"Appunti di Bellezza" Exhibition

So, a few days ago I was visiting an exhibition of Japanese Dolls in Rome, when I noticed a flyer promoting an interesting event dedicated to the celebrations of the 150 years of diplomatic relationships between Italy and Japan-- My Nobu-radar blinked furiously as I recognized his kamon on the flyer, and so two days later I was in lovely Urbino to visit the exhibition and, fortunately, have a nice talk with one of the artists, Paola Ghirotti.

Nobunaga Concerto (2014, 2016)

Today I'll review the series and sequel movie "Nobunaga Concerto", again your time travelling TV drama pimped by popular actors, lously based on mangas and fawning over great ideals but with a mediocre resolution.
The staff for both TV drama and movie is the same, featuring director Hiroaki Matsuyama and Ayumi Ishii as the original creator of the manga.

Nobunaga by ACI on pre-order!

It looks like that awesome 1/6 figure of Nobunaga is on pre-order-- On SEVEN website there's also a sale available for a few days only.
This new line of toys dedicated to the Sengoku Generals is going to be titled Daimyoden.
There are two versions available: the "standard" version for 194 dollars, which includes a set of hands and the sword Heshikiri Hasebe, and a "deluxe" version for 220 dollars, which includes the extras of gun, haori and a "Tenka Fubu" banner.

I'm going to pre-order mine soon. The only uncomfortable bit is that ACI Toys is famous for its late deliveries, so I'm not so sure that I'll manage to get my beautiful Nobu within March 2017 September 2017...

Nobunaga at the Movies!

--See that I'm not the only one obsessed with Nobunaga movies?
In the recent future two events will feature the adventures of our favourite warlord on the big screen:
The first, part of the pre-events for Gifu 450th Anniversary, is the special airing of the awesome Oda Nobunaga - The Lucky Adventurer on 17 and 18 December at the Gifu City Cultural Center; the showing will be followed by a talk show featuring two interesting guests: the first is Kyoko Kagawa, who acted as Nouhime in the movie, and the other will be a performer, the traditional singer Osamu Nagaoka. Here's the page with the details of the event.

The second event involves the city of Kyoto! Do you think that "the Capital" would keep still on 2017, and leave all the Nobu fun to Nagoya and Gifu? Hell no!
On January 14 the theatres will delight the audience with another time travelling adventure in the Sengoku Era, Hon'noji Hotel, where this time the protagonist is the young Mayuko (Haruka Ayase) who will have the chance to meet Nobunaga (Shinichi Tsutsumi) during his final days at Honnoji thanks to the weird location of the hotel where she's staying there in Kyoto.
On the website of the movie it's possible to watch the preview and check out further details of this work that looks like a huge promotion of Kyoto's tourism. --I hope that this will be subbed faster than Nobunaga Moyu!

Nobunaga no Hitsugi (2006)

Here I am again!
Today I'll review this movie, that despite the title is not focused on our favourite warlord, but rather on his vassal, Gyuichi Ota, and his compilation of the glorious Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga ("Shichoukoki"), our favourite biography of Oda Nobunaga.
The movie is based on the historical novel of the same title by Hiroshi Kato, dated 2005. It was a huge bestseller, as you can guess by the movie rendition in the span of a year!
The direction of the movie was entrusted to Haruhiko Mimura and the script was adapted by Shoukei Nagasaka.

Nobunaga no Chef (2013, 2014)

Ok, I got a few days off from work, so I'm profitting to catch up with some TV drama and movies to review.
Doing anything else would be waaay better in terms of quality time, but you know how dutiful I am, so here's the review for the two seasons of Nobunaga no Chef, a recent seasonal TV series based on the homonymous manga by duo Nitsuru Mishimura/Takuro Kajikawa.

Nobunaga Kouro! 'Cause what happens in Okehazama stays in Nagoya.

I-I just wrote yesterday about the pre-events of Gifu 450th Anniversary, and now there's already stuff about Nagoya, that can't stay on the sidelines looking at other people profitting of Nobunaga's name..?
The news come straight from Okehazama Battle website, where we can find about this "Nagoya Castle Sengoku Festival" scheduled for December 11. It's not clear if this is going to be a recurring event or it's just a one time thing... Knowing Nagoya PR though, I believe that it's going to be another regular Nobunaga-related festival on Nagoya's roster (not that I'm complaining!)...

