing it to someone was the only way to save oneself. In the Spiral sequel (also released that year), Ryuji's student, Mai, worked with a pathologist named Ando to solve both his death and the death of his son with Reiko. The boy, Yoichi, died along with Reiko, but Sadako brought the father and son back. This proved Sadako had godly powers and probably, could never be defeated.

Ring 2 was redone as the sequel a year later, after Spiral tanked. In this continuity, Ryuji's son, Yoichi, began manifesting powers after going on the run with Mai. Ryuji's ghost would help both out, absorbing their fear as they tried to battle Sadako. Thanks to Ryuji, they broke the curse and escaped Sadako's wrath, making Ryuji a counterpoint to the spirit. To this day, fans ascribed it to his psychic powers, while others think this was fate giving Sadako a polar opposite after her anger caused him to die as an innocent.

When fans talk about Ringu, Ryuji gets major props for his part in the movies -- where he was much more likable than in the novels. Sanada's version of Ryuji was more human, less toxic and garnered sympathy for trying to prevent further tragedy. Sanada was dramatic, comedic, romantic and had a cool demeanor working the case. He got the big moment of being genuinely surprised when Sadako came out of his TV screen to take his life in the first film. This signature sequence of fear and panic proved it was as much his franchise as it was Sadako's.

How Ringu Helped Launch Hiroyuki Sanada's Hollywood Career

Ringu was so popular that it had a Korean retelling and even crossed over with Ju-On/The Grudge. But the most prominent adaptation outside of Japan came in the West. Hollywood remade The Ring in 2002, with Naomi Watts playing Rachel Keller, Reiko's American counterpart. Martin Henderson played Noah Clay, who was Ryuji's counterpart. Like the original Japanese movie, Noah and Rachel also tried to solve the case of their world's Sadako, renamed Samara.

With so many eyes on The Ring remake, Sanada found himself on the international stage and appeared in his first Hollywood movie a year later: 2003's The Last Samurai. There, he played Ujio, a swordsman who worked alongside Ken Watanabe's Katsumoto and who helped train Tom Cruise's Nathan Algren for the war against corrupt enemies. Sanada's character was more stern, punishing Nathan to toughen him up. In the end, Ujio and his tribe died as heroes, but Nathan told their legends as Japan eventually recognized the samurai clan's honor.

After the success of The Last Samurai, Sanada's Hollywood career really took off. In 2007, he appeared in Rush Hour 3 as Kenji, the evil foster brother of Jackie Chan's Lee. That same year, he was in Sunshine with Cilian Murphy as part of a sci-fi team trying to restart the sun. 2008 saw him as Mr. Musha in Speed Racer; 2013 had him as the heroic Oishi in 47 Ronin alongside Keanu Reeves, while 2013 also saw Sanada play Shingen Yashida in Fox's The Wolverine -- one of Logan's enemies.

Sanada kept taking on bigger stints in pop culture. He was also in Avengers: Endgame and Hawkeye as Akihiko, wome Clint Barton had to kill. 2021 had him play Scorpion in the Mortal Kombat reboot and the shady Tanaka in Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead. 2022 had him play the revenge-seeking Elder in Bullet Train, while 2023 had him in John Wick: Chapter 4 as Koji, a good friend to John. Next, he'll be reprising his role as Scorpion in Mortal Kombat 2, reiterating he is in high demand.

TV-wise, he was Dogen in five episodes of Lost in 2010, and played Takehaya in nine episodes of 2016's The Last Ship. Sanada was also in Westworld as Musashi and a version of Dolores. Then came Shōgun, with 10 episodes of politics, lies, betrayals and bloodshed. Sanada is sure to pick up some awards for this. It is a culmination of his storied Hollywood career, not just because he got the main role of Toranaga, but because he served as a producer on the show.

Sanada lobbied to keep creative elements, set pieces and other facets authentic as they adapted James Clavell's 1970s novel and the iconic original series. Ultimately, Sanada's acting career may have been confined to Japan had Ringu not put him on the international stage the way it did. He went on the map, took the ball running and never looked back, which is why he has become such a mainstream face today.