Interest

Oda Nobunaga Voted Best Soccer Coach to Lead Japan to Victory

This month, PHP's Rekishi Kaidō asked readers which historical figure they thought could best coach Japan's national soccer team and bring them to victory. The question was inspired by Japan's performance at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil this year, only ranking 29th in the competition. With the next year's cup set for 2018 in Russia, the team could use an old-fashioned boost. According to poll participants, there's only one warlord fit for the job.

Historical anime and game darling and star of the Warring States (Sengoku) period, the one and only Oda Nobunaga. The 16th century ruler earned 12 percent of the vote. Participants cited Nobunaga's "preeminent strategy and charisma," "strong personality," and that he would lead a "super aggressive soccer style with surprise attacks." However, negatives included a high probability of players being murdered for poor performance and it, understandably, affecting team morale.

Oda Nobunaga's impact on Japanese pop culture is huge. The guy is in a multitude of anime series in different capacities, whether historical (Hyouge Mono, Nobunaga Concerto ), sci-fi (Black Lion, Nobunagun, Nobunaga The Fool), turned into a girl (Sengoku Collection, Oda Nobuna no Yabō, Battle Girls - Time Paradox), or bishonen (Sengoku Basara, Sengoku Musou SP: Sanada no Shou).

He already got to be a soccer player in Inazuma Eleven GO 2: Chrono Stone, so why not coach? According to Jeroen Lamers' Japonius Tyrannus, the real Nobunaga played kickball (kemari), a common past-time, and organized matches at Shokokuji Temple.

Here's how Nobunaga's historical colleagues, who you can find alongside him in some of the above shows, ranked:

1. Oda Nobunaga 12.0%
2. Tokugawa Ieyasu 9.9%
3. Toyotomi Hideyoshi 9.7%
4. Sakamoto Ryōma 7.5%
5. Kuroda Kanbei 6.4%
6. Takeda Shingen 5.1%
7. Uesugi Kenshin 3.4%
8. Date Masamune 3.4%
9. Sanada Yukimura 3.2%
10. Takenaka Hanbei 2.0%

Source: Yahoo! Japan News via Otakomu

Photo via Golden Jipangu