Nohime Drama

It is finally about time Nobunaga's lovely wife Nohime (Kicho) will have her own drama. Asahi TV will broadcast the drama later next month. Arisa Mizuki will play the role of Nohime and Yu Shirota the role of Nobunaga. Here is the link: http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/nouhime/

If you want to know my opinion which actress was the best in the Nohime role, that would be Kyoko Kagawa. She played the role of Nohime in the late 1950s and was superb. Beautiful, young, lady-like, and strong.

The picture is a statue of Nohime at the grounds of Kiyosu Castle. There is a kimono worn by Kikuchi Momoko who played the role of Nohime in the Nobunaga Taiga drama. here is some information on Nohime from Tadashi Ehara's Daimyo of 1867 (p .283) " At their wedding Nobunaga described her as having 'the mind of a genius and the appearance of a goddess,'..."

Nobunaga no tame!

Tenka no tame!

Nohime no tame!

Signore Part VI

I have not posted anything on The Signore (Azuchi Okanki Japanese title) in a long time. This post will describe Nobunaga's physical appearance. It does have some of Luis Frois's written account on Nobunaga, but it also has the opinion of another as well.

Kunio Tsuji (pp. 34-35, 47)

"Father Frois reached the far end of the room and wheeled around to face us, talking incessantly. The Owari Signore was about thirty-seven or thirty-eight years of age; he was tall, bony, and agile; his face was narrow and pale, he was clean-shaven. His voice was resonant, his pronunciation clear and precise. He wore his sword day and night, and always kept a lance close at hand. He was an enthusiastic horseman. his manner was harsh and his retainers trembled at his every word, yet he was extremely just by nature and could be moved by the least show of affection. He had almost no interest whatsoever in the opinions of others, seeming to have an almost religious faith in his own ideas and judgments. He was forever full of new schemes, but was far from being kind of man who, having once lighted on an idea, refuses forever after it. He would in fact discard former principles and opinions without a qualm--even those once regarded as gospel--and did so, indeed, with such regularity that those around him were sometimes inclined to think to think him merely capricious. Frois maintained, however, that if only one recognized the consistent personality underlying them, one could accept even these bewildering changes. The Signore's most trusted retainers, such as Lord Hashiba, had found favor precisely because they were able to comprehend this aspect of his temperament.

Directly after we had taken our seats, the sliding doors before us parted and a tall man entered surrounded by retainers. We knew without introduction that this was the Signore of Owari. He was very much as Father Frois had described him: the face long and quite pale and the features firm. His eyes were piercing, and his right brow twitched in a most disturbing fashion almost the whole time we were in his presence. Once inside the room, he made a sign to the attendants, who withdrew instantly, almost as if the wave of his arm had been a sorcerer's gesture and they had simply vanished into thin air."

Nobunaga was the tallest of the three unifiers at around 5'8''. He was also the most good-looking and attractive as well. I have mentioned this many times, he was not a man bound by tradition and did his way. He could care less about others think about him or his policies. He kept his captains on their toes and scared the living bee-jesus of his enemies. One of his most important qualities was that he was a self-made man.

Nobunaga no tame!

Jaike

I have translated this passage from the Shincho-Ko ki a long time ago and last year was able to visit the place. This story sounds good and a great opportunity for a River Monsters special.

Gyuichi (Elisonas/Lamers) The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga (pp. 96-97).

"In the middle decade of the First Month, a man called Matazaemon, a native of Fukutoku Hamlet in Ajiki Village, was walking along the embankment on a rainy evening. All of a sudden he saw a black thing, of a girth about as thick as one man could barely embrace, which rested with its trunk on the embankment while moving its head little by little across the dike toward the pond. The thing lifted its head when it heard Matazaemon approaching. Its head resembled that of a deer, and the eyes shone as bright as stars. When it stuck out its deep red tongue, it looked like an opened hand. The sight of the thing's glistening eyes and tongue scared the life out of Matazaemon. His hair stood on end, and fled to whence he came, running all the way from Hira to Onogi, where he had been staying. As Matazaemon told others about what he had seen, the story spread until it reached the ears of Lord Kazusa no Suke and

In the last decade of the First Month Nobunaga summoned this Matazaemon to interrogate him personally. Having heard what Matazaemon had to say, he issued orders to start draining the pond the next day in order to dredge up the serpent. The farmers of Hira Hamlet, Onogi Village, Takeda Five Hamlets, Ajiki Village, and Ajima Village were told to bring spades, hoes, and buckets for scooping water. On Nobunaga instructions, they lined up several hundred buckets, enclosed the Amagaike on all four sides, and scooped water for almost four hours. But once they had bailed out third of its contents out of the pond, the water level stayed the same, no matter how many more bucketfuls they took away. At this juncture, Nobunaga decided to go in the water and look for the snake himself. Clenching a dagger between his teeth, he plunged into the pond. After a while he emerged again, but he had seen absolutely nothing that looked like a serpent. Nobunaga told a man called Uzaemon, an experienced swimmer, to have a look under water as well. Uzaemon followed Nobunaga into the pond, but again nothing whatsoever was found. Nobunaga therefore went back to Kiyosu."

Tenka no tame!