Ichikawa Danjūrō VII as Mashiba no Hisayoshi (Toyotomi Hideyoshi) and Ichimura Uzaemon as Boy Teruwaka on a Beach

The cycle of dramas about the 16th-century wars, which is named after the Taikōki Chronicle, features the great warriors of the period of Japan’s unification under cover names. Oda Nobunaga becomes Oda Harunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi becomes Mashiba Hisayoshi and Nobunaga’s assassin Akechi Mitsuhide is Takechi Mitsuhide. Another warrior, Tokugawa Ieyasu, does not feature in the dramas at all because political themes were forbidden by that time. The historical commander Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a man of low origin and short stature, but he achieved great military renown. Here, playing the part of Mashiba Hisayoshi, he is depicted in a splendid courtier garment and hat, which is reserved for this character alone. He holds the shōgun’s heir Teruwaka in his arms. (See Helena Honcoopová, Kunisada, Praha 2005, p. 122)