If you're familiar with Japanese history, you might be familiar with Oda Nobunaga. He's a well-known man because of his powerful leadership, which brought significant changes or events in Japan's past. Like perhaps Andres Bonifacio (Filipino hero), Oda Nobunaga is a noteworthy person whom the Japanese admire back then and until now.
When I was studying Japanese history, I wasn't really that familiar with it because I haven't been exposed to much of Japan's past. My classmates, however, were quite familiar with it and even know some of the popular names that comes out during class discussions. One of those names was Oda Nobunaga, the person that I talked about earlier. Nobunaga is widely known for his greatness, and many books, TV shows, movies, anime, and even games have portrayed him. I believe that's why my classmates then were a bit familiar with him and his works. My point here is, if you're a Japanese fanatic, somehow you'll be familiar with Japanese history because in this entry, I will talk about a Japanese drama wherein Japanese history will be tackled.
The title of this drama is Nobunaga no Chef, which means "Nobunaga's Chef / Chef of Nobunaga." The story is about a chef from the Heisei period (1989 to present), 2013, time-slipped and went back to the Sengoku period (Warring States period) while he doesn't even remember who he really is. Nobunaga, during those times, was a pioneer in the unification of Japan. They were at war still because they haven't achieved unification and that's what Oda Nobunaga was after.
This drama stars Tamamori Yuta (as Ken, the chef), Oikawa Mitsuhiro (as Oda Nobunaga), and Shida Mirai (as Natsu), my favorite Japanese actress of all time. The screen shot above shows Ken lying on the ground all hurt from running away from the war while Natsu sees him and tries to save him.
What's amazing about this drama is its capability to teach some facts (or speculations) from the past that we can also read from books or journals. However, isn't it more fun when you learn while being entertained? Like in the screen shot above, Ken tells the viewers that people from the Sengoku period weren't familiar yet with eel or unagi (they even call it "Ujimaru" back then) being cut open because it was only cut opened by chefs since the Edo period.
Ken, even though he couldn't remember anything about who he really is, still knew that he knows how to cook and whipped a meal for Natsu and an unknown man who raided Natsu's home. He cooked paella, a Spanish rice meal but with Japanese ingredients. Of course, the two were amazed because it was a totally foreign meal to them.
After tagging along with the unknown man, they found out that he was one of Nobunaga's men. Ken realized that the person they were calling "Oyokata-sama" was indeed, the great Oda Nobunaga.
It was then revealed that the unknown man, whom Nobunaga calls Saru, was Toyotomi Hideyoshi. It was so exciting and mind-blowing how these people that I've just read about and talked about in essays or exams are being portrayed in a modern TV show.
Ken, through the course of events, end up cooking meals for Nobunaga. Those meals that he prepared were so new to them that even Nobunaga was amazed by it.
Ken was at an advantage because he came from 2013, and he already knew some things about those people from the past, especially about Nobunaga. He knew that Nobunaga wouldn't kill a person of value and that's why he had guts in facing Nobunaga's sword.
Ken was put in a trial by Nobunaga twice and Ken passed both trials. Nobunaga was pleased with Ken's knowledge and considered Ken a "person of value" eventually. Nobunaga then entrusted his kitchen to Ken.
Another important character to take note of is this man, Akechi Mitsuhide. In this first episode, we see this man around Ken all the time and showing his interest to Ken's story of how he came from the future. This man was interested on what will happen to people from this period (especially Nobunaga) and continued on asking Ken, but he refused to tell him. All he was concerned about was his (Mitsuhide) name being known until the far future.
When Ken asked what his name was, he knew right then that that man was trouble. He was Akechi Mitsuhide, the man who killed Nobunaga. It wasn't just killing of an enemy, but it was betrayal. That's why it gave me the chills when Ken mentioned that he was the one who betrayed Nobunaga and killed him.
I'm only in the first episode of this J-drama and it has been an exciting first episode! I believe that this will not only be entertaining but also educational. I hope that I can refresh my Japanese history knowledge with this drama and also gain some new insights about the Sengoku period. I also encourage anyone who's interested with Japanese history to watch this show as it is a new sort of show that lets people be more interested in "boring" history.
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