"Nobunaga Omotenashi Gozen": the "last supper of Nobunaga" as a modern touristic attraction

It's becoming a habit by now, but for the compilation of this post I have to thank the always useful Teap-dono, who provided the required help with the translation of the food names and involved recipes.
かたじけない.

This said, if you happen in Azuchi, you'd probably consider to take a peek to the museum area a few chilometers away from the ruins of the castle.
In there a must-see place is the Nobunaga no Yakata, a little building where you can see the reproduction of the tenshu of Azuchi Castle.
Among the various little permanent exhibitions of the place a fancy one is that dedicated to the banquet held in Azuchi on the May of 1581 in honor of Tokugawa Ieyasu's visit.

^{Pictures coming from this blog.}
Akechi Mitsuhide took care of the huge task and came with a lavish banquet that struck awe in all the attendants because it sported dishes from the various provinces conquered by Nobunaga, stressing the power of his lord.
The menu exhibited also unusual food like whale or spiral shellfish, but it must be noted that most of these weren't for consuption but hosted a decorative meaning, in this case, connected with Nobunaga's power, the reason for such an abundance and oddity.

Apparently the detailed description of the meals that Nobunaga offered to his visitors (besides Ieyasu, Nobunaga held a sumptuous banquet for one of his favourite guy from Sakai, the merchant and tea master Tsuda Sougyu) can be found in the book "Nobunaga no Omotenashi" by Ego Michiko, where a whole chapter is dedicated to the subject.
This is not the only book that Ego-sensei dedicated to the subject, in 1999 she explored the image of retired daimyo as gourmet in the book "Inkyodaimyo no Edokurashi".
A good alternative for the English speaker could be "Food and Fantasy in Early Modern Japan" by Eric Rath (partially consultable over Google Books), that mentions the researches of Ego-sensei and many others in its investigation.

Anyway, long story short, the touristic apparatum of those places related to Nobunaga got set in motion, and they jumped on the chance to brush up on these Sengoku menu to entertain and delight visitors and tourists.

The first chance to come up with a modern interpretation of the "Nobunaga Omotenashi" was the celebration of the 400 years of Nagoya's enstablishment (2010).
In this occasion the Nagoya Omotenashi Bushotai was enstablished, and many exhibitions and events popped around the city.

One of this event involved the release of peculiar ekiben, touristic bento sold at train stations as a way to promote local cooking, dedicated to the three unifiers of Japan.
The "Last supper of Nobunaga" was taken as example by the Nagoya Daruma shop in Nagoya station, that presented the lunchbox Nobunaga Zen:

^{Pictures of the bento come from this blog.}
The "rice part" of this bento is the onigiri grilled in miso sauce. Not part of the original banquet, this dish was supposed to be popular during hunting session, one of the most beloved activities of Nobunaga.
Among the original features of the meal in Azuchi are mentioned the kabayaki of eel, slices of dried squid dressed in sauce, yakitori chicken (the original recipe involved the use of pheasant, though!), slices of roasted trout (a specialty of Omi province), plus a variety of mysterious roots and veggies that only a Japanese may find appetible.
This bento proved to be quite popular, and I could find evidences of it being sold even after the celebrations of Nagoya.

But the event that brought "Nobunaga's Hospitality" under attention was probably the initiative of seven between ryokan and hotels in Gifu city on the spring of 2012, that presented a full menu under the label Nobunaga Omotenashi Gozen, following the original recipes of the era with a touch of kaiseki:

^{Pictures of the event coming from this and this blog.}
The event involved an explanation of the various dishes from the chefs and a degustation.
This time efforts were made to present the original dishes eaten by Nobunaga and Ieyasu in the most accurate way possible, so many now common seasonings were banned: honey, miso and sake were used in place of sugar or soy sauce.

Besides the dishes mentioned in the bento, here one could face some true culinary challenges: the futoni, for example, a reconstituted sea cucumber cooked in a sauce of beans, or the makisurume, a squid boiled with its tentacles rolled inside, that once slices said to remember the Oda crest, but also steamed abalone or the more inviting shigitsubo, eggplants filled with duck meat-- Just a little part of the "100 dishes" that constituted the original menu thought by Mitsuhide.
During the period of the event, the dishes could be tried in every hotel of the cooperative, the final day being host by the Gifu Grand Hotel.

