Warring States: Far or Close?

Historical figures are everywhere around us whether we notice them or not. Sometimes we see them and we know exactly who it is. Other times we see them and have no idea who it is. Still these people have made names for themselves and we can see them today in various representations. Both in art and in media, we can see them today. We have no real way of knowing what they were really like but we have an idea of them through their recorded actions and the art that has made them modern.

The Japanese were very committed to recording events and information. This commitment allowed us to know a lot about the warlords that ruled during the Warring States period. Along with the records of their actions they also left behind some art for us to remember them by. This art is anything from armour and pictures to buildings and cities. These memoirs that they left behind bring them so close to the people of Japan. When you go to Japan you can see for yourself these reminders of the powerful warlords that once ruled Japan. You can see how far each Warlord’s influence spread through the emblems embedded into their architecture that mark their territory of influence. You can find hundreds of family crests of the powerful feudal lords all over Japan.

However these are not the only ways in which the powerful warlords are remembered. They are also remembered through modern media. Many of these warlords have live action television dramas dedicated to them. And even more often they have cameo appearances in cartoons, books and comic books. Some of these depictions are accurate and some of them are extremely romanticized.

This is Akechi Mitsuhide. The Sengoku Musou version.

One of the more common Media representations of these historical figures is actually through video games. Two of the more well known video game series that famously deal with this time period are Koei's Sengoku Musou series and Capcom's Sengoku Basara series. Both of these series have had at least one game translated into English. The English version of Sengoku Musou being Samurai Warriors and the English version for Sengoku Basara being Devil Kings. Of the two Sengoku Musou was the more down to earth tale of events. The characters wear clothing that is very similar to the clothing of the time and their weapons were somewhat more conventional. This has made it very popular and brings in more fans of the original history. Sengoku Basara however chose to ignore most of this and went off to romanticize these historical figures to an extreme level. The characters are a lot more unbelievable but that was always part of the appeal.

This is Akechi Mitsuhide. The Sengoku Basara Version.

These portrayals end up doing one of two things. They either made the characters more believable or they made them very foreign. By making the characters appeal to the younger generations, they brought these characters closer to us. But at the same time they made them see farther away. They became less real. It stopped being a history lesson and became more of a fantasy story. However it was a noble effort to try and bring people a better understanding of Japanese history. The Sengoku Musous series was actually quite accurate with quite a few of the events that happen such as large betrayals and alliances.

Although these extreme portrayals make it difficult to really connect with the historical figures it is always nice to have a more interesting look at how these places may have been 400 years ago.