Legend & Butterfly (Film, 2023)

The Legend & Butterfly—The Aesthetics of Tenka Fubu Embodied in Oda Nobunaga and Nōhime's "Swords and Butterflies"

The Legend & Butterfly (released 27 January 2023; Toei's 70th anniversary commemorative film; directed by Ōtomo Keishi; screenplay by Kosawa Ryōta) is a large-scale historical film starring Kimura Takuya as Oda Nobunaga and Ayase Haruka as Nōhime (Kichō). It depicts a story that begins with the political marriage between Nobunaga and his principal wife Nōhime, in which "two people who try to outwit each other are bound by a strong bond." With a total production cost of 2 billion yen, it is the largest-scale period film Toei has made in recent years. From the perspective of Japanese sword culture, this work deserves special mention because Nobunaga's ideology of tenka fubu, which means commanding the realm by military force, is embodied in the cultural practice of "sword collecting." It also serves as an important example showing how that view of swords is reinterpreted in contemporary film.

Oda Nobunaga's View of Swords—Tenka Fubu and Sword Collecting

Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582) is best known as a Sengoku daimyō who used the seal reading "tenka fubu," but he also stands out as the greatest sword collector of the Sengoku period. Nobunaga's sword collection combined three aspects: "an expression of political authority," "the pursuit of beauty," and "the accumulation of practical weapons." It embodied the Sengoku logic that "one who aims for tenka fubu gathers swords."

The following are known as representative favorite swords of Nobunaga. Heshikiri Hasebe is a sword by Hasebe Kunishige. It is named after the anecdote in which Nobunaga, after a tea attendant named Kannai committed an insult, pressed him down with a heshikiri (press-cut) once Kannai had hidden under a zendana (food-tray shelf). It is currently designated a National Treasure and held by the Fukuoka City Museum. Sōsan Samonji / Yoshimoto Samonji is a famous sword made by a smith of the Chikuzen Samonji school. It passed through Miyoshi Masanaga, Takeda Nobutora, and Imagawa Yoshimoto before returning to Nobunaga's possession as spoils of war from the Battle of Okehazama (1560). Nobunaga had the tang (nakago) of this sword inscribed with a gold inlay that reads: "On the 19th day of the 5th month of Eiroku 3 (1560), Yoshimoto was struck down and taken; carved upon the sword he had held, by Oda Owari no kami Nobunaga." In this way, he carved the path to his own dominion over the realm into the blade. Daihannya Nagamitsu is a tachi by Bizen Nagamitsu. It is named after the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra (Daihannya-kyō), which has 600 scrolls in all, because during the Muromachi period it was given an extraordinary daizuke (valuation) of 600 kan in coin. It is a symbolic piece of Nobunaga's sword collection.

Nōhime (Kichō) and Swords—The Cultural Meaning Where "Butterfly" and "Sword" Intersect

Nōhime, the heroine of this work (also known as Kichō; birth and death dates unknown), is a historically mysterious figure. It is certain that she married Oda Nobunaga as the daughter of Saitō Dōsan, but there are various theories about the rest of her life. This work fills that historical blank creatively. It depicts Nōhime with a new interpretation: that she actively took part in Nobunaga's project of unifying the realm. The film title "Legend (Nobunaga) & Butterfly (Nōhime)" combines "a legendary warlord (a symbol of the sword and military power)" with "a butterfly (a symbol of transformation, beauty, and freedom)." The confrontation and fusion of "the world of swords (military power, authority, masculinity)" and "the world of butterflies (beauty, transformation, femininity)" form the core theme of the work. Historically, Nōhime's birth father, Saitō Dōsan, was a Sengoku warlord known as "Dōsan the Viper," and he is also a typical example of gekokujō (the low overthrowing the high), rising "from oil merchant to daimyō." The swords of the era when Dōsan governed Mino (present-day Gifu Prefecture) are Mino-mono, swords made by smiths of Mino Province. Mino was one of the most important production regions for practical swords in the Sengoku period. Nōhime, who as Nobunaga's principal wife carried the cultural background of Mino, is inseparably connected to the sword culture of Mino.

The Battle of Okehazama and "Destiny Swords"

The Battle of Okehazama (1560), the turning point of this work's story, is known as the greatest upset of the Sengoku period, in which Nobunaga defeated the large army of Imagawa Yoshimoto with a surprise attack. That Nobunaga struck down Yoshimoto in this battle and obtained Sōsan Samonji (Yoshimoto Samonji) as spoils is a typical example of a Japanese sword bearing witness to a turning point in history. That Nobunaga had the date on which he struck down Yoshimoto carved in gold inlay on the tang of this sword shows the political and cultural function of a Japanese sword as a means of recording and declaring historical events. It embodies how a sword functions beyond a mere weapon, as a "witness to history and a medium that declares authority."

Kosawa Ryōta's Screenplay and the "Contemporary Interpretation of Swords and Butterflies"

Kosawa Ryōta, who wrote the screenplay (Kosawa also handled What Will You Do, Ieyasu?), is a screenwriter whose strengths are "a fusion of comedy and seriousness" and "the intersection of contemporary values and historical settings." In this work too, he reinterprets the historical story for today by depicting "the relationship between Nobunaga and Nōhime like a contemporary couple." This technique of "reinterpreting historical sword and warrior stories from a contemporary viewpoint" functions as a cultural bridge. It connects contemporary Japanese sword fans and collectors with "historical swords and themselves," and it embodies the role that large-scale historical films play in spreading sword culture.

Viewpoints for Sword Collectors

The Legend & Butterfly is an important work through which Japanese sword collectors and enthusiasts can experience "Nobunaga's sword culture" visually and emotionally. It can be viewed as "a crossroads of Sengoku-period sword culture and contemporary film" from four perspectives: "the historical famous swords owned by Oda Nobunaga, namely Heshikiri Hasebe and Sōsan Samonji"; "the political and cultural linkage between the philosophy of tenka fubu and sword collecting"; "the Mino sword culture seen through the enigmatic figure of Nōhime"; and "the Battle of Okehazama as a typical example of 'swords bearing witness to turning points in history.'"