Kunitori Monogatari

Kunitori Monogatari (国盗り物語, lit. 'Tale of acquiring countries') is a historical novel by Japanese novelist Ryōtarō Shiba. It was serialised in Sunday Mainichi (Mainichi Shimbun Publishing Inc.) from August 1963 to June 1966.

It consists of a first part starring Saito Dōsan and a second part starring Oda Nobunaga and Akechi Mitsuhide. Initially, Shiba planned to write only the story of Dōsan, but the series was too popular to be finished and Shiba was forced to write the second part, the story of Nobunaga and Mitsuhide.

Shiba skilfully incorporated the results of post-war historical studies into his novels, positioning Nobunaga as a revolutionary with a clear will, a rarity in Japanese history, and establishing an image of Nobunaga in which light and shadow coexist by not only evaluating his innovativeness but also criticising his brutality. Thanks in part to Shiba's contributions, Nobunaga, who had not always been popular before, became one of the most popular historical figures in Japan.

Two TV drama adaptations have been produced by NHK and TV Tokyo.

Japanese television series broadcast in 1973. It is the eleventh NHK taiga drama. It had an average viewing rating of 22.4, peaking at 29.9%. All footage of the regular broadcast is lost. In 2015, videotape recordings of episodes 37 and 38 were recovered.

The series is set in the Sengoku period. Based on Ryōtarō Shiba`s novel of the same name.

The story chronicles the lives of Dosan Saito and Nobunaga Oda.

Production Credits

• Original story – Ryōtarō Shiba
• Music – Hikaru Hayashi
• Sword fight arranger - Kunishirō Hayashi

Starring role

• Mikijirō Hira as Saitō Dōsan
• Hideki Takahashi as Oda Nobunaga

• Yoshiko Mita as Miyoshino
• Keiko Matsuzaka as Nōhime
• Gō Wakabayashi as Saitō Yoshitatsu
• Gorō Ōishi as Saitō Tatsuoki

• Minoru Chiaki as Oda Nobuhide
• Yōko Minamikaze as Dota Gozen
• Chieko Matsubara as Oichi
• Jun Tazaki as Hirate Masahide
• Joe Shishido as Shibata Katsuie
• Yūki Meguro as Maeda Toshiie

• Masaomi Kondō as Akechi Mitsuhide
• Ryoko Nakano as Mitsuhide's wife
• Hiroko Hayashi as Tama, Mitsuhide's daughter
• Akira Kume as Akechi Mitsuyasu
• Seiichiro Kameishi as Saitō Toshimitsu

• Shôhei Hino as Hashiba Hideyoshi
• Kiwako Taichi as Nene
• Goichi Yamada as Hachisuka Koroku
• Masakane Yonekura as Takenaka Hanbei
• Taizō Sayama as Sakichi

• Tōru Emori as Kuroda Kanbei
• Iroha as Shōjumaru
• Sumio Takatsu as Mori Tahei
• Hiroshi Iwashita as Kuriyama Zensuke

• Akira Terao as Tokugawa Ieyasu
• Jō Kurashima as Honda Tadakatsu

• Ryōtarō Sugi as Azai Nagamasa
• Shoko Nakazawa as Chacha
• Rieko Sugai as Hatsu

• Ryūnosuke Kaneda as Toki Yorinari
• Noboru Nakaya as Toki Yoritake, Yorinari's brother

• Muga Takewaki as Ashikaga Yoshiteru
• Juzo Itami as Ashikaga Yoshiaki
• Goro Ibuki as Hosokawa Fujitaka
• Nobuyuki Ishida as Hosokawa Tadaoki

• Shigeru Tsuyuguchi as Iga Ninja: Tsuzura Juzo
• Ryūtarō Ōtomo as Takeda Shingen
• Ritsu Ishiyama as Takeda Katsuyori, Shingen's heir
• Yoshiaki Hanayagi as Imagawa Yoshimoto
• Ryūzō Hayashi as Suzuki Magoichi
• Takahiko Tōno as Yamauchi Kazutoyo
• Fumie Kashiyama as Chiyo, Kazutoyo's wife
• Akira Nagoya as Gonzō Kani

The drama was broadcast on 2 January 2005 in the Shinshun Wide Jidaigeki slot as part of TV Tokyo's 40th anniversary celebrations. The broadcast time was over 12 hours for the entire episode.

• NHK,Kunitori Monogatari official cite

1. Ryōtarō Shiba
2. Shōhei Hino
3. Taikōki
4. Minoru Chiaki
5. Hideaki Itō
6. Oda Nobunaga
7. Taiga drama
8. Saitō Dōsan
9. What Will You Do, Ieyasu?
10. Hideki Takahashi
11. Akira Terao
12. Juzo Itami
13. Gō Wakabayashi
14. Joe Shishido
15. Seiko Matsuda
16. Dear Radiance
17. Mikijirō Hira
18. Yūki Meguro
19. Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit
20. Keiko Matsuzaka