It looked like a once-in-life event, but later on the Ushounoie Sugiyama Inn, profitting of its privileged location on Nagara river and by Gifu castle, made of the Nobunaga Omotenashi Gozen a main event to be featured on October, during the ukai season so to let the visitors to "feel like a daimyo", according to the words of the Chef Yasuo Mori:

^{Pictures coming from this article on the Asahi Shimbun, main source for this post, after all!}
The privileged meal comes at its due price: the cheaper plan comes for 19000 yen, and the most expensive plan is 27000 yen. The difference in price is due to the room's view as it faces Nagara river and Mount Kinka-- Sure Ieyasu had it easier!

Oda Nobunaga - The Lucky Adventurer (1959)

Let me start this post with a huge THANK YOU to my friend Barbara for providing me with the movies that I'm going to review soon.

In fact, as my PC is back in action, I'm here to talk with you again about movies dedicated to Nobunaga!
Today I'll refresh for you a film dated 1959, Oda Nobunaga - The Lucky Adventurer, a movie that tells Nobunaga's quests covering a span of roughly ten years, from 1551 (Nobuhide's death) to 1560 (the Battle of Okehazama), and how he moved his first steps from "Fool of Owari" to "Conqueror of Japan".
This movie, as usual, is based on a novel. This time the selection fell on a long story in eight chapters by Yamaoka Souhachi called "Oda Nobunaga".

Nobunaga was played by Nakamura Kinnosuke: besides being a popular kabuki actor and some celebrity by now, I'm familiar with this guy because he played Takeda Shingen in "Furinkazan", the taiga drama of 1969 dedicated to Yamamoto Kansuke... Such a familiar face and expressivity, I recognized him almost instantly!


You can tell that this actor comes from kabuki, as his expressions are quite forced and stereotypical every now and then, but in a very "professional" way that doesn't bother the viewer, but grant that "colour of authenticity" that one would expect from a movie of the 60s, and most importantly, from a samurai of the '500s.
I read that Nakamura (Yorozuya..?) is quite specialized as an actor of jidaigeki, and damn, it shows.
Looking at him playing Nobunaga, or Shingen, is like watching John Wayne playing a cowboy:

In fact, as in the case of John Wayne, one could say that his acting is a bit monotonous, despite its effectiveness, but every now and then he comes with some pure flash of genius, a perfect expression, a peculiar light in his eyes, and it's easy to forgive him the impression that his Nobunaga and his Shingen are pretty much the same person...


Another character that gets to shine in this movie, probably because of Nakamura's acting, is the Hirate Masahide played by Tsukigata Ryunosuke:

It must be noted that Nobunaga grieves more for Masahide than for his father, a reaction explained by the strict relationship that the two men shared, as Masahide acted more like a father than a tutor for Nobunaga.
Because of this he found himself to face the choice of worrying about Nobunaga or leaving him free-- As it was impossible for him to leave the boy free to face his destiny because he would have restrained him with his worries and scolding, Masahide decided to kill himself, thus throwing Nobunaga in the world of adulhood.
I liked the subtleness of this character: his thoughts and opinions were expressed with his gestuality rather than words, and I found it very intriguing. It made a nice contrast with Nobunaga's acting, brisk and lively.

The disappearance of Masahide lets another character into the scene, the vicious Saito Dousan, Nobunaga's father-in-law, here played by Shindo Eitaro:
In this movie the meeting between Nobunaga and Dosan that happened in 1553 was originally intended as Dosan paying visit to Nobunaga in Kiyosu castle, as the intention of Dosan was to attack the castle and Nobunaga, destroying the Oda de facto.
Once Masahide died, Nobunaga had to face this first challenge by himself, and he decided to go to meet Dosan to Shotokuji, instead.
Seen as a useless act of bravery, Dosan and his fellow vassal laugh the matter away, but they are forced to change their mind once they realized that Nobunaga's soldiers didn't look just better equipped than the Saito's but that the deal with Nobunaga's "foolery" was all a fraud in the first place, and that Nobunaga was quiiite more farsighted that he looked.
Everything ends in joining hands and singing kumbaya to the shock of Nouhime, who was ready to grieve the death of her husband.

