#Hashiba Hideyoshi

[odaclan]

If the cuckoo doesn't sing...

This one may be a familiar story for those who are fans of Sengoku period.

Below is what is purportedly the original text of the story:

郭公を贈り参せし人あり。されども鳴かざりければ、 なかぬなら殺してしまへ時鳥　織田右府 鳴かずともなかして見せふ杜鵑　豊太閤 なかぬなら鳴まで待よ郭公　大権現様

Someone sent a cuckoo as a gift. If it doesn't sing: If it doesn't sing, kill the cuckoo - Oda Ufu If it doesn't sing, make the cuckoo sing - Hōtaikō If it doesn't sing, wait until the cuckoo sings - Daigongen-sama

It originated from the Kasshi Yawa 甲子夜話, a text written in the Edo period by Matsuura Keizan 松浦静山, whose real name was Matsuura Kiyoshi 松浦清 (1760-1841). It's a text that included various subjects, from contemporary incidents of Matsuura's lifetime, to legends and folktales.

There are various interpretations that could be made, since those lines are very simple. For example, while the standard reading for the Hideyoshi line is to associate it with diplomacy, some has interpreted it as a tyrannical force, making people obey by threat.

Regardless of what the original author intended those lines to mean, though, this was written in the Edo period. It may have very well been passed down through hearsay to boot. It only gives us an image of the perception that people of the Edo period have of them, and not an actual proper description.

Per the customs of the time, the three unifiers were not listed by their plain names, but their honorific titles. 右府 Ufu is the title designating the post of Minister of the Right, which Nobunaga did hold for a time. 太閤 Taikō is a title that is used to refer to a Kanpaku that has formally resigned, but still continues to hold influence. 豊太閤 Hōtaikō is the term used to refer to Hideyoshi specifically. 大権現 Daigongen is an abbreviation of 東照大権現 Tōshō Daigongen. When Ieyasu had died, he was deified by that name.

An interesting thing to note is that "hotototogisu" (cuckoo) is written with different kanji for each person.

Nobunaga's hototogisu is written as 時鳥. The kanji is translates to "the bird that tells time". Hototogisu are active in the early summer (around late May to June), so in olden times it was said the farmers star planting rice when the hototogisu sings.

Hideyoshi's hototogisu is written as 杜鵑. This was taken directly from the Chinese word for a cuckoo (Dù Juān in modern Chinese pinyin). It's originally referring to a different species of bird than the hototogisu cuckoo, but was adapted as such by the Japanese. It is a name connected to a legend where a Chinese king became a cuckoo after his death.

Ieyasu's hototogisu is written as 郭公, alternately pronounced as kakkou. This is the simplest one, derived from the sound of "cuckoo cuckoo" call. As with the above, this originally does not refer to hototogisu, but the Japanese adapted its usage because the bird is of similar species.

I have not seen any theories or analysis relating to why the kanji used to write them is different. Perhaps it's simply for aesthetic reasons.

[thunderboltage]

🌸 "i got to kill this b*tch" 🌸

[noticiasarquelogicasjaponesas]

Sean bienvenidos japonistasarqueologicos a una nueva entrega, esta ocasión os hablaré del castillo de Takeda dicho esto pongase comodo que empezamos. - El castillo, se localiza en la ciudad de Asago, prefectura de Hyogo, data del siglo XV del periodo Muromachi, en este periodo podemos encontrar el clan del shogun Ashikaga, fue construido por Sozen Yamana, el daimyo de la provincia. - Entre sus Restos podemos encontrar : Muros de piedra, fosos, pozos , también fue escenario de la batalla entre el ejército de Hidenaga Hashiba y el ejército de Terunobu Otagaki. - ¿Dónde se localiza el castillo Takeda? Se localiza en el monte Kojo, Oda Nobunaga derrotó al castillo con su ejército en varias ocasiones en el siglo XVI, mientras que Hideyoshi Hashiba tomaba el castillo de Ueda, su hermano pequeño Hidenaga Hashiba condujo a 3000 soldados al castillo de Takeda y marchó desde el paso de Mayumi hasta Tajima , el 28 de octubre de 1600 el castillo takeda fue abandonado. - Espero que os haya gustado y nos vemos en próximas publicaciones de Japón que pasen una buena semana. - 日本の考古学者を歓迎します。今回は竹田城についてお話ししますので、楽にしていてください。 - 兵庫県朝来市にあるこの城は、15世紀の室町時代に遡り、この時代には将軍足利氏の一族を見出すことができ、県内大名の山名宗全が築城したものである。 - 羽柴秀長軍と太田垣輝信軍の戦いの舞台にもなった。 - 竹田城はどこにあるのですか？古城山に位置し、16世紀には織田信長が何度も軍を率いて城を破り、羽柴秀吉が上田城を手に入れる一方、弟の羽柴秀長が3000人の兵を率いて竹田城に入り、真弓峠から但馬に進軍、1600年10月28日に竹田城は放棄された。 - また、次の記事でお会いしましょう。 - Welcome Japanese archaeologists to a new installment, this time I will tell you about Takeda Castle, so make yourself comfortable and let's get started. - The castle, located in the city of Asago, Hyogo prefecture, dates back to the 15th century Muromachi period, in this period we can find the clan of the shogun Ashikaga, it was built by Sozen Yamana, the daimyo of the province. - Among its remains we can find: stone walls, moats, wells, it was also the scene of the battle between the army of Hidenaga Hashiba and the army of Terunobu Otagaki. - Where is Takeda Castle located? It is located on Mount Kojo, Oda Nobunaga defeated the castle with his army several times in the 16th century, while Hideyoshi Hashiba took Ueda castle, his younger brother Hidenaga Hashiba led 3000 soldiers to Takeda castle and marched from Mayumi pass to Tajima, on 28 October 1600 Takeda castle was abandoned. - I hope you liked it and see you in the next Japan posts have a nice week.

[konjaku]

金柑[Kinkan] Citrus japonica

金[Kin] : Gold

柑[Kan] : Tangerines; Citrus nobilis

Another name is 金橘[Kinkitsu]. The size of the fruit is about 3-4 cm, the peel is edible and has a sweet taste. The flesh is too acidic to eat raw, and is usually made into marmalade.

