The results of a TRILL survey asking 300 men and women aged in their teens to seventies “Which actor was best suited to play Tokugawa Ieyasu?” became a hot topic on 5ch’s Geinou/Sports News+ board. Masahiko Tsugawa came in 2nd, Toshiyuki Nishida 3rd, and taking 1st place was Matsumoto Jun, who played Ieyasu in NHK’s 2023 taiga drama “What Will You Do, Ieyasu?” The thread saw confused reactions like “Tsugawa at #2 and Matsujun at #1 is basically a troll,” while others argued “Ieyasu’s a minor-league character anyway, so casting doesn’t matter much,” and plenty of posts fondly recalled past acclaimed Ieyasus played by Hisaya Morishige, Rentaro Mikuni, and Sakae Takita. Opinions were split on which actor got it “right.”
TRILL, Oct. 4
When you hear “actor who played Tokugawa Ieyasu,” many of you probably recall the mood of each particular drama, along with that actor’s expressions, voice, and bearing. From the weighty “old crafty fox” image to a more human figure wrestling with doubt and conflict, each actor who has taken on Ieyasu has left a different impression.
This time, we surveyed 300 people nationwide, aged in their teens through seventies, on “which actor was best suited to play Tokugawa Ieyasu.” The responses reveal just how much affection people have for their own personal image of Ieyasu. Be sure to check it out!
Source: trilltrill.jp / Original article here
You need a real heavyweight veteran actor to pull off Ieyasu.
Hisaya Morishige and Rentaro Mikuni as Honda Masanobu in TBS's 'Sekigahara' —
nothing can top that lol
Ieyasu's the petty-villain type — he's not exactly a popular warlord to begin with.
The worst Ieyasu ever, who blurted out that bizarre line, took #1 lol (the line became a bit of a meme for sounding so oddly archaic)
Though I haven't watched it, so what do I know.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F4ToHhkaMAELsx0.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F4c_0hpbQAARZ6p.jpg
The taiga drama 'Aoi Tokugawa Sandai,' where Noriko Shoji — a famous real-life entertainment reporter at the time — appeared playing an entertainment reporter.
And yes, it includes words like 'come-from-behind home run,' 'privacy,' and 'meter.'
Tsugawa at #2, and I'm thinking 'then who's #1?' — turns out it's Matsujun lmaooo
This is basically harassment at this point lmaooo
His flustered acting during the whole 'arrived late to Sekigahara' episode was genuinely excellent.
And the way he portrayed Hidetada growing more dignified as he became shogun and then retired ruler was equally impressive.
Yeah, exactly.
I'm watching the 'Aoi Tokugawa Sandai' DVD right now.
No matter how many times you watch it, it's a brilliant taiga drama.
The recent ones are garbage.
That's not really an 'old crafty fox' though —
he's just a straight-up villain.
he'd be the perfect fit for Ieyasu.
There's no 'perfect' Ieyasu out there, but if I had to pick, Tsugawa's Ieyasu is the best. Why Matsujun??
Yeah.
That's interesting in its own way.
The drama itself was well-regarded.
Though Takita's almost too good-looking for the role.
Takita's Ieyasu feels a bit too 'clean-cut'/benevolent for the role (what Japanese fans call 'white,' i.e. too nice).
In my ranking, he's #3.
Or rather, aside from that, there's a lot of good casting in 'Toyotomi Brothers.'
Koroku, Takatora, and Toshiie are pretty good.
Personally, I also like Mitsunari as the intellectual pretty-boy type who'd obviously get hated by the hardline military faction. Nihyoe's so-so though.
Tsugawa, hands down.
His exchange with the defeated Mitsunari (played by Emori) after Sekigahara is a masterpiece —
starting with that soothing 'Cold, isn't it…' to win him over, politely letting him speak,
then after letting him say whatever he wanted, coldly cutting him off with 'We shall likely not meet again. Farewell.'
That's masterful.
No other actor pulls off that moment where
the crafty old fox and the ruthless ruler intersect.
Yeah, that was good.
That scene was great.
Matsujun's the pun-cracking lawyer guy, right (from one of his other dramas)?
The necktie joke was the only part that actually made me laugh.
Nishida played Hideyoshi in 'Onna Taikoki.'
It felt like the real guy had descended from heaven lol
Though his role in 'Honoo Tatsu' was great too — he was way too perfectly cast there as well.
Kanie's gotten cut down by Zatoichi at least five times (seriously).
Before Okehazama, Kimutaku.
From Okehazama through the march on Kyoto to expelling Ashikaga Yoshiaki, Koji Yakusho.
After that, Koji Takahashi.
That's my take.
I'm partial to Hiroshi Tachi myself.
His look matches the descriptions in the 'Shincho Koki' almost exactly.
Would've been perfect if his voice were just a bit higher-pitched.
Morishige also played Shigeru Yoshida in 'Shosetsu Yoshida Gakko.'
When Katsu Shintaro's Hideyoshi and Watanabe's Masamune first met at the siege of Odawara, with Masamune in his white funeral robes, Ieyasu watched it all coldly yet composedly — it was wonderful how it captured the sense of a man serving Hideyoshi faithfully, as he was known to be at the time.
I couldn't understand a single word Katsu Shintaro's Hideyoshi was saying lol
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
It’s worth noting that this survey was a consumer poll of 300 people conducted by TRILL, not an assessment of acting skill by experts. Ieyasu is often discussed in terms of a weighty ‘old crafty fox’ image, and the 2nd- and 3rd-place actors, Masahiko Tsugawa and Toshiyuki Nishida, both belong to a generation known for that kind of heavyweight performance. The 1st-place pick, however, was Matsumoto Jun, who played Ieyasu in NHK’s 2023 taiga drama ‘What Will You Do, Ieyasu?’ — a very different generation and image. That gap is exactly what split opinion in the thread: posters familiar with older taiga dramas argued that ‘the role suits a more small-time-looking Ieyasu’ and that ‘Tsugawa comes closest,’ while their standards didn’t line up with those of posters who’d watched the newer series. The fact that the survey spanned respondents from their teens to their seventies is likely another reason the generations disagreed on what counts as well-cast. It’s also worth noting that the thread never specified exactly which work Nishida’s ‘well-suited’ performance referred to — the real point of debate wasn’t so much whether the casting itself was appropriate, but what standard should even be used to judge a ‘well-suited’ performance.
※This article is an excerpt/summary based on the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Ieyasu] 2nd Place ‘Masahiko Tsugawa,’ 3rd Place ‘Toshiyuki Nishida’ — 300 People Pick the ‘Most Fitting Actor to Ever Play Tokugawa Ieyasu,’ with 1st Place Praised as ‘A New Kind of Ieyasu’ and Having ‘Charismatic Aura’.”