--Nouhime here is played by Kagawa Kyoko.
There's not much to say about her performance: she's only asked to be pretty and devoted, she did it magnificently:
I found it fun how the "transformation" of Nobunaga from country rascal to proper bushi shocked her so much: she was supposed to be the closer person to Nobunaga after Nobuhide, as she grasped her husband's greatness before everyone else, but such a superficial change distressed her so much..! To be honest, I can totally understand that, but still--!
Nouhime covered an important role in the battle of Okehazama, in fact she's the one to give to Nobunaga the idea of ambushing the Imagawa's armies during a stop by carelessly saying that one could attempt to kill more than one man during their sleep.

An interesting character is Hideyoshi, here played by Nakamura Katsuo, who is Shinnosuke's younger Brother nonetheless:
He's presented as a self-taught strategist, a wanderer who traveled across the whole country and had informations about every province and daimyo there... Again, a resemblance to "Furinkazan"-- But also an interesting twist on the rendition of Hideyoshi's character.

--A special fangirly mention for Satomi Kotaro, that in this movie played the role of Niwa Nagahide, the young Manchiyo:
Such a pretty boy!!
You may be shocked by his recent picture on Wikipedia..!

Anyway, going back to our story-- After Dosan, who's now Nobunaga's faithful ally, our "adventurer" has to face another huge crisis, the invasion from the army of Imagawa Yoshimoto, who decided to go to Kyoto to proclaim himself as the new shogun, and to do that he entered Owari so to reach the Capital.
Nobunaga showed again his amazing strategic skills. He kept all his vassals in the dark about his plans for a surprise attack, thus destroying the role of Imagawa's spies: in the end those with the most confused ideas were his enemies, who were especting to place Kiyosu under siege.

Nobunaga kept playing the fool, scheming his actions as he put up a vain facade:

He partied all night long, but when nobody was looking at him, he met with useful allies, imposing his charisma.
On the picture above is Togami Joutaro in the role of Hachisuka Koroku.
Koroku was a so-called "man of the fields", in this movie a ronin who "fell from grace", now a full-time bandit.
It's thanks to him and his band that Nobunaga managed to keep track of Imagawa's army and forced him to stop to take a pause in an appropriate spot to launch his attack.

Imagawa Yoshimoto is played by Yanagi Eijiro:
It was a pretty standard rendition, the actor conveyed Yoshimoto's superficiality quite effectively... I wonder if someday I'll be graced by a Yoshimoto who showed some balls as in my favourite ukiyo-e!

The "Atsumori" is properly danced before Nobunaga left the castle to launch his attack.

Nakamura is a kabuki actor, hands up!
His interpretation is fluid and perfect but it also manages to show some grit, putting all his vassals on alert!!

An interesting scene is that of Nouhime presenting Nobunaga a japa mala, buddhist prayer beads, before he rushed outside:
Since the whole attack is presented as a whole huge run towards the Imagawa's camp, the scene to Atsuta shrine was omitted-- But they wanted to signify Nobunaga's dangerous situation and how he could use some "luck" from the Gods... It was an interesting touch.

Nobunaga's grinning face as he approached the Imagawa's camp is priceless:

I wanted to share these two shots with you not just for Nakamura's expressions, but mostly because of the strange kabuto..!

In the end Nobunaga is victorious, as Yoshimoto got killed without much ado-- The whole battle ended in just two hours!
Nouhime was glad to see her husband back in one piece and together they are celebrated by the people of Owari:
Thus ends the first step of Nobunaga into the conquer of Japan.

What can I say, it's dated, stereotypical and naive in many parts, but still an entertaining movie.
It doesn't try so hard to give an explanation for everything and when it does it's done in an intriguing way.
I suggest you to give it a try, as I would suggest you to give a try to "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral", then I leave the job to your fancy for jidaigeki!

Mangoro's sweets review

I'm just done with my posts about my last Nobunaga Tour but there is still some room for a new post and a new category of the blog, one dedicated to "snacks and food" based or inspired on Nobunaga and his life.
I already mentioned the delicious Yumikake Sakura of Mochinobu shop in my short walk in Gifu, but I guessed that my visit to Mangoro, a shop of omiyage and snacks located in Azuchi, deserved a mention too, if not an article.

I was really curious about the culinary masterpieces of this shop, so on a dark afternoon after visiting Amanohashidate, I opted for a detour to Azuchi to get hold of the delicacies.

