The battle that turned a 'fool' into Japan's first unifier — 2,000 vs. 25,000.
Drama set in the historical Warring States Era of Japan. Tokaido name Imagawa Yoshimoto personally led his army to invade Owari Province territory, now in Aichi Prefecture Nagoya City area, was the leader Nobunaga of this surprising burst of death. After the war, the Imagawa clan who originally dominated the Tokaido region fell away, and the victorious Oda Nobunaga quickly expanded his power in Central Japan and the Kinki region, laying the foundation for his future control of the central government of Japan.
Acting
Ichikawa Ebizo XI's unhinged, magnetic Nobunaga steals every scene.
Direction
Kawake builds dread before the storm — then unleashes beautiful carnage.
Director
Shunsaku Kawake
Ichikawa Ebizo XI
Oda Nobunaga
Suzu Hirose
No-hime (Nobunaga's wife)
Akiyoshi Nakao
Tomohiro Kiyoshi
Naoto Takenaka
Michizora Hotaka
Kazuki Kitamura
Oda Nobuhide
Ryosuke Mikata
Hattori Koheita
Ryuhei Matsuda
Shibata Katsuie
Koichi Sato
Saito Dozo
Hitomi Kuroki
Tsuchida Gozen
Ouji Suzuka
Matsudaira Motoyasu
Hiroshi Mikami
Imagawa Yoshimoto
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ebizo XI is an eleventh-generation kabuki actor; his physicality here draws directly from classical stage movement.
The real Nobunaga was reportedly dancing the Atsumori before battle — this film captures that unhinged confidence perfectly.
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