In books and dramas, Oda Nobunaga gave Akechi Mitsuhide a nickname 金柑頭[Kinka|Kinkan atama](Kumquat head.) It seems that bald heads have been so called even before that time. In passing, Nobunaga wrote Hashiba Hideyoshi as はげねずみ[Hage nezumi](Bald-headed rat) in a letter to Hideyoshi's wife. This is a historical fact. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akechi_Mitsuhide https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Letter_from_Oda_Nobunaga_to_Nene.jpg (ja)

[daeva-agas]

Man, I really want to meet with the historian/linguist/whatever so I can ask all of these stuff, because I don’t know if there’s something in the wording that makes them so sure about why this must mean what it is.

It’s like... in the first place it really feels weird for Hideyoshi’s wife to have even had a conversation about marriage issues with Nobunaga. I can’t even begin to imagine how that’d look like while the wife is face to face with him.

Like, I imagine what makes this sound like it’s something about the wife is because there’s the part at the end that says “As a woman you shouldn’t be jealous (like a god?) and don’t carelessly say things” or something to that effect.

There’s also the passage that was interpreted to mean “you look more beautiful than the last time I saw you.” So the line following it, saying that “it’s outrageous for Toukichirou to say it’s not satisfactory” or whatever is interpreted to say that he’s not been overly happy with the wife.

I know it’s the Occam’s Razor principle to like, sometimes the Obvious meaning is what it means and there’s no need to be convoluted about it, but like... I do want to ask:

Is there something about the “beauty” line that specifically indicates that this is referring to a human being and not the beauty of objects? The part before this is talking about gifts, so I dunno, if the sentence actually doesn’t specify human, is it not possible for the sentence to actually be referring to how the gifts look better than the ones the Hashiba family sent Nobunaga before?

Is it possible that the line saying “You can’t find another [x] that is just as good for a second time” refers to an incredibly rare object? Or, hell, could it be that the entire passage is saying that “Toukichirou keeps saying he himself is not a good enough vassal, but I think he’s a wonderful vassal so he should stop beating himself up, that dumbass”?

Is it possible that “jealousy” refers to being jealous of other families for having offspring, and this really was actually a discussion requesting Nobunaga’s help to arrange for their family to adopt a child? Not because Nene is jealous of concubines? 

Or, since it specifically says “as a woman”, could it be that Nene is complaining that Hideyoshi is constantly out and about doing “things that only men can do”? Like war or politics or that sort and she's protesting to Nobunaga, the liege lord who is giving the orders? Like, I dunno, maybe it’s something to the effect of, “my husband hasn’t been home in 3 years, STOP CONSTANTLY SENDING HIM TO WAR”. 

There’s been examples of interpretations of old texts being fucked up, but people just never bothered to re-examine the text until decades later. There’s this letter that was originally thought to say something about a pink hawk in a circa 1970s analysis, but a recent re-analysis from like 2020 or so says that nah, that just says a “young hawk”, and the old researcher had misread the text.  

[yeonchi]

Koei Warriors Retrospective Part 5: Samurai Warriors 1

Samurai Warriors (戦国無双) Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox Release dates: Japan: 11 February 2004 (PS2)/29 July 2004 (Xbox) USA: 6 May 2004 (PS2)/13 July 2004 (Xbox) Europe: 25 June 2004 (PS2)/24 September 2004 (Xbox)

After working on DW3XL, the series being headed by Akihiro Suzuki, Hisashi Koinuma wanted to create a game based on Nobunaga's Ambition to reflect the Sengoku era of Japan, just as Dynasty Warriors was based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms for the late-Han and Three Kingdoms periods of ancient China. Koinuma apparently wanted to make a multiplayer game with up to four or five characters fighting a single boss, but online multiplayer was premature at the time. Thus, a new team was formed and the Samurai Warriors series was born.

The series celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2024. Let's take a look at the game that started... well, some complicated feelings and situations later on down the line.

Samurai Warriors

Samurai Warriors focuses on the stories of three warlords of the era, namely Nobunaga Oda, Kenshin Uesugi and Shingen Takeda. Masamune Date was introduced in this game even though his relevance in history began a few years after Nobunaga's death. Goemon Ishikawa and Okuni were also introduced even though they weren't samurai or affiliated with the main clans, though for the former case you could say that for the female characters in Dynasty Warriors. Here's a full list of the characters who were introduced in this game:

Yukimura Sanada

Keiji Maeda

Nobunaga Oda

Mitsuhide Akechi

Goemon Ishikawa

Kenshin Uesugi

Oichi

Okuni

Kunoichi

Magoichi Saika

Shingen Takeda

Masamune Date

Nō (spelled Noh in this game only)

Hanzō Hattori

Ranmaru Mori

The following unique NPCs were introduced in this game as well:

Hideyoshi Hashiba

Yoshimoto Imagawa

Ieyasu Tokugawa

Nagamasa Azai

While Kennyo Honganji and Dōsan Saitō are also NPCs in this game, the former only appears in Magoichi's story and the latter only appears in a movie for Nō, so they have been separated from the list.

Unlike in Dynasty Warriors, where scenarios are defined by kingdom or taken from a shared pool of scenarios, Story Mode in Samurai Warriors is individualised and versions of each battle will be different for each character. Each character has five stages, but for most characters, there is a split path after the third or fourth stage. In the case of Keiji and Magoichi along with Goemon's upper path, their fifth stages are unlocked by fulfilling certain requirements in the stages before it. Okuni does not have such restrictions.

Because of the individualised Story Modes, Free Mode of course gives you the option to play any Story Mode scenario as any character. As I alluded to in the review for DW3, movies are unskippable when they are first played, but at least they're subtitled (captioned) in the English version. Some scenarios have third-party enemies, represented in yellow (instead of blue for allies and red for enemies) that can fight both armies in the battle.

Much of the stages revolve around Nobunaga's main campaigns such as Okehazama, Mt. Inaba Castle, Anegawa, Nagashino and Honnōji. Post-Nobunaga stages include Yamazaki, Ueda Castle and Ōsaka Castle (Siege of Ōsaka/The Ōsaka Campaign). Some stages are field battles and some are castle battles. Some, however, are siege battles, meaning that they are two-part field and castle battles. Yeah, you'll know if it's a siege battle when you see it.