Here is the booty for the day that I'm going to review right now:
From left to right: the Makezo no Tsuba ("The Tsuba of Invincibility"), the Azuchi-Momoyama and the Nobunaga-gun Pie ("The Pie of Nobunaga's Army").

The "Tsuba of Invincibility" refers to a legend about the Battle of Okehazama and how Nobunaga got to use the Eiroku coins as a decoration for both his banners the tsuba of his favourite sword.
The "Nobunaga Army" of the third pastry refers to the sumo wrestlers that he used to employ as an entertainment in his tournaments of Azuchi Castle.

If you got to know me well enough, by now you shpuld know that I'm not a fan of Japanese sweets, so probably this review may result as a bit unprecise-- Sorry in advance.
The Makezo no Tsuba is an interesting experiment. The filling is composed by two different jams, one of the usual red beans, and the other by another kind of sweet beans, but white in colour. I think that honey was added to the white beans paste, but I'm not sure.
The "container" has the consistency and feel of a wafer, but it's generally even more insipid. The contrast between the crispy outside and the dense and soft inside is very interesting.

The Azuchi-Momoyama was the pastry with the best look, but the flavour left me quite perplexed.
Again, the filling is mere red azuki paste, but the dough feels Western in its preparation. Among the ingredients I spotted egg yolk and glutinous floor, and that's probably its result.
The feel in your mouth when munching is quite doughy and dry.... It doesn't go down easily and it's far from pleasant.

Surprisingly, I'd say that my favourite is the Nobunaga-gun Pie: probably it's just because it's a shortcrust, so my Western tastes recognized something like a proper pastry, but even the filling was definitely better, flavoury and pleasant in the mouth. The ingredients specify that the filling is made with azuki from Hokkaido, probably it made the difference?

These aren't the only "Nobunaga-inspired" sweets of Mangoro shops, there is also the Sengoku Tenka Mochi, inspired to the deeds of the three unifiers of Japan and their "mochicious" Realm...

NOBUNAGA TOUR 2014 (pt.III) - Gifu

^{Nobunaga and Ranmaru as kiku-ningyo in Gifu Park.}

And the last report is finally here.
A trip that started from Nagoya returned back to Nagoya, for a final trip to Gifu.

Thank you for your attention.

NOBUNAGA TOUR 2014 (pt.II) - Kyoto (and Ise∼)

I'm about to pass out, but here's the post about the "Nobunaga places" in Kyoto that I managed to visit during my last trip to Japan.
^{Nobunaga performing during the Jidai Matsuri ^^}

--This time very little words 'cause I'm really sick about writing XD
Here are the links from my website for a quick check:

Kyoto → http://daevakun.altervista.org/repo/nobu05.htm

And:
Funaoka Matsuri → http://daevakun.altervista.org/repo/nobu06.htm
Jidai Matsuri → http://daevakun.altervista.org/repo/nobu07.htm

Plus:
Ise Azuchi-Momoyama Bunkamura (Azuchi Castle) → http://daevakun.altervista.org/repo/nobu08.htm
Shinchou Saryou → http://daevakun.altervista.org/repo/nobu09.htm

Please, enjoy ^_^

NOBUNAGA TOUR 2014 (pt.I): Nagoya, Tsushima, Shobata

As you may know by now, I recently faced a huge two-weeks tour all around Japan by myself: I profitted to visit more places related to Nobunaga, took part in various matsuri dedicated (more or less!) to his figure and enjoy myself.
It's been a fun adventure and I loved how much I managed to learn and discover during this trip.
^{Here is a shot of the Nobunaga performing during this year's Nagoya Matsuri ^^}

So, as you may expect, I already started to write the reports concerning my trip on my website.
You can go there to read about the Jaike Jinja, the Ryounji, the ruins of Nagono Castle and Nagono Jinja for what concerns the city of Nagoya, then Tsushima, with its Tsushima Jinja and the Tennoukawa park, places related to Nobunaga's youthful days, and the cities of Inazawa and Aisai, on the traces of Nobunaga's birthplace, Shobata Castle.

On the same page you can find reports on the Nagoya Matsuri of this year, and also the Mochitsuki of Banshoji of October, plus a page with some pictures of the Yana Bus, the city bus of Gifu sponsored by Nouhime.