Another interesting event happening during the festival is the special collaboration between Nagoya city and the manga Ikusa no Ko by Tetsuo Hara-sama, "Nagoya ni Okehazama ari." (literally, "Okehazama is in Nagoya"), that will feature special merchandising for sale and a lottery. Fun fact, a similar pre-event was held in Tokyo, by the Yurachuko Station, and you can read the report about it on the official website of the mangaka.
Speaking of which, today the new chapter of the manga is up for online reading :D

The events are free, and they'll be set in the Ninomaru park of Nagoya Castle. Here you can find the websites for both events!

450th Anniversary of Gifu, under the sign of Nobunaga!

It's not a mystery that Gifu city is doing some intense job with the promotion of this important anniversary of its foundation; 2017 is going to be the "Year of Nobunaga" in this sense, as our favourite warlord was appointed as the star of the celebrations to come.
I decided that this blog will follow the celebrations of the 450th Anniversary of Gifu, then, as I find it extremely relevant to our interest, and investigate the various activities involved(according to our possibilities, given distance and language barriers!).
So, in this first "chapter" of the celebrations, I'm going to indulge in the so-called "pre-events", special promotional events starting before 2017, and present you the first upcoming proper events of the year, according to the guidebook :)

Shoubu! Katsudon Curry∼

--Sorry for the lack of updates and if this blog looks like that of a glutton, but today I had the chance to cook myself a version of the Shoubu! Katsudon Curry starring at the current Ikusameshi Campaign across Central Nippon Expressway areas :)
This dish is dedicated to Nobunaga and his desire to conquer the land through daring tactics; the idea is that of mixing two strong, delicious flavours into one meal.
It's autumn, so the heart calls for filling meals ^_^
This was my first time making katsudon, too-- I followed a recipe on Youtube, exciting experience :D
I used some of the katsudon sauce (eggs and onions) to relish the curry sauce, it tasted nice.

On the Expressway for "War Food"!

Talk about curious Japanese initiatives... Apparently to promote new stretches of highroad and the service areas around, the Central Nippon Expressway involved the local busho-tai, including our favourite guys from Nagoya!It goes by itself, in Japan "Autumn" rhymes with "Food", so associated to the event is the release of special meals that could be found the parking areas and service areas of the Central Nippon Expressway, and a series of live events, scheduled for September 17 and November 6, sporting the presence of Nobunaga-dono among others.

Among the Nobunaga's signature specialties, those that caught my attention are the "Shoubu!" katsudon curry (gotta copy this) and the scenic "Nobunaga no Tenkatori" akamiso pork soba, but the menu is filled with desserts and take-away snacks too, the pick is up to you!
In case you're interested, the event lasts from September 1 to November 30, and the area of Nobunaga's pertinence is the Higashi-Meihan Expressway in Tokai region!
You can keep yourself updated on the releases of the meals and the scheduled busho-tai events checking out the Facebook account dedicated to the event.

--Thank you Teap for the instant translation check XD

And on a closing note, since we're talking about tourism, I'd like to pimp this website where you can get informations and reports on the various festivals dedicated to our favourite samurai, battles and historical sites, SAMURAI FESTIVAL.
I used its informations to update my page dedicated to the matsuri and events dedicated to Nobunaga, so you can check that out too.
The website mentions also recent festivals dedicated to Ranmaru or the Azai family (with a special spot for Ichi and her daughters, of course), I didn't include them on the page as there's no Nobunaga enactor there, but if you like the personalities involved it may be fun to check them out!

Nobunaga and his Pretty Swords

So, time ago I was contacted by the supportive Irene who asked for a post about the last trend in Japan, the videogame "Touken Ranbu", pointing out some interesting bits about Nobunaga and his belongings in this sense.

About that black guy going by the name of "Yasuke"

Today I'd like to venture that entertaining bit concerning "Yasuke", the African attendant of Nobunaga, that turned into a recent phenomenon on the web.
Everywhere you read about that "Black Samurai" that rose from slavery to aristocracy in Japan thanks to the sense of Justice of Nobunaga, but things were quite different in reality.