At the end of each Story Mode, there are two endings you can unlock. Most of them are as simple as clearing the upper or lower paths, but for some, there are conditions you have to fulfil to unlock them, like achieving a certain mission or defeating a certain officer. I said that Okuni didn't have split paths or a fifth stage that needs to be unlocked a certain way, but Okuni has multiple "Dreams and Illusion" endings that are unlocked by achieving certain objectives.

Each battle has objectives/missions to guide you. The first mission typically begins at the start of each battle and certain missions occur depending on whether other missions are successful or failed. Certain missions also occur when you approach certain officers or areas. These factors matter if you are trying to 100% the game. Of course, you could disregard the missions, but the battles become a bit harder that way.

If you thought having your player character being listed as a subofficer was diminishing enough, imagine playing in Free Mode as a non-listed character only to be listed under the allied commander as literally "Player 1" or "Player 2". Not even that, it's also there on the battle preparation screen just before you start the battle. Even DW3 didn't do this.

New Officer Mode is the CAW system implemented differently, because after you name and pick a model for your character, you have to go through 12 months (sessions) of training and pass the Trials of Acceptance with a clan in order for your character to be saved. In each month, you pick a training exercise, which is the same as those in Challenge Mode, and at the end, two of those exercises become your Trials depending on the clan you decide to serve under. You need a combined score of 100 to pass (it is possible to pass with the first test, even if you go over 100), you are assigned the weapon you are the strongest with (sword, spear or naginata) and an element depending on the clan you picked, and your stats carry over into your growth in the main game. New Officer Mode is good, but I prefer to be able to directly create my characters rather than going through this training bullshit.

There are a total of 12 character models available, but four need to be unlocked. This can be done by having your weapon attack stat over 50 by the fourth month of your training, at which point you will encounter a Strike Ninja who has come to wreck the place. You'll fight him, but then you'll discover that he recovers his health every time. Your master will discover that Musou Attacks are his weakness and you'll use it to defeat him.

There are also other encounter events that are available if you select a particular challenge with certain stats above certain levels. Hanzo gives you an item for the game, Magoichi allows you to use a rifle instead of a bow for your R1 ranged attack and other characters allow you to unlock a particular skill once your character is saved. Do note that in most cases, you won't face a challenge with the same weapon you're training with, which can be detrimental if you've been training with a spear or naginata and you're suddenly given a sword (that you never trained with) for the challenge.

Speaking of these challenges, giving your characters certain names in the Japanese version will boost certain stats, which can help to achieve the encounter events particularly if you use the eight names listed below (I allowed space in my list just to do that). I don't know if such a feature exists in Western releases, particularly on the PS2 as the entry I found on GameFAQs apparently relates to the Xbox version.

Sometimes, your master, his daughter Saya or his other student Dokkimaru will give you something to boost/nerf your life/musou or recover your health (if you haven't recovered it during training). If you train with a particular weapon too frequently, your master will ask you to use another weapon for the next training session just to mix it up. Once your character is saved, they can then be played in Story Mode as they will have their own story. In fact, all the CAWs share the same Story Mode where they fight with different clans.

Each of the challenges make use of the game's battle mechanics. The Melee challenge is your usual "defeat as many enemies as possible" trial, Musou has you do that with only your Musou attack, Combo asks you to rack up 5+ hit combos, Archery has you shoot enemies to stop them from getting past you, Deflect requires you to skilfully deflect arrows with your attacks, Burst is where you get to the goal as fast as possible, and Riding has you run two laps around an obstacle-laden Honnōji on horseback as fast as possible. With regards to Riding, there'll be an enemy ambush you need to clear in the second corner of your second lap and after clearing the third corner there are two paths you can choose; one with obstacles and one with recovery items. I think it's obvious what players will likely pick.

Although it isn't mentioned on the wikis (or elaborated on in the manual) for some reason, Versus Mode is a thing in this game, where you can play challenges against another player or the computer. There is Showdown, where you race to be the first to defeat all your opponent's officers; Pursuit, where you gather information to find the real Goemon; and Strike, where you race to be the first to defeat 1000 enemies (enemy officers get you 50). You have infinite lives in this mode and you can defeat your opponent to delay them.

Finally, there is Survival Mode, aka the Infinity Castle Mode. In Abyss, you fight your way 30 floors deep into the castle where you will encounter Lu Bu (of the Bu Army) as a secret character. In Tower, you try to clear as many floors as possible within 20 minutes. There are items to be obtained when you clear 30 floors in either challenge. The game automatically saves every 3 floors so you can pick up where you left off. Of course, this mode gets harder the longer you play it, but since I was mostly playing to obtain all the items, I put on some cheats near the end. No additional voices are recorded for this mode except for Lu Bu.

Moving onto the battle mechanics of the game. You can keep up to 3 weapons per character. The item selection is similar to DW3 where you can pick up to five items (including saddles) to use in battle. Some items are specially made for field or castle battles. You can also select from three groups of up to 4 bodyguards to accompany you in battle, selecting their uniform colours and their orders. The bodyguard groups can also be edited and renamed, the various types being infantry, spear, ninja, archer, musket and lady ninja.

Depending on the weapon, characters can perform up to 8 Normal Attacks and 4 triple-tiered Charge Attacks. This moveset would become known in later games as the Charge/Power Attack moveset. There are four elements available; Fire, Ice, Lightning and Dark, the latter being where the player drains life from an opponent to recover theirs. There is still a bit of lock-on happening when you perform charge attacks, however, but it's not as bad as it was in DW.

Like in the Dynasty Warriors games, holding down R1 allows you to perform a ranged attack by shooting arrows, or becoming a sniper in the case of Magoichi Saika. There are no arrow stocks to collect so you essentially get unlimited arrows. Using the bow can help you in castle battles as sealing off strongholds/bases/checkpoints can give you an extra 60 seconds of time.