Here are the direct links to every article:
Nagoya → http://daevakun.altervista.org/repo/nobu01.htm
Tsushima and Shobata → http://daevakun.altervista.org/repo/nobu04.htm

And:
Nagoya Matsuri → http://daevakun.altervista.org/repo/nobu02.htm
Mochitsuki at Banshoji → http://daevakun.altervista.org/repo/nobu03.htm
Yana Bus → http://daevakun.altervista.org/repo/bus.htm


This is only the first part of my Nobunaga Tour, please, read and enjoy as I work on the second part, focused on Kyoto, second stage of my tour ^_^

Gunshi Kanbee (2014)

Oooh.
I could finally watch the subbed versions of the last episodes of the "Nobunaga's arc" of the current drama taiga Gunshi Kanbee, which means that I could finally drop it XD and most importantly, write about the Nobunaga starring there!

The role was covered by an actor that really meets my taste in men, so I was as surprised as a bit wary: in fact, I guessed that Eguchi Yosuke was a bit "too manly" to cover the role of Nobunaga effectively. To give you an example, it's as if someone like Lorenzo de' Medici would be interpreted by Sylvester Stallone.
Fortunately I was wrong: I liked the sanguine acting of Eguchi, and after the tiny trauma of seeing an oyaji playing the role of a 16 years old outsuke, I found myself more and more engaged with the work of this extraordinarily expressive artist.

So, after we ascertained that the actor playing Nobunaga was quite cool, we have to take into consideration his role in the drama and-- Let a grimace up my lips.

A few words on the nature of the drama are required.
First, the protagonist of the TV series is Kuroda Kanbei (played by the good Okada Junichi), a legendary strategist of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's crew.
I won't complain about the over-dramatization of his life on an attempt to make the watchers sympathize and cheer for him or the disturbingly "made-up" similarities with Yamamoto Kansuke, but it's obvious that the role of the strategist in this series is depicted as even superior to that of the warlord.

It shouldn't be surprising, but it is: warlords are depicted as fickle, unfocused and "sentimental". Unable to think coldly, they do the wrong thing at the wrong time, leading to desaster.

This aspect is quite strong with the interpretation of Nobunaga, and it's blatant since the first episodes.
In the scene of the first battle against Saito Yoshitatsu he's depicted as hopeless, acting only on instinct and regrets. In a difficult situation, he could only attack over and over, like a beast.
We have to wait for the intervetion of Hideyoshi (here played by an expressive Takenaka Naoto) to see our hopeless warlord "secured" back in his authority.

The drama is quite obvious about the kind of man who is supposed to lead.
Warlords are just required as a "symbol", for their "charisma", but sure they are not the best kind of people to take as an example.
Calculating, aware of his surrounding, favouring the "local" and a modest life with family and neighbours-- An ideal that sure doesn't fit Nobunaga.

An interesting example can be found in the decorations of Nobunaga's quarters:

Eccentric, colourful (I laughed when Nobunaga explained his room to Ieyasu with the expression "This is the style of the fool of Owari") and excessive. They are the traits of a creative, curious nature that sure fit Nobunaga's character, but they are also an accent on his vanity, his superficiality and, in short, his inapteness to lead, his lack of the balance and sobriety expected by the source of power.

The climax of this misrule on Nobunaga's part is the scene of the massacre of Araki Murashige (Tanaka Tetsushi)'s relatives and servants, here featured as some sort of Christian martyrdom by the hands of a merciless Emperor of Rome:

How Dashi (played by Kiritani Mirei) turned from the spoiled noblewoman of history to the angelic heroine of this drama was one of the tasteless parts of this whole series-- Thinking that it was supposed to be the emotive climax of the whole thing and that it left a good number of Japanese watchers teary-eyed!

In the end, the result of this and many more evil-doings (the top was Nobunaga planning to become the new Emperor-- Project that made Mitsuhide (Koasa Shunputei) take betrayal into consideration) is what we know, the Incident of Honnouji.
Sure the presence of Kichou (a vapid Uchida Yuki) in the middle of the battle was one of the most ridiculous things that I ever saw.

Also, I couldn't help but laugh at the "Dream of a Japanese Middle-Aged Woman", the recurring "ultimate wish" of the average Japanese old lady for a travel around the world with "hubby", that found its way also in this drama.

