One fascinating thing about Kochouki: Wakaki Nobunaga (and I expect both viewers who watch it agree) is to watch it move the chess pieces around.  This is a very Game of Thrones-like environment, full of aspirants trying to assert their power over the land (Japan was considerably more than seven kingdoms at the time) and squabbling families trying to wrest control of clans from each other.  But unlike Game of Thrones, which was free to make it up as it went along, we know how things ended up in this story.  And because Kochouki isn’t a fantasy or Nobunaga isekai, it’s tasked with matching up.

As a result, what we have is almost like re-enacting a chess match where we know what the board looks like in the endgame, but having the game play out with a completely original set of moves.  The destination is fixed – the route is fluid.  Because the winning side writes history and there were no reporters or cameramen present, we don’t know exactly what really happened as the Sengoku game of thrones played out, which gives a series like this a chance to riff on history a little.  And so far, it’s doing so very well indeed.

This episode concerns an extremely convoluted and complex series of power plays taking place in the Nagoya region in the early days of Nobunaga’s rule.  There are many clans involved – the Imagawa, a perpetual thorn in Owari’s side with grand aspirations, the Minoo (Dosan’s clan), and the Oda.  But even within the Oda clan itself (and the Minoo too), a very Lannister-like power struggle was ongoing.  Oda’s younger brother Nobukatsu (known to history mostly as Nobuyuki) was always the favored choice of many of his father’s retainers – and of he and Nobunaga’s mother Gozen, who was thought to dislike the older son’s quirks and willingness to defy custom and tradition.

It doesn’t end there of course, because at this point Nobunaga had split from the main branch of the family headquartered at Kiyosu Castle.  They ruled in cooperation with the Shiba clan, and through an extremely Byzantine chain of events would up allying with the Imagawa to try and destabilize Nobunaga’s rule, which Kochouki depicts Gozen as trying to use to Nobukatsu’s advantage.  Again, if one follows Japanese history they know where this subplot is going to end up, but it’s going to be interesting to see how it gets there over the next few episodes.

One thing for certain – history does not depict the relationship between Nobunaga and Nobukatsu as romantically (in the broader sense) as this show does.  There may or may not have been the lingering affection between brothers that’s depicted here, even as events and those around the pair conspired to drive a wedge between them, but this split would prove a crucial turning point in Nobunaga’s rise to power.  For now Nobukatsu does – in defiance of his mother – come to Nobunaga’s aid when he’s forced to defend the Shiba heir from the main branch’s (headed by Oda Nobutomo) treachery, but it’s clear that the strain on the relationship is growing.