Musou Attacks in this series use up the whole gauge when activated and not for as long as you hold down the Circle button like in DW. If you're not holding down the button, you can freely perform other attacks until the Musou Attack ends with a shockwave finish. When triggering your Musou Attack, you will see a kanji character that is representative of the character at the start of it and you will see a different kanji for the True Musou Attack. For custom characters, the Musou kanjis vary depending on the gender of your character's model and the weapon they are using (for this game only, the spear Musou is different depending on the gender of your character). In the Japanese script, Musou Attacks are called Musou Ougi (無双奥義) instead of Musou Ranbu (無双乱舞) in Dynasty Warriors.

When playing with a second player, you both work to charge one Musou gauge from both sides and when one player activates their Musou, the other can perform their Attack too, before ending with the True Musou finisher (even if you haven't done anything). This is called the Double Musou Attack, or the Final Musou Attack (無双最終奥義) in Japanese.

When you end up in a deadlock and you push your enemy over the edge by pushing your bar up to the end, you perform a Deadlock Attack to deal damage.

When on horseback, you have the same 8 normal attack and 4 charge attack string you would have on the ground. This moveset would remain the same in future games. The horseback C1 usually has the horse stomp its front feet on the ground if you're stationary, but if you're moving then the Triangle button allows you to jump with your horse. Exclusive to this game, the horseback Musou has you swing your weapon back and forth while charging forward, similar to DW.

Aside from the ordinary horse saddle, the rare saddles you can obtain are those for Matsukaze and the Persian Mare, aka the Arabian Steed, the legendary horses for Keiji Maeda and Masamune Date. Take note that while riding on Matsukaze, you run the risk of running over allies and depleting their health.

At the end of each stage, you can earn skill points to unlock or upgrade skills. Skills can be upgraded up to Level 3, but when you reach level 20 at 99,999 XP, you stop earning skill points or boosting stats, which means you have to be conservative about what skills you decide to unlock.

The English dub of this game was produced by Voicegroup, which had previously dubbed DW4. As such, you can hear the likes of Douglas Rye as Nobunaga Oda and Tadakatsu Honda, Richard Cansino as Hideyoshi Hashiba and Yoshimoto Imagawa and Wendee Lee as Oichi and Ina. Those three voice actors would prominently be featured in future Dynasty Warriors games. I'm especially highlighting this here because I want to discuss the state of the Samurai Warriors English dub as time goes on. Narrations are not dubbed in this game, but the narrator in the Japanese version is Hiroshi Isobe, who also voiced Magoichi Saika.

Samurai Warriors Xtreme Legends

Samurai Warriors Xtreme Legends (戦国無双 猛将伝) Platforms: PlayStation 2 Release dates: Japan: 16 September 2004 USA: 9 November 2004 Europe: 25 February 2005

Like with the Dynasty Warriors games before it, the Samurai Warriors series also received its own Xtreme Legends expansions.

Hideyoshi Hashiba and Yoshimoto Imagawa were unique NPCs in the vanilla game, but in the expansion, they are made playable. Tadakatsu Honda and Ina make their debut as Tokugawa officers to complement Hanzō. All four officers have their own Story Modes with split routes.

Survival Mode is upgraded to provide gold rewards after playing. The two existing modes are also upgraded to Deep Abyss and High Tower. A new stage is added, Gold Rush, where you have five minutes to collect gold in the Training Hall while completing challenges to extend that time limit. You can only keep the gold you earned if you exit the stage in time, which is absolutely bullshit for someone like me who only bothers to play up to Level 3 weapons. With such a small time limit, you should be able to keep the money you earned (or part of it at least) if you run out of time and not die during the stage.

After clearing Gold Rush, you will be brought to the Armory, where you can upgrade weapons at the weaponsmith or engrave a name on a weapon (per character). This can't be done for Level 6 weapons at all and Level 5 weapons until you get the Level 6 weapon. You can also buy or upgrade items here, with the Golden Rune being a rare item only available through this mode for 50,000 gold. Also, you should be able to directly access the Armory without having to go through Gold Rush.

Three more challenges have been added to Versus Mode, those ones being those actually covered on the wiki. Duel is a simple one-on-one fight where you can also select different stages to give you a bit of a challenge; Sumo is where you play as Strike Ninjas to force enemies out of the ring; and Gatekeeper is where you defend the checkpoint and prevent enemies from escaping behind you.

Among other improvements to the game, you can still earn skill points and develop basic abilities even after reaching 99,999 XP and you can also upgrade your skills to level 4. You may also see a green frame when you select a character; that character is a lucky character and playing as them will give you a higher chance of getting good weapons and items. The lucky character changes every time the game is booted.

In the options, Player 2 can be set to have an individual Musou gauge and unleash Musou Attacks independently at the cost of you being able to use the Double Musou Attack. The expansion also introduces the Novice and Chaos difficulties to the game.

Throughout the game, you will get bonus (rice) points to use in rewards. You can unlock voice tests for characters, change the save icon in the memory card, unlock additional models for characters, enable those models to appear in the game when you use them on your character), reduce the minimum difficulty to unlock Level 5 and 6 weapons (from Hard and Chaos to Normal and Hard respectively) and allow character levels to progress past the normal limits.

I don't know if it's a thing in the English versions, but in the Japanese versions of the Warriors games, you can install data to the HDD/BB Unit to reduce loading times. This would also later become a thing in the PSP games, but in DW6 Special and Empires for the PSP, installing data to the Memory Stick Duo would also enable encounter and defeat voices in battle dialogue.

Rant: The benefits of the Create-A-Warrior system

More of a ramble than a rant this time around.

So at this point, we have two mainline games with CAW capabilities, namely being DW4 and this game. This would become relegated to the Empires games before coming back to the forefront in SW3 and SW4. Earlier implementations of CAWs were quite limited in their customisation, though there is more freedom for this in future games.

Edit characters allow for a more unique experience in games as aside from being able to be played in Free Mode (and possibly other modes), they also get other unique modes through which to shine. With Samurai Warriors, that unique mode is the New Warrior Mode, where creating characters involves having to pass a trial with a clan in order to pass and save them.

As CAW characters are a main feature of the Empires games, it would be ideal if they had functionality to import CAWs from the save data of the main games to save time on having to create characters. DW7 and DW8 do not have CAWs in the main game, but even without a unique mode for them, they can get a chance to shine in the auxillary modes before being able to be imported into the Empires games.

