* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Toshiie and Matsu: A Tale of the Million-Stone Kaga Domain
大河ドラマ 利家とまつ〜加賀百万石物語〜
The 41st NHK Taiga Drama (2002, screenplay: Takeyama Hiroshi, starring: Karasawa Toshiaki and Matsushima Nanako). Chronicling the lives of Maeda Toshiie and his wife Matsu, it depicts the era of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi through the establishment of the Kaga domain's foundations. A Sengoku drama where viewers can experience both Toshiie's spearmanship—known as "Yari no Mataza" (Spear Mataza)—and the cultural significance of the sword as worn by one of the Toyotomi regime's five great elders.
Description
Overview
"Toshiie and Matsu: A Tale of the Million-Koku Kaga Domain" was the 41st NHK Taiga drama, broadcast from January 6 to December 15, 2002. The screenwriter was Takeyama Hiroshi. Karasawa Toshiaki played Maeda Toshiie, and Matsushima Nanako played his wife, Matsu. With its star-studded cast, the series was highly popular from the start of its broadcast. Sorimachi Takashi played Oda Nobunaga, and Kagawa Teruyuki played Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The drama takes on the "bonds between husband and wife" and the "way of life of the warrior" in the Sengoku period head-on, and it is widely loved as such.
Maeda Toshiie: "Yari no Mataza" and the Warrior of the Sword
Maeda Toshiie (1539–1599) was a Sengoku warrior known by the nickname "Yari no Mataza," and he made a name for himself as a master of the spear. He began as a page to Oda Nobunaga, and he took the spear into many battles, including the Battle of Inō and the Battle of Okehazama, building up a record of military achievements. However, as a warrior he also wore a sword as a matter of course, and under the Toyotomi regime, as one of the Five Elders, wearing a sword at formal and ceremonial occasions also carried important meaning. The fact that Toshiie mastered both the sword and the spear offers an important perspective for understanding this drama through the diversity of "warriors' weapons."
Where Famous Sengoku Spears Meet Japanese Sword Culture
Among famous Sengoku spears, the cross-bladed spear "Ningen Mukotsu" that was the favored spear of Mori Nagayoshi (Oni-Musashi) is widely known. The origin of its name is unclear, but one theory holds that it expresses a sharpness that pierces as if a person had no bones at all. It was later passed down in the Mori family. Spears were often made by the same smiths who made Japanese swords, and in particular the blade section of the "suyari" directly inherits the sword-forging techniques of Japan. The title "Yari no Mataza" held by Maeda Toshiie is likewise a symbol that sword-smithing skill was deployed on the battlefield in the form of the spear and was valued as a warrior's equipment. It conveys the image of a Sengoku warrior who mastered both the sword and the spear.
The Sword Culture of the Kaga Domain: The Maeda Family and Kaga Blades
The Million-Koku Kaga Domain, ruled by the Maeda family (today mostly present-day Ishikawa and Toyama Prefectures), developed its own sword culture throughout the Edo period. The Kaga Domain employed Kanewaka as its retained smith, and members of the Kashū Kiyomitsu lineage also forged swords in Kaga. Toshiie himself used practical swords as a Sengoku warrior, but the sword culture that the Kaga Domain nurtured under his descendants can also be said to have blossomed from the seeds of the warrior culture sown in Toshiie's era.
Swords as "Warrior Ceremonial Attire": Toshiie as One of the Five Elders
For Maeda Toshiie, who became one of the Five Elders under the Toyotomi regime, the sword was more than a mere weapon. It was a "symbol of status and power." Wearing the tachi and uchigatana at the ceremonial occasions of the Five Elders played an important role in visually displaying their authority. "Toshiie and Matsu" is also a work that lets viewers experience this cultural side of the "sword as ceremonial attire," the transitional period in which the sword rose from a practical item of the battlefield to a symbol of power.
Cultural Impact
When the drama aired in 2002, it recorded an average viewership rating of 22.1% (peak 27.6%). Together with the popularity of Toshiie and Matsu, it contributed greatly to an increase in tourists to Kanazawa, Kaga, and Noto.
Real Swords Featured
Kashū Kiyomitsu
A line of swordsmiths in Kaga Province that continued from the Muromachi period to the end of the Edo period. During the Edo period, the smith known as "Hinin Kiyomitsu," who forged swords in the outcast (hinin) huts of the Kaga Domain, became well known, and the twelfth-generation Kiyomitsu of the late Edo period is called a master. One of the swordsmiths who carried on the sword culture of Kaga, which was governed by the Maeda family.
See authentic Japanese swords
See authentic Japanese swordsThis page is intended to introduce Japanese sword culture and is not affiliated with any of the works mentioned.