Kunitori Monogatari (国盗り物語, lit. 'Tale of acquiring countries') is a historical novel by Japanese novelist Ryōtarō Shiba. It was serialised in Sunday Mainichi (Mainichi Shimbun Publishing Inc.) from August 1963 to June 1966.
It consists of a first part starring Saito Dōsan and a second part starring Oda Nobunaga and Akechi Mitsuhide. Initially, Shiba planned to write only the story of Dōsan, but the series was too popular to be finished and Shiba was forced to write the second part, the story of Nobunaga and Mitsuhide.
Shiba skilfully incorporated the results of post-war historical studies into his novels, positioning Nobunaga as a revolutionary with a clear will, a rarity in Japanese history, and establishing an image of Nobunaga in which light and shadow coexist by not only evaluating his innovativeness but also criticising his brutality. Thanks in part to Shiba's contributions, Nobunaga, who had not always been popular before, became one of the most popular historical figures in Japan.
Two TV drama adaptations have been produced by NHK and TV Tokyo.
Taiga drama
| Kunitori Monogatari | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Taiga drama |
| Written by | Yasuko Ohno |
| Starring | Mikijirō Hira Junko Ikeuchi Keiko Matsuzaka Shigeru Tsuyuguchi Ryūtarō Ōtomo Juzo Itami Shôhei Hino Joe Shishido Yoko Yamamoto Minoru Chiaki Muga Takewaki Ryōtarō Sugi Chieko Matsubara Tōru Emori Kō Nishimura Goro Ibuki Tappie Shimokawa Ryūzō Hayashi Masaomi Kondō Hideki Takahashi |
| Opening theme | NHK Symphony Orchestra |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Original language | Japanese |
| No. of episodes | 51 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 45 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | NHK |
| Release | January 7 (1973-01-07) – December 23, 1973 (1973-12-23) |
Japanese television series broadcast in 1973. It is the eleventh NHK taiga drama. It had an average viewing rating of 22.4, peaking at 29.9%. All footage of the regular broadcast is lost. In 2015, videotape recordings of episodes 37 and 38 were recovered.
Plot
The series is set in the Sengoku period. Based on Ryōtarō Shiba`s novel of the same name.
The story chronicles the lives of Dosan Saito and Nobunaga Oda.
Production
Production Credits
- Original story – Ryōtarō Shiba
- Music – Hikaru Hayashi
- Sword fight arranger - Kunishirō Hayashi
Cast
Starring role
Saitō clan
- Yoshiko Mita as Miyoshino
- Keiko Matsuzaka as Nōhime
- Gō Wakabayashi as Saitō Yoshitatsu
- Gorō Ōishi as Saitō Tatsuoki
Oda clan
- Minoru Chiaki as Oda Nobuhide
- Yōko Minamikaze as Dota Gozen
- Chieko Matsubara as Oichi
- Jun Tazaki as Hirate Masahide
- Joe Shishido as Shibata Katsuie
- Yūki Meguro as Maeda Toshiie
Akechi clan
- Masaomi Kondō as Akechi Mitsuhide
- Ryoko Nakano as Mitsuhide's wife
- Hiroko Hayashi as Tama, Mitsuhide's daughter
- Akira Kume as Akechi Mitsuyasu
- Seiichiro Kameishi as Saitō Toshimitsu
Hashiba clan
- Shôhei Hino as Hashiba Hideyoshi
- Kiwako Taichi as Nene
- Goichi Yamada as Hachisuka Koroku
- Masakane Yonekura as Takenaka Hanbei
- Taizō Sayama as Sakichi
Kuroda clan
- Tōru Emori as Kuroda Kanbei
- Iroha as Shōjumaru
- Sumio Takatsu as Mori Tahei
- Hiroshi Iwashita as Kuriyama Zensuke
Tokugawa clan
- Akira Terao as Tokugawa Ieyasu
- Jō Kurashima as Honda Tadakatsu
Azai clan
- Ryōtarō Sugi as Azai Nagamasa
- Shoko Nakazawa as Chacha
- Rieko Sugai as Hatsu
Toki clan
- Ryūnosuke Kaneda as Toki Yorinari
- Noboru Nakaya as Toki Yoritake, Yorinari's brother
Ashikaga shogunate
- Muga Takewaki as Ashikaga Yoshiteru
- Juzo Itami as Ashikaga Yoshiaki
- Goro Ibuki as Hosokawa Fujitaka
- Nobuyuki Ishida as Hosokawa Tadaoki
Others
- Shigeru Tsuyuguchi as Iga Ninja: Tsuzura Juzo
- Ryūtarō Ōtomo as Takeda Shingen
- Ritsu Ishiyama as Takeda Katsuyori, Shingen's heir
- Yoshiaki Hanayagi as Imagawa Yoshimoto
- Ryūzō Hayashi as Suzuki Magoichi
- Takahiko Tōno as Yamauchi Kazutoyo
- Fumie Kashiyama as Chiyo, Kazutoyo's wife
- Akira Nagoya as Gonzō Kani
Shinshun Wide Jidaigeki
The drama was broadcast on 2 January 2005 in the Shinshun Wide Jidaigeki slot as part of TV Tokyo's 40th anniversary celebrations. The broadcast time was over 12 hours for the entire episode.
References
- ^ Kurayama, Mitsuru (2 September 2017). "戦後浸透した、風雲児信長のイメージ" [The image of the adventurer Nobunaga that permeated the post-war period.]. BEST TiMES (in Japanese). Bestsellers. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
- Goza, Yuichi (5 August 2022). "暴君・パッシング・革命児 信長再評価の450年" [Tyrant, Passerby, and Revolutionary: 450 Years of Reevaluating Nobunaga]. Nikkei BizGate (in Japanese). Nikkei, Inc. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
- "Kunitori Monogatari towa?". kotobank. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- "Kunitori Monogatari". NHK. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- "Kunitori Monogatari". NHK. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- "Kunitori Monogatari". Jidaigeki.com. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
External links
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- Novels by Ryōtarō Shiba
- Japanese historical novels
- 1963 novels
- Works about Oda Nobunaga
- Taiga drama
- 1973 Japanese television series debuts
- 1973 Japanese television series endings
- 1970s drama television series
- Cultural depictions of Oda Nobunaga
- Cultural depictions of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
- Cultural depictions of Tokugawa Ieyasu
- Cultural depictions of Akechi Mitsuhide
- Cultural depictions of Takeda Shingen
- Jidaigeki television series
- Television shows based on Japanese novels