Samurai Warriors is a decent adaptation of the Sengoku era into a hack-and-slash game while also making it distinct from Dynasty Warriors in terms of gameplay. It had its own fantastical and romanticised elements (just like Dynasty Warriors and its source material, Romance of the Three Kingdoms), plus there are quite a few pop culture references in the Japanese version, particularly with the True Musou Attacks and victory poses. These references would be toned down in future games as Koei began to get more serious with these games.

Next time, we take a look at this game's spinoffs, namely State of War and the Pachislot game. Why the hell am I even covering the latter? You'll have to find out then.

[myndless88]

Thank you @evelhak for the tag! Sorry I'm so late in responding! ^__^;;

5 Songs:

Tonight by TVXQ

birds by Maaya Sakamoto

SMASHING BLUE by Kotani Kinya

First Vision by Yoko Kanno

Saber's Edge by Masashi Hamauzu

Bonus: Eve, Psyche & Bluebeard's Wife by LE SSERAFIM (because it's been stuck in my head as of late).

It was so hard to limit to just five! A good portion of my music library is either Jpop, Kpop, anisong, or video game music.

Three ships you like:

HideKane (Hideyoshi Nagachika x Ken Kaneki - Tokyo Ghoul)

KagaKuro (Taiga Kagami x Tetsuya Kuroko - Kuroko no Basuke)

MakoHaru (Makoto Tachibana x Haruka Nanase - Free! Iwatobi Swim Club)

First ship ever: It's hard to say. But I think Touma Hashiba and Usagi Tsukino (Ronin Warriors and Sailor Moon). I was very much a fan of crossover ships.

Last song you heard: According to my iTouch it was Proportion of Heart by Megumi Hayashibara.

Favorite Childhood Book: I don't really think I have one, but I do remember reading 'Richard Scarry's Best-Read-It-Yourself Book Ever' quite a few times.

Currently Reading: I'm about to read volume four of the webtoon-turned-manhwa 'Love is an Illusion!'

Currently Watching: The Golden Girls

Currently Craving: Nothing at the moment.

I don't really have anyone to tag who'll want to participate, so if you see this and want to do it, by all means!

[trivia-jp]

岡山城 中国地方の名所

岡山城（おかやまじょう）は、日本の岡山市に位置する歴史的な城で、別名「烏城（からすじょう）」とも呼ばれます。岡山城は、戦国時代の戦国大名である毛利家の家臣であった羽柴秀吉（後の豊臣秀吉）によって築城されました。 岡山城は、水堀や石垣、天守閣などが特徴的な城郭で、特に美しい石垣が有名です。秀吉の命を受けて築城され、その後も幾度かの改修や再建が行われ、現在の姿は明治時代に再建されたものです。 城内には、天守閣や二の丸御殿、三の丸御殿などの歴史的建造物や庭園があり、岡山の歴史や文化を感じることができます。また、城内には岡山市立美術館があり、重要文化財や国宝を含む美術品の展示が行われています。 岡山城は、城自体の美しさだけでなく、周辺には桃太郎伝説ゆかりの地である桃太郎神社や後楽園など、観光スポットが集まっています。岡山城自体が観光客に人気のある場所であり、歴史や文化を学ぶ場として訪れる人々に愛されています。

♪♫♬🎤🎹🎶♪♫♬🎤🎹🎶♪♫♬🎤🎹🎶♪♫♬🎤🎹🎶

Okayama Castle Famous places in the Chugoku region

Okayama Castle is a historical castle located in Okayama City, Japan, and is also known as ``Crow Castle.'' Okayama Castle was built by Hideyoshi Hashiba (later Hideyoshi Toyotomi), a vassal of the Mori family, a feudal lord during the Sengoku period. Okayama Castle is a castle with distinctive features such as a water moat, stone walls, and castle tower, and is especially famous for its beautiful stone walls. The castle was built on orders from Hideyoshi, and has been renovated and rebuilt several times since then, and its current appearance dates back to the Meiji period. Inside the castle, there are historical buildings and gardens such as the castle tower, Ninomaru Palace, and Sannomaru Palace, where you can feel the history and culture of Okayama. There is also an Okayama City Museum of Art within the castle grounds, where works of art including important cultural properties and national treasures are exhibited. Okayama Castle is not only beautiful, but also has many tourist attractions nearby, such as Momotaro Shrine and Korakuen, which are the places related to the Momotaro legend. Okayama Castle itself is a popular place for tourists, and is loved by visitors as a place to learn about history and culture.

[final-yorha]

Hideyoshi's SW5 Portrait Nene ,Kyomasa , and masanori in the Background EXPANSION CONFIRMED

[johnnyraine]

Hideyoshi (1996) - 7/10

Spoilers!

So, I've come back to finish this show. It was a slog from episode 30 something to episode 41 or so, which is why this won't be any higher.

That being said, the last episodes 42 to 49, are my utter favorites (that I can remember).

From episode 44 onward, there is a death each episode. You'd think that that would get tiring, nope. I cried each and every time.

Surprisingly Goemon's death got me as much as Hidenaga's, only because of the flute music and Onaki (I believe) singing, but it still got me.

His Mom dying hit hard.

I love it when they show clips from past episodes because it makes it much more emotional.

Rikyu's death was a peaceful sort, he seemed to yearn for it.

Finally, Hideyoshi's passing.

It felt more like... nostalgia.

He gave his death poem to the sun, which I believe was in place of Nobunaga's armor, and as the walls around him faded away to show a morning field, the sun just beyond, Hideyoshi looks around before running towards the sun as his theme softly plays and he shines much like the sun, before the ending title card comes.

The End.

Now, there was something they skipped over, such as Hidetsugu's death, kinda expected to see that.

Anyway, enjoy some shots:

[odaclan]

The true origin of the sandal warming story??

