The Nobunaga of Kiyoshi Kimata

So, recently I resumed my interest for Japanese children books, and I started to collect some old illustrated books dedicated to Nobunaga.

Among my first purchases was the 42nd volume of Hinotori Denki Bunko (火の鳥伝記文庫) series by Kodansha dated 1983, which is dedicated to Nobunaga.

The text, a novelization of Nobunaga's life, is composed by Shunpei Suzuki, while Kiyoshi Kimata took care of the illustrations inside the booklet.
A master of inking, his style is quite charming and I fell completely in love with his simple, elegant artworks.
I'm sharing some of them in this post, then!

Suddenly, a Nobunaga in C3 AFA in Hong Kong!

Let's stay in Hong Hong but this time let's move to the C3 AFA in Hong Kong event when, suddenly, I noticed that the booth of Manga Shop (pretty much a "sister shop" of the Japanese Animate in Hong Kong) was decorated by artworks signed by Hiroyuki Suwahara featuring our favourite warlord!



The reference is yet another figure, the Nobunaga by ACI Toys that I mentioned (and I preordered) years ago, by now... So I got closer to indagate.

New Nobunaga 1/6 figure by COOMODEL!

So, I was walking my otaku spots in Hong Kong when I spotted this:
And I got to learn that COOMODEL was accepting pre-orders on a new Nobunaga figure!

Happy New Year in Nobunaga style!

Today marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year, dedicated to the Dog, so, no, I'm not late on updating this blog or anything! I was waiting on purpose!
Since the festivity, I wanna share this awesome postcard sent to me by my friend Livia to celebrate adequately the upcoming 2018!

Nagoya Bushimeshi Busho-tai Bento Launched!

Past Tuesday, during an event dedicated to the promotion of Aichi tourism, a new ekiben was introduced, available at Nagoya Station and dedicated to two main "contents" of Nagoya: samurai and food!
Picture from this article.

The Nagoya Bushimeshi Busho-tai Bento (なごや武士めし 武将隊弁当) includes some typical flavours of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (throughly researched thanks to the "Bushi-meshi" investigations of historians and gourmet) and the classic Nagoya-meshi awesomeness.
Main feature of the bento are the grilled miso onigiri, plus misokatsu, kishimen, eel and other delicacies.
The package includes a "Sengoku MAP" about the touristical spots of the ancient provinces of Owari and Mikawa featuring the Nagoya Busho-tai.

The bento costs 1200 yen, it can be found at GRAND KIOSK of Nagoya Station and it's sold starting December 27.
It's not clear if it's a limited edition item, but the distribution should be granted at least for the whole 2018 year!

Nobunaga 450 Digest ( 六 )

And here we are-- The closing event of the celebrations for the 450th Anniversary of Gifu city was on December 22, meaning that the party is over...Or maybe not.
Today's "cover" features a rare picture of the lanterns used during the Koyomi no Yobune and featuring the anniversary that we followed during this year! The picture comes from the Twitter account of one of the artists who worked on it.

The JR Azuchi Station gets a renewal in Nobunaga style!

On November 19 the JR Azuchi Station finally completed its renewal works.
The event was celebrated by the PR groups of Azuchi, including the freshly enstablished Nobunaga-tai, and the local authorities with a opening ceremony.


Pictures coming from this and this Twitter accounts.
The station now features a touristic office on the first floor, plus escalators, elevators and toilets. Still no coin lockers, though!
Its most defining feature is the octagonal tower at the North Exit, inspired by the architecture of the Nobunaga no Yakata museum, where it's possible to see a reconstruction of the Azuchi Castle's tenshu.

Behold the "Shinchou Meikan"!

It's almost Comiket time and some previews are already popping out here and there.

Irene (thank youuuu!) showed me this awesome book, "Shinchou Meikan" (信長名鑑) by Chihatan (ちはたん) circle!
It's an encyclopedia of ALL the depictions of Nobunaga in fiction, featuring anime, manga, mascottes, light novels and videogames!
The author researched 388 Nobu-versions in this book, with references and details on sources and interpretations... Far from "scholar stuff", but quite the task nevertheless!

I can't find a webpage of the author but their Twitter account, where you can check some pictures of the contents, too.
If you manage to visit Comiket on December 31, note the booth of Chihatan: 東ホ09b!

A Nobunaga statue in Nagoya!

Gifu has its very own Nobunaga statue, Azuchi too, even Kiyosu and Shobata sport one.
But what about Nagoya? Thanks to the report of Samurai History & Culture Japan we got to know that during the recent Nobunaga Kouro event, a bronze statue dedicated to Nobunaga with the features of Nobunaga from "Ikusa no Ko" manga was unveiled in the precints of Nagoya castle!

Nobunaga 450 Digest (五)

Here we are for a "middle update" about the Nobu-related events of the 450th Anniversary of Gifu City!
Still a bit of Autumn before jumping into Winter, let's take a look to the events that we announced last time and the upcoming stuff.
Today's cover is related to the Nobunaga "Yume" Rakuichi market-event! It features the "jumbo paella" and Gifu PR Yukko Yanagase... But let's go in order!