Pictures of Oda Nobunaga Page 1

ODA NOBUNAGA'S PICTURES 1

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Oda Nobunaga's face is one of the best-looking of all historical figures on this planet. That much is historically valid. Coupled with this natural capital is his personality; everyone of his contemporaries told us he was one heck of a freak.

How weird Oda Nobunaga was? Tradition said he used to ride and race around the town, challenging anybody who dared to compete with him in anything at all (karate and hallucinogenic substances included). In feudal Japan, a samurai -- more than that, son and heir of a Lord -- shouldn't ever do such a thing as mingling with the town's lowborns and hanging out with local thugs. (Click here for story and pictures of why, when and how Oda Nobunaga was called 'Lord Fool')

Novelist Yoshikawa Eiji (in his overweight tome about Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Shinso Taikoki, 1937) put Oda Nobunaga on horseback sidewise like a cowboy's consort, eating watermelons along the way and singing out loud, from time to time spitting to the wind. He also dressed like any character in 1970's blockbusting scifi flick Flash Gordon, proceeding from Flashlike to exactly like Ming the Merciless.

This has made the typical visualization of Oda Nobunaga in 20th and 21st centuries, besides some routine borrowing from Bram Stoker's Dracula. What certainly is historically correct is that Oda loved capes and robes and such stereotypical outfit of Europeans and Chinese nobles at the time, and he, while keeping with the era's 'dress loudly' convention, was still be seen as the loudest of all -- despite his favorite color being no other than black.

This is Oda Nobunaga according to videogamers of 2000's; from the Sony Playstation best-selling role-playing game Onimusha.

Oda Nobunaga in a 21st-century artist's eyes is faithful to the five hundred years image of him in armor. Red and black are his colors; they signify genealogy [click here for Oda's roots].

The classical portrait painting of Oda Nobunaga illustrating his bio written in 16th-century. Oda's long hair, unlike this classical image of him, was most likely to have been done in a Chinese-like bun on top of his head, and the front and top are not shaved like the custom for samurai. The picture on his formal jacket was a gift from the Emperor, which also would be taken by his best General and successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, as his own family crest when he assumed power as the Lord Chancellor of Japan (the Taiko), a title even higher than a Shogun (that means only 'the Chief General'), inferior in rank only compared to the Emperor. Oda himself never wanted to be Shogun; the only title he reluctantly accepted when conferred by the Emperor was somewhat civilian: simply and plainly 'Minister'.

Click here for story and pictures of Who's Who in Japan during Oda Nobunaga's life.

The 20th-century portrayal of Oda Nobunaga based on traditional sources and narratives of Jesuit missonaries of 16th-century is like this picture made in 1950's. High cheekbones, pointed jaws, piercing eyes, non-smiling lips, an almost 'Western' nose, clear complexion, thick eyebrows and (usually) thin moustache and goatee are facial attributes one keeps in mind when trying to update Oda Nobunaga's looks today. Most of Oda's contemporaries (and today's Japanese in general) have been seeing him as one heck of an evil [click here to see why], something that is quite out of proportion and historically inaccurate. But even Oda's worst enemies agree on his looks; he's always been one of the best-looking Japanese heroes of all times. He might have looked like

Ryu Daisuke in Shadow Warrior

or even

Ito Hideaki in Yin-Yang Master

[those are clickable names].

Oda Nobunaga according to a porcelain dollmaker in 2005. When it comes to body language, according to all sources Oda Nobunaga always stood and sat erect as if he was wearing an armor -- even when he wasn't in battlefield and when it's a generally laid-back situation. Tokugawa Ieyasu, as a contrast, always tended to bend his body downward -- even when he was the most powerful man in Japan.

Click here for pictures of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Oda Nobunaga as played by Ogata Naoto in the NHK TV movie Nobunaga, King of Zipangu (1992). I always think, like, can't they find any better title? 'KING' of Japan, for gods' sake!

Click here for story & pictures of what Oda Nobunaga was in real life -- or scroll down and find some link that reads 'Shoguns for Dummies' or such.

Semi-public statue of Oda Nobunaga at age 15, with his favorite horse Uzuki [see Oda as cavalier], at Gifu castle park. Fifteen was not a time for teenage anxieties in 16th-century Japan. At 15 years old, Oda Nobunaga was the head of his family -- and master of two districts in the province of Owari. At 21 he was the head of the clan and Lord of Owari

Click here to see Oda Nobunaga's castles and towns of Kiyosu, Komaki, Gifu and final homebase Azuchi, also the palace he built in Kyoto -- but not for himself.

Or click here for story and pictures of how Oda Nobunaga was like when he was 15 going on to 19.

Outdoor concrete statue of Oda Nobunaga in front of the station in Azuchi, Japan, today. He is depicted with two things that everyone knows he always carried: a sword and a fan.

Click here to see Oda Nobunaga's warrior-dance with the fan.

Click here for Oda's statue at Kiyosu castle that used to belong to him.

Oda Nobunaga as interpreted by the actor Yakusho Koji in the NHK TV serial titled Tokugawa Ieyasu, aired in Japan from 1983 to 1984.

Click him or here for story & pictures about the Tokugawa clan.

Kimura Takuya stars as Oda Nobunaga
in the movie Oda Nobunaga, 1998. This is what has been believed as how Oda looked like when he was around 18 years old; when he got married.

Click here for story and pictures of Oda Nobunaga's wife.

Samurai Deeper Kyo

Oda Nobunaga in the anime series Samurai Deeper Kyo, 2000. He is put into the routines of getting resurrected to fulfill a lot of evil ambitions that he didn't have time to manifest when still alive in 1500's, butchering anybody around indiscriminately, dabbling in black magic, in some kind of mental incest with his sister Oichi, and so forth -- the exact same traits forced into Oda Nobunaga's image for more than the last 500 years. The same happened in the 2001 anime series Flame of Recca. In Ghost-Sweeper Mikami, too; only Oda isn't infused with typical anime character design there.

Click here for movie scenes of this anime.

Oda Nobunaga in another anime series called Bushilord (squeezing together the words 'bushi' -- samurai -- and 'lord'), released in 2004. This is the ONLY animation movie that takes Oda as he was; without stereotypical impressionist strokes that he was 'devil reincarnated' and so on. The story itself is based on Oda Nobunaga's real biography, and peopled with the ones he once knew. But, perhaps to avoid the predictable turn-offing, names of historical personalities are merely hinted at, and not used in full. Oda Nobunaga is, here, a young man named Shin Kazusa -- a suggestive name, if only you dig.

Oda in Dynasty Warrior

The greatest looks of Oda Nobunaga is probably in this game.

Oda Nobunaga as played by Sorimachi Takashi in a TV movie. I love Sorimachi kind of colossally, so this is the very best treat that I never even expected to get.

Click Sorimachi's picture above or here to see his own movie scenes.

The best representation of Oda Nobunaga in the movies is dished out by legendary director Kurosawa Akira in Kagemusha, 1980. Actor Ryu Daisuke has been the best Oda Nobunaga onscreen.

Click Ryu's picture above or here to see the movie scenes.