I'm going to start by quoting a story to you. It can be found in "Tales of the Samurai", which was translated by Miyamori Asatarou. You can read the entire text in this link here, but here's the relevant segment (I apologize for length):

While his lordship thus soliloquized, Heishiro, the sandal-bearer—Makabé Heishiro as he was called from his birthplace, Makabé in Hitachi, a surname being a luxury unknown to the third estate—waited without. Having adjusted his master’s footgear there was nothing more to do till he should come out again. But presently Heishiro observed that the snowflakes fell and lay somewhat thick on his valuable charge. He hastened to brush them off with his sleeve, but more flakes fell, and again the geta (clogs) were covered with icy particles. “This will never do,” he said to himself. “His lordship disdains to wear tabi (socks) even in the coldest weather, deeming it a mark of effeminacy; should he place his bare feet on these damp geta he will assuredly catch cold. I must keep them warm and dry for him.” So the good fellow in the kindness of his simple heart took up the heavy wooden clogs, and putting them in the bosom of his garment next to his skin, continued his patient waiting. [...] Heishiro had just time to put the geta straight on the large stone step at the entrance before the double doors slid open fight and left and Masamuné appeared, young, imperious. He slipped his feet on to the geta. How was this? They felt warm to his touch! How could that be in such freezing weather? There could be but one explanation. That lazy lout of a sandal-bearer had been using them as a seat—sitting on the honourable footgear of his august master! The insufferable insolence, of the fellow! In a passion at the supposed insult he caught the offender by the nape of his neck, and shook him violently, exclaiming between his set teeth, “You scoundrel! How dared you defile my geta by sitting on them! You have grossly insulted me behind my back! Villain, take that....” Catching up one of the clogs which he had kicked off, he struck the poor servitor a heavy blow between the eyes, which caused him to reel stunned and bleeding to the ground.

Does this story sound familiar?

If you know about Nobunaga well enough to have heard of the sandal story, you might already noticed this is a little weird.

If you are not familiar with it, I tell you here that this is a standard narrative commonly associated with Nobunaga and Hideyoshi. Barring the oddly specific detail about not wearing socks for it being "effeminate" (it's a first for me), just swap out the name of "Masamune" for Nobunaga and the sandal bearer with Hideyoshi and you get the gist of it.

In the above story, Masamune's anger could not be calmed and the sandal bearer left his service. However, the sandal bearer then eventually became such a celebrated monk of high standing. Masamune ended up inviting him to be the abbot of Zuigan-ji, the temple he had recently restored, without knowing that the master was the same sandal bearer he got angry at.

In the Nobunaga version, Hideyoshi was able to prove his innocence, which led to Nobunaga gaining appreciation of his efforts and promoting him.

Once I did a little investigation on the story of Hideyoshi warming Nobunaga's sandals. In the oldest source I was able to discover, the story was originally nothing at all. Hideyoshi kept the sandals warm, yes, but it was very likely what sandal bearers were just supposed to do and no big fuss was made about it. Nobunaga had appreciated Hideyoshi's care for horses, not what he did with the sandals.

The sandals that Hideyoshi warmed in the source I found were zouri, straw woven sandals. The story I quoted above talked about a geta, which are wooden platformed sandals (sometimes translated as "clogs"). The Nobunaga and Hideyoshi story that were in fictional adaptations or websites indeed flip flop between the sandals in question being zouri or geta. Clearly there is a problem here somewhere.

I believe I have finally found the actual origin of the sandals story, the dramatic one that includes an angry master being angry and accusing the sandal bearer of having sat on the sandals.

The story is narrated in the official website of Engaku-ji, an affiliate Rinzai Zen temple. It was actually the story of a revered Zen master, whose name was Houshin Shousai (or Shouzai) 法身性西.

Master Houshin was born in Makabe 真壁 district in the year 1189, and his name was originally Heishirou 平四郎. The lord he served was one Makabe Tokimoto 真壁時幹. You see now why the sandal-bearer in the above story was named the way that he was?

The narrative was similar to the one from Professor Miyamori's story. Heishirou warmed his lord's sandals, but Tokimoto accused him of having sat on the sandals and threw it at his head (as seen in the "Masamune" story above). Disheartened by this, Heishirou then quit his service and became a monk. He left for China to study Zen, and when he returned to Japan, he became the abbot of Enpuku-ji 円福寺. It wasn't until centuries later that Date Masamune restored Enpuku-ji, and it's now better known as Zuigan-ji 瑞巌寺 (the temple actually kept both names, and its official full name is Shoutou Seiryuuzan Zuigan Enpuku-ji 松島青龍山瑞巌円福禅寺).

Supposing this story was true, then it would appear that people down history just "stole" it and reapplied it to whomever they please. It's actually not about Masamune or Nobunaga or some other iconic Sengoku bushou (who are presumably "more interesting"). The "good ending" of the Nobunaga story had been apparently stolen from another narrative about the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu and Sakai Tadakatsu (I talked about it in my post).

Once again, this is why I always try to be careful with "just so" stories from the internet. It's fine to use them in fiction, as these has become "established tropes" by now and nobody would be mad if you use them when writing novels or fanfiction.

However, in terms of actual historical truth, I don't take them as fact unless I can verify it in reasonably reliable sources.

[akechijubeimitsuhide]

Nobunaga’s generals

[helloforgottenlibrary]

Battle of Komaki and Nagakute, by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)

[odatodeath]

doodles in the morning

[x0401x]

[yeonchi]

Koei Warriors Retrospective Part 1: Dynasty Warriors 1 & 2

Dynasty Warriors (三國無双) Platforms: PlayStation Release dates: Japan: 28 February 1997 USA: 27 June 1997 Europe: 10 December 1997 (source)

On 31 May 2024, Dynasty Warriors Origins was announced for a 2025 release. I thought they would have gone the way of the iPhone and named it Dynasty Warriors/Shin Sangoku Musou X in all regions, but it is what it is.

Over the past few years, I've been slowly rekindling my love for Koei Tecmo's Warriors games after leaving the fanbase in 2018 for various reasons including the dumpster fire that was Dynasty Warriors 9. After being delayed for two years because of projects and real life getting in the way, I've finally found an opportunity to begin my Koei Warriors Retrospective, and not too soon as well (at the time of writing).

As I said in my 1000th Post Special that acted as the introduction to this series, I'm going to be reviewing each generation of Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi games along with their expansions and spin-offs. Without further ado, let's begin the relaunch of the Koei Warriors Rant Series with the OGs, Dynasty Warriors 1 and 2.