The presence of Nouhime in this scene was SO ANNOYING that I couldn't even focus on the nice arrangement of the final fight, expecially the manly way Ranmaru and his fellow kousho protected their lord:

--After all the scene of Nobunaga's last fight at Honnouji is pretty much standardized, thanks to the accurate depiction of the Shinchoukoki-- So the only things that capture the attention of the watcher and make it memorable are the "little details" like this.

In short, a wonderful actor, nicely fitting also a charming but not very pleasant portrayal of our favourite warlord-- The drama is entertaining, but it has some parts that are quite difficult to digest, besides the unbearable "interpretations" of the script-writing.

All the matsuri dedicated to Nobunaga

I'm getting ready for my upcoming trip to Japan, so I was making a few researches about the Japanese town festivals and events dedicated to our Uesama.
I don't think that I'll ever manage to see the most of these, but maybe some lucky guy out there could make a good use of this list ;)

This post is divided into three categories: the matsuri completely dedicated to Nobunaga, those dedicated to a peculiar event (battles, birthday...) and the general historical matsuri when you may happen to find something Nobunaga-related.
As the dates are subject to change, make sure to check the related websites for more precise informations.
Also, as Nobunaga events continue to pop-out, consider this list as still "under construction".

^{A Nobunaga re-enactor from the GIFU Nobunaga Matsuri of 2012.}

Nobunaga Matsuri

The festivals dedicated to Nobunaga, besides the usual stands and stages with samurai performers and idols, are usually centered around a horseback parade and a matchlock exhbition.

[MAY 15 (if Sunday) or FIRST SUN. AFTER May 15] - Nobunaga Birthday Matsuri from 10:30 to 16:30
^{This festival is dedicated to the birthplace of Nobunaga and its promotion, Shobata in Inazawa city, featuring the ruins of Shobata Castle.
The first part of festival is held at the square in front of Shobata Station (Meitetsu), featuring a marching band and historical talks, and the second part is held at the nearby Shobata Elementary School, with the exhibition of taiko drummers and the local Ootsuke-tai.
webpage: http://www.ooutsuke.org/}

[FIRST SUN. AFTER June 2] - AZUCHI Nobunaga Matsuri from 10:00 to 16:00
^{This festival is held in June to commemorate Nobunaga's death.
The parade starts at Azuchi Station and ends in front of the ruins of Azuchi Castle, where a stage for entertainment and stands are located.
webpage: http://www.azuchi-shiga.com/index.html}

[FIRST SAT. and SUN. of OCTOBER] - GIFU Nobunaga Matsuri from 09:00 to 15:00
^{On Saturday a memorial ceremony to Nobunaga is held at Sofuku-ji; the parade with historical characters happens on Sunday morning.
The various events are held around the Gifu Station area and the main streets (Nagarabashi-dori and Kinkabashi-dori).
The parades and the open-air events are cancelled in case of rain.
webpage: http://www.city.gifu.lg.jp/3571.htm}

[SECOND SUN. of OCTOBER] - KIYOSU CASTLE Nobunaga Matsuri from 09:00 to 16:00
^{The event is held outside and inside the Kiyosu Castle in Kiyosu.
The Nobunaga that takes part to the parade is 16 years old, a tribute to his "otsuke days".
In case of rain, it's postponed to the day after.
webpage: http://kiyosujyo.com/event.html}

[SECOND SUN. of NOVEMBER] - Nobunaga Kouyo Matsuri from 09:00 to 15:00
^{This event celebrates Nobunaga's tour of Fujinomiya after the defeat of the Takeda Clan.
It's a seasonal festival dedicated to gourmet food with various culinary stands, plus a parade and a matchlock gun exhibition.
The area of the festival is Nishiyama Honganji, by the grave of Nobunaga's soldiers who died in the battle.
webpage: http://nobunagamaturi.eshizuoka.jp/}

Other Events related to Nobunaga

These events usually provide some historical re-enactment, Zen or Shinto ceremonies, special openings of temples of halls of treasures.
Also, please note that when memorial services are held in Buddhist temples, you're supposed to attend in formal clothes (black). If too embarassing, you can wait 'til the ceremony is over and visit the temple after it.

