The Legend and Butterfly is an epic, historical and visually stunning depiction of Nobunaga Oda and his wife, Nohime.

 

Dramas and movies based on historical events and figures can be quite divisive as far as the reception is concerned. Historical accuracy is quite important to those who study the past, myself included. Sometimes there are inexcusable liberties taken due to a wide variety of reasons such as to tell a specific narrative that might not fit the true history. For today's blog post I wanted to take a look at a movie which is fairly historically accurate whilst also contrasting itself by having it's core narrative being ahistorical. The Legend and Butterfly, directed by Keishi Otomo was released in early 2023 is a movie that highlighted Nobunaga Oda and his relationship with his wife, Nohime. 

The Legend and Butterfly follows Nobunaga Oda and his wife, Lady No otherwise known as Nohime or Kicho through their relationship. The movie begins when they first met in 1549 as an arranged marriage designed to keep the peace and forge an alliance between the Oda clan and the Saito clan. During this time, Lady No is adamantly against Nobunaga and his clan, only going through with the marriage in order to please her father. The two strong headed, stubborn individuals are polar opposites and constantly clash with Nohime even plotting to take over Owari with her loyal servants. We next see the pair in 1560 just before the very famous battle of Okehazama. The two leads actually begin to co-operate and Lady No encourages an indecisive Nobunaga to plot out an assault on Yoshimoto Imagawa's large army by exploiting their weakness amidst the downpouring of heavy rain. This event leads to the husband and wife becoming closer and Kicho eventually persuades Nobunaga into going to Kyoto. 

The movie then skips ahead to the Ikko-Ikki campaigns in 1971. One particular incident in this time period leads to the relationship between Nobunaga and Lady No becoming fractured. The incident in question was the burning of a Buddhist temple and the murder of everyone there, children and women included. After the battle of Nagashino in 1975, Nohime leaves Nobunaga and lives on her own with just her servants nearby. The split doesn't last however, with Nobunaga tracking her down just a year or so later and the pair begin to repair their relationship. Unfortunately, the movie then inevitably ends with the incident at Honooji Temple. 

                            

Keishi Otomo is quite the accomplished director and is the man responsible for directing one of my favourite movie franchises of all time, the Rurouni Kenshin series. With The Legend and Butterfly, he makes use of a wide variety of shot types, ranging from static to tracking and otherwise movie shots, to highlight and emphasise various scenes and capture the emotion wonderfully. Wide shots showcase the magnificent, historical setting and immerse the viewer in the Sengoku Jidai. Also helping the immersion is the very impressive wardrobe selection that had a keen eye for detail particularly when it came to the various stages of Nobunaga's look over the decades. 

The main narrative focus of the movie is indeed Nobunaga Oda's relationship with his wife, Lady No. Their relationship dynamic is a joy to watch unfold as it takes twists and turns. The most enjoyable part of the movie is seeing the pair actually grow to be lovers instead of the enemies they start out as. You see the pair become alike with Nobunaga becoming much more calm and refined in her presence, whilst Lady No taps into her bloodthirst and wildly ambitious side due to his influence on her. 

Unfortunately as lovely as their relationship is to watch on screen, their is no historical evidence to support it. There are no records to indicate that Nobunaga had such deep feelings for Nohime and by all accounts he was claimed to have never acted like it. He had a number of concubines, most notably Lady Kitsuno, for bearing children, which is touched upon in the movie and is claimed to have favoured a retired prostitute who is said to be the real No. 

The focus on the relationship also means that many historical battles are not depicted in the movie and instead are glossed over. We don't see the battle of Okehazama, just shortly before and immediately after. The Siege of Odani is not shown and instead there's a scene of Mitsuhide Akechi gifting Nobunaga cups made from the skulls of Nagamasa Azai, his father, Hisamasa Azai and Yoshikage Asakura. We also only see the aftermath of the battle of Nagashino with dead troops littering the battlefield. Whilst it's very unfortunate that we don't see much in terms of the battles themselves we do at least get to see some action in the Honooji Temple and the lack of action allows more time to devote to fleshing out the central relationship of the movie. 

One thing that I particularly didn't enjoy was the first 30 minutes of the movie. At the beginning of the movie, Nohime comes across as somewhat of a Mary Sue. She upstages Nobunaga at every turn during this period and seemingly had no flaws. To single out the worst scene in my humble opinion, the worst offence is her sheer skill at overpowering the larger man with ease. Although, I have to be fair and state that this scene and the hunting scene are largely played for laughs. I did chuckle at the guards' reaction to the fighting as that was actually quite hilarious. 

Key to the movie succeeding is the performance of the 2 main leads and both delivered. The narrative works due to both KimuTaku and Haruka Ayase's emotionally charged performances with the pair showcasing a mesmerising chemistry. I loved seeing Takuya Kimura changing his expressions, movement and mannerisms as the movie switched decades and he went all in in regard to appearance and costumes. His last lines in the movie form a hauntingly beautiful monologue. Haruka Ayase lends Nohime a feminine grace and elegance alongside a strong-willed, intelligence. At first I worried that she was going to be too perfect and have no flaws as well as being a bit too masculine, but my worries were ill-founded. It helps that Haruka Ayase is a beautiful woman and a talented actress that excels in historical settings. 

Overall, despite the liberties that it takes with the relationship between Nobunaga and Lady No, The Legend and The Butterfly is an emotional rollercoaster about love and a small, yet impactful tinge of loss. It's a visually stunning feast for the eyes filled with great performances from a stellar cast and I'd recommend it to those interested in romance, drama and even open minded history lovers.