Dynasty Warriors

Dynasty Warriors 1, more commonly known without the number, was originally released in 1997 for the PlayStation 1. It's a fighting game more akin to Street Fighter as each of the buttons perform or block against slashes and thrusts and moves are performed by combining button inputs.

Playing Warriors games for many years has made me accustomed to the format of a button being assigned to a function, plus buttonmashing is my thing, so I wasn't necessarily accustomed to playing fighting games like this. Initially, I tried playing this game a few times but I couldn't get the hang of the controls enough to land enough hits on my opponents, which made me want to reconsider reviewing this game that seriously. As I wrote this review, I got the idea to try performing Musou Attacks in the Practice mode and once I got the hang of it (on top of setting the CPU difficulty to Very Easy and changing the controller settings to make use of the triggers), I was able to fight effectively. Musous can be interrupted or countered, so this is something to note.

The characters introduced in this game are as follows along with the stages during which they appear in (the time of day varies depending on who you play as and against):

Shu - Changban (Yellow)

Zhao Yun

Guan Yu

Zhang Fei

Secret: Zhuge Liang (Wuzhang Plains)

Wei - Guandu (Green)

Xiahou Dun

Dian Wei

Xu Zhu

Secret: Cao Cao (Great Hall, Shang Yong aka Xuchang, like why couldn't you just have used that name)

Wu - Chibi (Red)

Zhou Yu

Lu Xun

Taishi Ci

Secret: Sun Shangxiang

Other - Various (Blue)

Diaochan (Phoenix Palace)

Lu Bu (Hulao Gate)

Nobunaga (Hulao Gate)

Toukichi/Hideyoshi Hashiba (Xuchang)

Typically the format for the game is as follows - you play a character from Kingdom 1, fight against three characters from Kingdom 2, then Diaochan, then against three characters from Kingdom 3, then Zhuge Liang or Cao Cao, and finally Lu Bu for 9 rounds in total. The secret characters can be unlocked by playing the game with all characters, then pressing button sequences on the title screen for Sun Shangxiang, Nobunaga or Toukichi.

The character voices in this game are entirely in Japanese due to it being Koei's first game to be localised to the West. The name display and announcement settings can also be changed in the settings. The Japanese version allows you to select how the character names should be displayed, either with the Kanji only, the Japanese pronounciation or the Chinese transliteration, aka their English names. Both versions allow you to change the announcement from their selection phrase to the character's name in Chinese, or rather, Masaya Onosaka's attempts at saying their names. The Japanese version also adds a female voice saying the character's name in Japanese as an option (either Rika Komatsu or Eri Uwagawa, I'm not too sure). Even with the Chinese voice, Nobunaga's name is still in Japanese and Toukichi's name isn't voiced for some reason in either Chinese or Japanese.

Aside from the 1P Battle (Story Mode) and the 2P Versus modes, there is also a Team Battle Mode (a 3-vs-3 tournament), the Tournament Mode (an 8-character elimination format), a Time Trial Mode (same as 1P Battle but in a time trial format), Endurance Mode (where you defeat as many opponents as you can with one life bar) and finally, Practice Mode, where you can test out characters. Note that your game difficulty settings will not affect the CPU difficulty in the Time Trial and Endurance Modes.

The ending image song for this game, Blue Sky Blue, So Blue, was sung by a Chinese girl group known as Seirei Bishojotai Ceres (聖麗美少女隊セレス), or by its real name, 青春美少女. The group was made up of Liu Ying, Li Yan, Hu Jing, Jiang Zhong Yi and Xin Xin. The writer and composer, Maiko Kikkawa, changed some of the lyrics and finished the song as a self-cover known as Sora no Kakera (そらのかけら), which was used as the first ending theme for the anime series Bomberman B-Daman Bakugaiden in 1998.

The group has been through four generations, with the aforementioned five making up the first generation disbanding in May 1999. Their agents went through quite a few lawsuits back then as their activities were apparently affecting the girls' education. As a result, the second generation only lasted four months before three of them left and had to be replaced, creating the third generation. The fourth generation was formed in 2003 after the disbanding of the third and the current lineup has lasted to this day. Talk about 30-year-old teenagers lol.

I initially thought that this game was difficult until I finetuned the settings and got the hang of it. Anyway, this isn't what I'm really here for, so let's quickly move on to...

Dynasty Warriors 2

Dynasty Warriors 2 (真・三國無双) Platforms: PlayStation 2 Release dates: Japan: 3 August 2000 USA: 26 October 2000 Europe: 24 November 2000

And so we come to the game that paved the way for the hack-and-slash genre. This game was originally meant to be a sequel fighting game, but it was changed as the genre was becoming more of a niche (not that that stopped Tekken and Street Fighter). With the new game intended to be made for the PlayStation 2, its stronger graphic capabilities allowed battlefields to be realised.

This is normally where I would cover the Xtreme Legends expansions for the mainline games, but given the nature of the first game and the length of that review, I've decided to cover this game as well. Honestly, I was tempted to review each game individually, but the problem with that was what I would do when I got to a game I wouldn't be able to play for this review.

In Japan, this game was released as Shin (True) Sangoku Musou (真・三國無双) while in the West, this game was released as Dynasty Warriors 2. This would begin a numbering tradition where subsequent games in the West would be numbered one more than their original counterpart.

The characters from the last game are carried over to this game with additions to all factions. Adding new characters would become a staple of future sequels and later, spinoff games.

Shu

Liu Bei

Ma Chao

Huang Zhong

Jiang Wei

Wei

Xiahou Yuan

Zhang Liao

Sima Yi

Wu

Sun Jian

Sun Quan

Lu Meng

Gan Ning

Other

Dong Zhuo

Yuan Shao

Zhang Jiao

The main story mode in this game is known as Musou Mode. Characters in Shu, Wei and Wu play the same five stages for each kingdom as follows:

All kingdoms

Yellow Turban Rebellion

Hulao Gate

Shu

Changban

Yiling

Wuzhang Plains

Wei

Guandu

Chibi

Wuzhang Plains

Wu

Chibi

Hefei

Yiling

The battle system for this game is a 4-hit combo system, that is, you can perform up to 4 levels of Normal Attacks by pressing the Square button. At the same time, you can perform up to 4 Charge Attacks by pressing the Triangle button on its own or in conjunction with other attacks. Typically, the C1 breaks enemies' guards, the C2 knocks enemies into the air, the C3 stuns enemies, and the C4 sends the enemy flying away. The Musou Attack is performed by pressing Circle when the gauge is full, which can be filled up with attacks. Guarding, jumping and sidestepping are possible, along with jump attacks, bow attacks and counterattacks. Typically I don't really care for counterattacks because it's so hard to get the timing right, but that's a thing I guess.

