NHK Taiga "Tenchijin" 天地人

天地人 (Tenchijin).. My initial thought was, "what a strange title.." Well, so far I'm not as drawn to this series as I was with 2004 NHK's Shinsengumi. I didn't care for most of the main characters in Tenchijin (Naoe Kagetsugu and Uesugi Kagekatsu). I watched this series mainly because I really like Uesugi Kenshin, but I'm kind of disappointed with how the series portrays him to be; I don't know if that is how Kenshin really was, but I felt that he was less grand in Tenchijin than how I imagine/ idolize him to be. In contrast to the main characters, I thought Oda Nobunaga is the most interesting character in the show. He has a commanding presence every time he appears in the show, and I found his determination and confidence in unifying Japan very admirable. One of the most memorable scenes of the series so far was how Nobunaga explained to Hideyoshi (Nobunaga calls him "saru" aka. monkey) the phrase Ten-chi-jin. Where he explains that "'ten' stands for heaven's time, 'chi' stands for profit, and 'jin' stands for harmony of the people" and that "only the general who has these three is able to conquer the country". My favorite scene though, so far in the series, is the part where Kagetsugu was finally able to speak with Nobunaga for the first time and they talk of their differing philosophy in view of attacking Hongan-ji and justice.

thanks to Koala Fansubs for the ENG translations

Nobunaga: "Justice is merely an excuse to engage in battle."
Nobunaga: "Hoisting the flag of justice and being obsessed with it won't bring peace to the lands."
Kagetsugu: "Without justice, human beings would be mere beasts in the wilderness."
Nobunaga: "Then let us be beasts."
Nobunaga: "I'll put an end to this warring era."
Nobunaga: "If it is for the sake of creating a new world,"
Nobunaga: "I will give my soul to the demon"

I never especially liked Oda Nobunaga before, but I'm starting to grow on him because of this series' portrayal of Nobunaga. Hmmm, can't wait to see Akechi Mitsuhide's appearance in the series! Mitsuhide's always been interesting to me, and I've always wondered about why Mitsuhide did what he did to Nobunaga. Aww, I wan't to watch 明智光秀 - 神に愛されなかった男!!!!!! I've read on boards that it's a tear jerker!!!

[turns out 天地人合is a Chinese (and Japanese?) proverb that means the right ingredient/mixture of coincidences that makes someone or something so great, and things would not have been as great if it weren't for those mixture being present at the right place and time.]