It is the story of the attack on “Oshijo Castle,” one of the branch castles in the Odawara Castle of the Hojo clan during the Warring States period before Toyotomi Hideyoshi had yet to become the Sekihaku. It is now located in Gyoda City in the eastern area of Saitama Prefecture. It is one of the seven best castles in the Kanto region. It is known as a “floating castle” that withstood the water invasion of Mitsunari Ishida during Hideyoshi Toyotomi’s conquest of the Kanto region. It is also one of the 100 best castles in Japan.

忍城址・行田市郷土博物館｜埼玉県公式観光サイト ちょこたび埼玉

関東７名城のひとつに数えられた忍城は、室町時代の文明年間に築城され、豊臣秀吉の関東平定の際には、石田三成の水攻 […]

The movie will be based on “Nobo no Shiro,” a historical novel by Ryu Wada about such a setting.

A small group of elite to face a substantial army works.

Toyotomi’s army is over 20,000 strong, and its general is Mitsunari Ishida, while the military led by Nagachika Narita is only 500; whether they think they can compete with this or not is evident from the numbers. Toyotomi’s forces also considered this an easy victory. The vassals of the Narita family were seriously concerned about whether to join the Hojo family, which was opposed to the Toyotomi forces that were trying to unify the country and the current head of the family, Ujinaga Narita (Nagachika Narita’s cousin), was in Odawara and had already communicated with the Toyotomi side and expressed his intention to surrender.

The movie follows the defense of the Toyotomi forces by Narita Nagachika, also known as ‘Nobo-sama.’ Despite being labeled a ‘fool’ by the locals, Nagachika’s unique approach to the battle, which is neither aligned with Toyotomi nor Hojo, surprises his vassals. His natural good-naturedness and the support of his fiefs enable him to outmaneuver the Toyotomi forces.

The work of confronting the hordes is a classic found in many entertainment productions of various histories. I considered “300” and “Kingdom of Heaven” similar works.

Mansai Nomura, the Kyogen actor who plays the charming Nagachika

The film’s main character, Narita Nagachika, has an unfathomable and mysterious charm. The cast includes Mansai Nomura as Narita Nagachika, Yusuke Kamiji as Ishida Mitsunari, the ace of the Toyotomi forces, and Takayuki Yamada as Otani Yoshitsugu, a close friend of Ishida Mitsunari, all of whom give excellent performances.

Nagachika usually went to the castle to meet with the local people, and his vassals were bitter to see him do so. Still, when the local people joined Toyotomi in building a dike for a water invasion, the locals who were close to Nagachika acted as spies. This scene makes us realize that battles are not won or lost by numbers.

The scene of Nagachika going out in his boat to the front line of the enemy army, defending the dike for the water invasion, and risking his life to perform a kyogen dance is indeed a kyogen actor. The fact that he confuses the battle by making Nagachika’s fans on the Toyotomi side, the enemy army, also makes you feel the thrill of not knowing what will happen. With an army so outnumbered that a head-to-head battle would be impossible to win, a strategy to outwit the opponent is necessary.

It probably means that even long-lost parents, who usually lie around and do nothing, were thinking about many things. These people can be found in everyday life. Even though they may not seem to be doing anything while thinking, we can rely on them to show their strength when the time comes.

Those who don’t know that may wonder, “What is that guy? I would think, “What is that person?

The gap between historical entertainment novels and film adaptations

This work is based on the novel Nobo no Shiro by Ryu Wada, who made his debut with this work. Wada’s historical entertainment novels have been very well received. In this work, he successfully creates a sense of urgency for the viewer with realistic images of the castle surrounded by water and the flooding when the levee bursts.

Wada is probably best known for his hit novel Murakami Kaizoku no Musume, which was published in book form in 2013 and has sold over 1 million copies. It is another historical entertainment novel about the Murakami Suigun, pirates who were active in the Seto Inland Sea in the Middle Ages. Unfortunately, as of 2024, there is still no word on a movie adaptation.

I expect one reason for this is that filming a fleet of pirates sailing through the Seto Inland Sea dynamically would take too much budget.

As for historical-themed films, there is a famous episode by Akira Kurosawa in which he built a castle, which was not a set while filming a movie called “Ran” and burned it down for the shoot. There are many other anecdotes about Akira Kurosawa, such as the fact that he gathered the entire staff because there were not enough cast members and raised the budget through previews during the film.

Kurosawa is famous for his extraordinary budget for film production. Still, even if you are not a filmmaker, you would wonder how much it costs to build a castle and burn it for filming. Even if you are not a filmmaker, you would wonder how much it costs to build a castle and burn it down.

I know I’m getting off track here, but for “Nobo no Shiro,” a filming technique called VFX was used, in which a certain number of scenes, such as the water invasion scenes, were actually filmed, and CG was used for some scenes, such as those in which water was pooling all over the place.

Although this allowed the production cost to be lower than in Akira Kurosawa’s time, the film still cost 1.5 billion yen. In comparison, it grossed 2.8 billion yen at the box office.

Considering film as a business, we want to see the box-office revenue grow more about the production cost. In this light, one can understand why Murakami Kaizoku no Musume could not be made into a movie: it would have cost too much money to produce the images even if they were shot with VFX.

Still, like Nobo no Shiro, Murakami Pirate’s Daughter would be gripping if made into a movie. Ryu Wada’s historical entertainment novels are such a good match for movies. Even when reading the original novel, even in print, images come to mind one after another, and the characters come alive and move around.

I would say that “Nobo no Shiro” is an actual film adaptation of such a novel.

You don’t have to be a history buff to enjoy it! An exhilarating battle story

The ending of this film is also exhilarating.

It is clear from the numbers and history that Toyotomi’s forces will win. Still, in the scene where they are praised for a good fight with a few men, the end is also historically romanticized in warfare, as if there was some sportsmanship even in such battles.

It is a very romantic way to end a historical war. I would recommend this film to those who feel that historical stories are difficult to tell. It is complete movie entertainment, and you will feel a sense of exhilaration after watching it, as well as a sense of entertainment from the historical romance that there actually was a man named Narita Nagachika.