Kubijiken

 

During the time of Nobunaga, the kubijiken (head viewing ceremony) was common after battle.  Women and children would often clean and apply make-up to the decapitated heads.  Nasty and gruesome indeed.  Taking heads was common practice by samurai and foot soldiers to distinguish themselves in battle.

Chris Glenn's Sekigahara (p. 109).

"The head was then cleaned, perfumed, and mounted for inspection and registration back at base camp.  Powdered rice was used to mop up and stop any blood or other fluids leaking from the head.  Women specially trained in the art of arranging the heads were employed for the gruesome task. Unafraid of freshly decapitated heads also blacked the teeth of any head upon order."

The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga often mentions many heads taken in battle as well as the name heads of the enemy.

Nobunaga no tame!

2021 Gifu Castle Park Chrysanthemum Doll Festival

 

The 2021 Gifu Castle Park Chrysanthemum Doll Festival has begun.  Nobunaga and Nohime will appear.  Also the Uesama performs Atsumori as Nohime plays the hand drum.  If you are in Gifu this time of year, please by all means visit Gifu Castle Park.

Tenka no tame!

2021 Samurai Ninja Festival

The 2021 Samurai Ninja Festival will be held again this year at Odaka Greens on November 21st.  Odaka Greens is not far from the Odaka Castle ruins as well as the Okehazama Battlefield.  There will be a matchlock rifle demonstration as well as Nobunaga and his friends.

Link: Https://www.samurai-ninja-fes.com

Nobunaga no tame!

Shoryuji Castle Video

 This is a video on Shoryuji Castle narrated by archeologist Mr. Senda.  The video does have English subtitles and it worth the eleven minutes of your time.  Shoryuji is located near Kyoto and Nobunaga ordered Hosokawa Fujitaka to build it.  It quickly became a strong fortress for Fujitaka, but it also became a cultural center as well.  Various nobles from Kyoto would visit Shoryuji.  Mr. Sena points out that Shoryuji did have a castle tower, but it was probably more a cultural one than militaristic one.  Also Hosokawa Tadaoki and Akechi Mitsuhide's daughter (Hosokawa Gracia) was married here.

Tenka no tame!

Takeda Nobutora Movie

 There will be a movie on Takeda Shingen's father Nobutora (1494-1574).  Minority Terada will play the role of Takeda Nobutora.  Nobunaga does make an appearance in the movie.  Watanabe Hiroyuki will play the role of Nobunaga.

Nobunaga no tame!

Brief Okehazama Video

 Here is an eight minute video on the Battle of Okehazama.  The video starts off with Atsumori and it continues from there.

Topics include:

Oda/imagawa conflicts

Narumi/Odaka Castle

Brief description of the battle

Imagawa Ujizane

Matsudaira/Tokugawa name change

The video also does a good job on how big Kutsukake Castle during the Sengoku Era.  I highly suggest one visit the castle ruins.  On a final note, I have recently viewed a video on the Battle of Nagashino by Owada Tetsuo.  I plan to post the video soon once the details are translated.

Tenka no tame!

Saito Family Video

 Here is another video on the Saito and Oda families.  The video covers several topics such as Oda Nobuhide, Oda Nobuyuki, and the conflict between the two sides.  Then it discusses the marriage between Nobunaga and Nohime and the meeting with Saito Dosan at Shotokuji Temple. One key element that people often overlook is the Rokkaku.  It seems that they had some conflict with the Saito and one of the key reasons that Dosan wanted an alliance with Nobunaga so his back was covered just in case things got out of hand between him and the Rokkaku.  The video goes into detail about the chaos in the Oda house and eventually the dispute between Dosan and Yoshitatsu. Again, the main source listed in the video is The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga.

Nobunaga no tame!

Oda Family Video

 Here is a nice short video on the Oda family. The video covers several points.

Origins of the Oda Family

Ise/Yamato Oda families 

Oda Nobuhide

Saito Dosan

Wars against the Imagawa and Saito

Nobuhide's death

Rise of Nobunaga 

The videos does have a reference list and the main source listed was the Shincho-Ko ki (Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga).

Tenka no tame!