[EVERY 28th of the MONTH] - MOCHITSUKI EVENT at BANSHOJI from 18:00∼
^{It's called "migawari mochi" which means "scapegoat mochi". Kato Kiyomasa called it so after a monk of Banshoji temple told him about how a mochi that Nobunaga got from the temple protected him after an attack.
To remember the event and wish good-luck to everyone, the ceremony of "mochi making" is held every 28th of the month in front of Banshoji temple and the treats are distributed gratuitously to the audience... As long as you're lucky enough to get one before they finish!
webpage: http://www.banshoji.or.jp/event/}

[MAY 5] - NAGASHINO Battle Banner Matsuri from 09:15 to 16:00
^{A festival to commemorate the fallen of the Battle of Nagashino featuring a samurai parade and arquebuser demonstrations.
The area of the festival is by Nagashino Castle.
webpage: http://shinshirokankou.com}

[THIRD SUN. of MAY] - OKEHAZAMA Historical Battlefield Matsuri (Arimatsu) from 10:00 to 20:00
^{Event dedicated to the Battle of Okehazama, that saw the armies of Nobunaga and Imagawa Yoshimoto face each other in Okehazama.
Besides the usual parade and the stage events, in the evening there's a suggestive memorial service where lanterns are left on the Oike lake for the peace of the soldiers dead in there.
There also also some historical touristic walks led by voluntaries.
The events of the festival are located in the Okehazama Battlefield Park and the Oike lake and the precints of Choufukuji temple.
webpage: http://okehazama.net/modules/osirase/}

[JUNE 2] - SPECIAL OPENING of TERAMACHI AMIDAJI from 09:00 to 16:00
^{It's possible to enter and walk the temple precints, but the main temple is usually closed.
This is one of the three temples in Kyoto who are said to preserve the ashes of Nobunaga, the other two being Honnoji and Kenkun shrine.
The entrance to the main temple costs 1000 yen. A memorial service is held in there too.
webpage: http://fishaqua.gozaru.jp/kyoto/kamigyo/amidaji/text.htm}

[FIRST SAT. and SUN. of JUNE] - OKEHAZAMA Historical Battlefield Matsuri (Toyoake) from 10:00 to 17:00
^{Saturday is reserved to the memorial services of Nobunaga, Yoshimoto and their armies, Sunday is the day for the parades, shows and promotional events.
The events happen around the whole city: focal points of the celebrations are the Okehazama Battlefield Park, Kutsukage Castle and the precints of Kotokuin temple.
The events would be held even in case of light rain.
webpage: http://www.city.toyoake.lg.jp/sangyoshinko/kankoukyoukai/event-calendar/kankou-kosenjo.html}

[FIRST SUN. of JULY] - SHITARAGAHARA Battlefield Festival from 09:00 to 14:30
^{A festival dedicated to the decisive battle of Nagashino.
The re-enactment is located on the old battleground of Nagashino.
There's a memorial service for the fallen, taiko performances, a parade of boys in yoroi and a matchlock guns demonstration on the original site.
webpage: http://sitarahara.p1.bindsite.jp/index.html}

[OCTOBER 19] - FUNAOKA Matsuri from 11:00∼
^{This matsuri celebrates the day when Nobunaga first entered Kyoto.
It performs a parade of boys dressed as Nobunaga's soldiers, a matchlock performance and some traditional dances.
The event is held in the precints of Kenkun shrine, on Mount Funaoka.
This temple preserves an armour of Nobunaga, a copy of the "Shinchokoki" and other family treasures of the Oda Clan.
webpage: http://www.kyotokk.com/hunaokataisai.html}

[SPRING and AUTUMN] SPECIAL OPENINGS of DAITOKUJI SUBTEMPLES from 09:00 to 16:30
^{Daitoku-ji is a major temple in Kyoto that hosts a great number of sub-temples in his precints; some of them are related to Nobunaga and his family, but they are not regularly open to the public:
• Sokenin (総見院) - Built in 1582 by Hideyoshi as a mortuary temple for Nobunaga; a wooden statue of Nobunaga and one of his tombs is preserved in here.
• Obaiin (黄梅院) - Built in 1562 by Nobunaga as a mortuary temple to his father Nobuhide.
As the periods of opening vary (but it's usually on April/May for the Spring opening and on October/November for the Autumn opening), I suggest you to check the official touristic websites when the time of your visit is approaching.
Also, note that besides the ticket entrance to Daitokuji, there may be an extra ticket to pay to access these temples.
webpage: http://www.kyotojoho.co.jp/index.html}

other events

[THIRD SAT. and SUN. of OCTOBER] - NAGOYA Matsuri
^{This festival is dedicated to the city of Nagoya and the "Three Fathers of the Land", Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu, who were all born within Nagoya borders.
Parades and events pack this two-days event.
In case of rain, the parades would be cancelled.
webpage: http://www.nagoya-festival.jp/}