The "boom" about Yasuke was introduced by a documentary of sort aired on the Japanese TV on 2013 and keen on explaining the mysteries of the world. After studying the raw materials, the conclusion of the investigation stated that Yasuke was a Makua whose real name was Yasufe.
I made the effort to check the references provided by the documentary to see how fitting was the result.

First of all, I checked the report on the subject by our first source, that François Solier who documented the Japanese missions in his "Histoire Ecclesiastique Des Isles Et Royaumes Du Japon".
Here's a translation from French provided by my kind friend Hervè:

"The day of Easter was celebrated in great devotion. After the feast, Father Alexandre went to Meaco to see Nobunaga and thank him for the favors that he continuously bestowed upon Christianity and to our fathers who were preaching in his kingdoms. However Father Alexandre had brought with him from the Indies a Mozambican valet as black as those Ethiopians from Guinea. This cafre was one of those inhabitant from Cape of Good Hope. Suddenly as soon as he arrived here, all the town inhabitants came to see him. Father Organtin brought him to Nobunanga who received him greatly and couldn't believe this skin colour was natural and believed he had been painted for fun."

Preview of a new Nobunaga figure @ Hong Kong Toy Festival 2016

Browsing the internet I got to find about this upcoming 1/6 scale figure of our favourite Maoh by ACI Toys.
It's part of a new line of figures dedicated to Sengoku generals, Sengoku, based on the illustrations of Hiroyuki Suwahara, an artist of the KOEI roster of Kessen and Sengoku Musou fame.
The figure is scheduled to be on sale for the first quarter of 2017, and I guess that the price would be around your usual 200 dollars... Definitely getting this, guys. It's going to be gorgeous next to the DID piece!!

Since I'm lazy to grab pictures from the internet, I'm just sharing this external gallery by GingAnime :)

A curious find--

This is pretty much a post of "historical yak", along the lines of the one about the traces of Nobunaga's presence in Rome, but also connected to my investigation about Nobunaga's "Western Armour" of time ago... In the sense that it's something that should be taken lightly, but still intriguing as it throws an unexpected ingredient in the soup.

Well, on May I toured some bits of Northern Italy, among which were the Isole Borromee.
During the visit to the palace of Isola Bella my attention was caught by these armours:

Toshiie to Matsu (2002)

Time to review another popular taiga drama, this time dedicated to Maeda Toshiie, one of the Nobunaga's vassals servicing him since the young age, and Matsu, his legendary wife (mostly because she produced him a good amount of kids, even if this drama tries to imply otherwise), Toshiie to Matsu.
The scriptwriter of this sort of Sengoku-flavoured family sit-com is Yō Takeyama, who tried his hand with jidaigeki first on 1994 with the movie 47 Ronin directed by Ken Ichikawa.
Apparently he also authored a novel on the same subject by the same title, but I don't know if it comes before or after the taiga drama itself.

I was really looking forward to watch this series because it looked quite historically accurate, and I have a soft spot for Toshiie, that I imagine as one of the most loyal vassals of Nobu, expecially since they knew each other since they were kids.
Unfortunately this is one of the most unnerving taiga drama that I happened to watch and the fact that it's quite popular, even among Western so-called scholars, leaves me a bit worried about the good taste of my contemporaries...

Nobunaga Tribute from Foreigners on 世界！ニッポン行きたい人応援団

Hello everyone!
Today I'm here to forward this request that I got from the staff member of a Japanese reality show dedicated to fans of Japanese culture about making a short video that talks about our passion for Oda Nobunaga; one of the hosts of this TV show is Oda Nobunari, and it would be nice to show him that his ancestor is popular even oversea :) It's also a chance to see how far the message and ideals of Nobunaga got, through the voices of his foreign fans ^_^
I share the contents of the e-mail that Yumi-san sent me (with permission) and I attach the contacts so you can get in touch with the responsible :)

Nobunaga in Rome!

Just a funny post to show you the lenght of my Nobu-obsession XD
I was attending a guided tour to Boncompagni-Corcos Palace here in Rome, and looking at the ceiling decorations I couldn't help to spot this:What is doing Nobunaga's crest there? Ahahah!