Practically all of the new characters debuting in this game have cloned movesets. Most of the sword-wielding characters (including Sima Yi and Zhang Jiao) share their movesets with Liu Bei, while other debutants share movesets with each other. Cloned movesets have been criticised by fans, particularly with their use in future games. I'll elaborate on this in future instalments.

There are two main problems that you can encounter in battle. One of them is that once you hit an enemy, your character will keep going in their direction and you aren't able to rotate towards other enemies around you. This is a phenomenon known as "charge lock" or "lock-on" that would be resolved in future games. The other one is that when you knock enemy officers back, they will typically recover their health, oftentimes recovering their whole life gauge so you have to start all over again. The AI can get fairly aggressive compared to later games, to the point where playing this game on Easy is equivalent to playing on Hard in the modern series games.

In this game, you start with two bodyguard soldiers, but as you level up, you can get up to 8 bodyguard officers. Enemy officers will typically have horses so you can knock an officer off and take their horse to attack, however enemies that you trample dead don't get counted to your KO count. There's also another problem where you can't pick up items on horseback, which is also resolved in future games. As I'm playing the Japanese version of the game, there is no way to save your progress. This capability has been added to Western versions (presumably due to feedback given the gap between releases) by finding memory card items in crates.

After playing with one character from each kingdom, you can unlock Free Mode, which also allows you to play as the other faction in battles (if not already playable through Musou Mode). It's also a good more for grinding character growth, even if you play on Easy and are constantly stuck with +1/+2 boosts. The BGM test feature is also unlocked along with the opening edit movie, which allows you to create a custom opening cutscene montage with different characters. The opening edit feature was inspired by a fan of Xu Zhu who made a fan edit linking together the different ending cutscenes from the first game.

Although I initially believed that Dynasty Warriors 1 and 2 didn't have any English voices, let alone Japanese voices due to most of them being grunts and wails, Dynasty Warriors 2 does include more voiced lines than the first. Where the first game only had officer selection lines and victory lines, the second game adds voices to cinematic movies that appear between battles (different to in-battle events). After looking up some of the names in the English credits, I found out that they were also featured in Japanese-produced English dub works, such as Iron Chef, Shenmue and the Ultra Galaxy Fight series, meaning that this game was dubbed in Japan by a company known as Movie Television Inc. I guess that's the reason why those English voice actors were credited.

This game did not receive much attention and the initial shipment was only for 100,000 copies, with the popularity going to Kessen, which was released earlier that year as a launch title for the PS2. Despite this, Dynasty Warriors 2 ended up selling well through word-of-mouth, a marketing strategy that would prove detrimental when it came to certain decisions being made in later years.

The ending song for this game is Can't Quit This!!! ~ KNOCK'EM OUT ~ by m.o.v.e, which is used in the credits.

Rant: Why localise?

As the Koei Warriors Retrospective is a spiritual sequel to the Koei Warriors Rant Series, I want to include a rant in each mainline instalment. This time, I want to ask the question, "Why localise the games in the first place?"

During the events of 2017, one of my haters made the argument that the target audience for these games is not Westerners, but only Japanese because the market is too shallow and game companies wouldn't make a profit from them if they released their games abroad. Naturally, I called bullshit on that right away, because if that was the case, why would Japanese gaming companies set up international divisions? Why are Japanese gaming franchises popular with Western fans? Why would Japanese gaming companies continue releasing games in the West if they thought it wouldn't make a profit?

See, the argument that "the target audience is only Japanese people" can only be made if a company's offerings aren't regularly being released to the West (preferably by the company themselves and not through third-parties). This is an argument that you can make for tokusatsu, particularly Toei's Super Sentai and Kamen Rider franchises, as uploads of clips and compilations are frequently demonetised and taken down due to them not believing in the Western doctrine of "free use", yet the only Western releases we get are basically a trickle stream with no clear plans for the future, although I wouldn't rule out Hasbro getting in the way even if such plans existed.

"But then why release the games to the West in the first place?" After thinking about it years after, it's very likely that the first attempts at localisation were to test the waters for Western markets, hence why the dub for Dynasty Warriors 2 was produced in Japan before moving to North American studios for future dubs (like most localised Japanese games). When companies continue to release future works to the West, it becomes a habit for the company and an expectation for the fanbase the longer it continues. And as long as the money keeps coming in, it's very unlikely that they will stop localising anytime soon.

However, as I speculate in future instalments, it can be concluded that Koei Tecmo does seem to prioritise the opinions of their Japanese and Asian fanbases more than their Western fanbases. Even with that atypical Japanese sense of xenophobia that foreigners are unfamiliar with, it sometimes does feel that Western fans are being treated like dogs and being fed scraps left by the Japanese companies, even if companies go out of their way to seek the opinions of international fans in future years. At that point, you can probably make an argument about certain fans like community managers and influencers claiming to speak for entire fanbases, but that's an entirely different story and I'm totally not one of those people lol.

In the end, while I do concede that the hater may have had a point (especially given that Tsuburaya has really put Japanese-based English voice actors to work in recent years), I'm not giving him the satisfaction of being correct because he was still wrong about the whole thing. Maybe they might have known better if they kept playing localised Japanese games past the year 2000.

Dynasty Warriors 1 began the dive into ancient Chinese history through an adaptation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, while Dynasty Warriors 2 became a groundbreaking title with much potential that would gradually be realised and improved in later years. It's honestly hard to judge older games on their own merits when you're accustomed to playing newer games, but as this series goes on, you'll see how the series gradually improves or deteriorates.

That's it for Dynasty Warriors 1 and 2. Next time, the Xtreme Legends begin with Dynasty Warriors 3.