[OCTOBER 22] - JIDAI Matsuri
^{The "Festival of the Ages" in Kyoto is nothing but a huge parade featuring hundreds of people dressed as important characters of Japanese history, from Ancient to Modern times, to celebrate the span of time when Kyoto was the Capital of Japan.
Of course you can find also Nobunaga in there.
webpage: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3960.html}

Nobunaga's Portrait: a drawing or a picture?

I got the hint for this post from the usual Otsuke's, when in one of his post casually said that probably the famous portrait of Nobunaga by the hand of Giovanni Niccolò wasn't a portrait of Nobunaga but a picture of one of his relatives taken in the Meiji era.

Shock ensued.
The chance that the portrait that made us fangirls whimper with historical satisfaction wasn't really Nobunaga.
So today I opened my internet and decided to indagate the issue.

First of all, the fact that the portrait is not an actual portrait of the real Nobunaga is a fact.
The artwork is dated after 1583, when Nobunaga was long dead, as our Jesuit painter reached Macao only in 1582.
According to the original story, the portrait was done by following the description of some relative of Nobunaga, from the Oda Clan managed by his son Nobukatsu.
It goes like this: getting to know about the skills of this Jesuit Italian painter and the novelty that he represented, Nobukatsu commissioned him a portrait of his illustrious predecessor after his death, and Niccolò (also rendered as "Nicolao" because LOL PORTUGUESE) produced this vivid rendition of our Uesama by charcoal.
Centuries later, the Oda were forced to move to the Tendo domain, and only by then the portrait popped up from the inheritance of the clan.
It was declared a family tresure and placed into the bodaiji, besides, a picture was conveniently taken and preserved during the Meiji era.
Obviously the original portrait was destroyed during a fire and only the picture was saved, picture that is now placed into the family temple of the Tendo Oda of Sanpoji (三宝寺) in Yamagata prefecture.

It sounds fishy, doesn't it?

I investigated over Giovanni Niccolò but besides his tiny biography over Wikipedia I couldn't find much. I quickly realized that despite being such a popular painter, the maestro of the first Art School in Nagasaki and someone who apparently brought in Asia the gusto for Western art, there are practically no paintings that could be credited to his hand.
The Japanese Wikipedia, that took this matter to heart, reveals that a famous screenfold portraying the "Western Kings on Horseback" (a very popular theme in Japan) can be recognized as his very work, but if that's true, we can see very little similarity with the realistic style of our portrait.
That Giovanni followed that archaic style of painting, connected to the artistic language of Portuguese origin, though, is a matter of fact.
Following the artworks that his Chinese and Japanese disciples left us as a trail along the Jesuit missions, we do see a similar maniera and language, that can allow us to believe that Giovanni's disciples came to imitate perfectly the style of their teacher.
As it's true that following a style doesn't mean that one can't "imitate nature" properly, it's very little probable that Giovanni, if he ever faced Nobukatsu, dared to produce such a realistic portrait, assuming that he was famous for his Jesuit style of art and that it would have been what Nobukatsu was expecting of him.

Here's a comparison of the portrait of Nobunaga, the portrait of one of the Kings credited to Giovanni Niccolò and one of the "Saviour of the World" paintings of Jesus (dating 1597) that were so popular in Japan back then and quite widespread as an icon:

Sure, comparing a drawing to a painting is kinda rough, but you can already spot the various differences of styles.
I couldn't find pencil or charcoal artworks dating the same period and area to make a proper comparison, otherwise that would have been interesting too.

Long story short, the suspicious over this portrait and the identity of the Oda oin there seem to have some serious foundation...

_{Credits: the main picture of this post comes from this blog. It's part of an exhibition in Azuchi.}