During and after the civil war in the U.S. Japan was going through somewhat of a feudal uprising. It was more or less broken up into fiefdoms and the Samurai were trying to keep the old way in focus. Most of the influence was coming from England and France in the form of trade. There was considerable use of American and British aid in the area of infantry battle. (that was a brief overview)
Now, having said that, I would say that, IF ANYTHING, it was inacurate in that there was a focus on the American influence vs. the French or British. But that was covered by a significant part for a brit.
The weapons were period acurate, as was the dress and the general history. It was a historical drama, so whether the main character was "real" or not is not important.
BTW the whole thing we did to Japan was a fight for oil... 
<br></div>
