What Tom Holland has said about Kyoto
2 quotes · 1 episode · Apr 5, 2026
Tom Holland, English actor cast as Telemachus, has been quoted on Kyoto 2 times in 1 episode of The Rest Is History, most recently on April 5, 2026. Each quote below is verbatim and links to the moment it was said.
In their words
Holland says the Kyoto court regarded warfare as vulgar and warriors as scum, with status won through poetry, calligraphy and incense instead.
“They're uncouth, they're murderous, they're basically they're scum. They're kind of literally described as dogs. War has become something that is vulgar”
The Rest Is History: 658. Dawn of the Samurai: The Shadow of the Sword (Part 1) (Apr 5, 2026) · Listen from 40:59
Holland, citing Carl Friday, compares northeastern Japanese warlords to modern CEOs who identify with each other rather than with their own subordinates.
“It's like tech CEOs, industrial CEOs, financial CEOs going to Davos. They have more in common with each other than they do with the minions far below them”
The Rest Is History: 658. Dawn of the Samurai: The Shadow of the Sword (Part 1) (Apr 5, 2026) · Listen from 43:29
Episodes
658. Dawn of the Samurai: The Shadow of the Sword (Part 1)The Rest Is History · Apr 5, 2026 · 1 h 3 min
Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook trace the origins of Japan's samurai, from the Tokugawa shogunate and the Bushido myth back to the 10th-century warlord Taira no Masakado.
Others on Kyoto
- Dominic Sandbrook · 1 quote
Tom Holland on other topics
- Samurai · 9 quotes
- Odyssey · 7 quotes
- Slavery in the United States · 7 quotes
- Fall of Maximilien Robespierre · 4 quotes
- Habsburg monarchy · 4 quotes
- Jefferson–Hemings controversy · 4 quotes
- Apartheid · 4 quotes
- Mona Lisa · 4 quotes