Even after the taiga drama, the challenge of "Akechi Mitsuhide's Town" continues -Go beyond Mitsuhide- (Fukuchiyama City, Kyoto)

This is the 6th installment of the series "Good Travel ⇌ Communication from the Locals". This time, we received a contribution from Mr. Utsunomiya, who is in charge of city promotion in Fukuchiyama City, Kyoto Prefecture. I started to care about the information in Fukuchiyama City at the beginning of the Corona disaster, when I was exposed to the information of "Akechi Mitsuhide" broadcast in 2020. At first, I felt sorry for the fact that I would have expected tourism due to the taiga drama effect. On the other hand, Fukuchiyama City was not discouraged by adversity, projecting Akechi Mitsuhide onto the way the city should be, and continued to promote it with that kind of skill. Akechi Mitsuhide would be delighted.
When I started "communication from my hometown," Fukuchiyama City came to mind. That's because we have a PR mindset. This time, one day? We will publish an article according to the following. In this article, you will learn about the relationship between Fukuchiyama and Akechi Mitsuhide, and please go on a trip to Fukuchiyama.

Hello! My name is Utsunomiya from Fukuchiyama City Hall, Kyoto Prefecture.
I moved here five years ago, and as a city employee, I am promoting the charm of the city.
I'm sure many of our readers have never met you in Fukuchiyama City, right?
Even if you are far away, I hope that you can convey the atmosphere of this place even a little, and I will start "communication from the local" Fukuchiyama City edition.

From Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe, it takes about one and a half hours to the north by car or train.
The dense green mountains suddenly open up, and you can see the city spreading out in the basin.
That is Fukuchiyama City, Kyoto Prefecture.

The population is about 75,000.
In the middle of the town is Fukuchiyama Castle, built by Akechi Mitsuhide.
The area is located in "Tamba" in terms of Akechi Mitsuhide, and in modern terms, "Oku Kyoto" and "Kyoto in the Forest".

As the catchphrase of "Fukuchiyama" suggests, there are many famous restaurants and places that are known only to those in the know, and the birth rate (2.02!), which is the third highest in Honshu. There are various surprising features, but this time we will focus on "Akechi Mitsuhide".

This is because, until I moved to Fukuchiyama City, I only knew about Akechi Mitsuhide as "the weirdness of Honnoji", so the first thing I thought was ......

Is there a town that likes Mitsuhide Akechi like this?

That's how many episodes there are about Akechi Mitsuhide.

➊ Fukuchiyama used to be "Fukuchiyama" and was named after the "wisdom" of Akechi

Akechi Mitsuhide, ordered by Oda Nobunaga, pacified Tamba in Tensho 7 (1579).
It is said that he built a castle and a town, and named it "Fukuchi Mountain" using the character for "wisdom" in Akechi.

He is still known as a good prince who created the foundation of the town.
As evidence......

❷ At the festival, dance the ondo associated with Akechi Mitsuhide

♪ Akechi Mitsuhide, Hirome Tamba no Fukuchiyama
and "Fukuchiyama Ondo" that appears in the lyrics.
It is said to be "the most difficult Bon Odori in Japan", but Fukuchiyama children can dance.

By the way, local children also learn about Akechi Mitsuhide in their local studies.
If you ask a junior high school student, "Who do you think is the star of Fukuchiyama?", the name of Mitsuhide Akechi will be mentioned along with the Chihara brothers from the city.
Now, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't see it on TV, and it's as popular as the super-sellers...... Mitsuhide, Lord, don't do it.

❸ With 260,000 signatures, "Akechi Mitsuhide" will be made into a taiga drama!

In 2011, Fukuchiyama City, in cooperation with neighboring municipalities, began collecting signatures wishing for the dramatization of Akechi Mitsuhide and the historical figures around him.
After that, Akechi Mitsuhide really became the main character of the taiga drama ("Kirin ga kuru" broadcast in 2020~21), so the signature activity ended.
That's a whopping 260,000 brushes!

I want to spread "Unknown Akechi Mitsuhide" to people all over the country.
I think the numbers convey how strongly the locals felt about it, and how much enthusiasm they had.

Even so, "Kirin ga Kuru" is a work that is like a "mirror of society" because Akechi Mitsuhide, who is trying to carve out the future in the turbulent Warring States era, overlaps with us living in the era of the Corona disaster.
Hiroki Hasegawa's fresh statue of Mitsuhide was wonderful.
It is also understandable that there are more Kirin Ross.

Now, while living and working here, I have been fascinated by "Akechi Mitsuhide" and the "town development" that makes use of its culture.
What kind of challenges did you take with everyone in the wake of the taiga drama......

❹ "Rebellion Notice Postcard" that saved the pinch of the Corona disaster

During the broadcast of "Kirin ga Kuru" in 2020, all promotional plans were scrapped due to the Corona disaster.
What saved the day was the "Rebellion Notice Postcard" that resembled the government office postcard of Suehiro, a historical parody writer.

In the spring of 2020, during the first state of emergency.
We will hold the "Honnoji Transformation Cause Theory 50 General Election #HNG50" where you can vote online for the "recommended theory" of Honnoji's weirdness.
When we announced that we would receive a notice of the rebellion by lottery, it caught fire on Twitter, and more than 30,000 people from all over the country and abroad participated.

Coinciding with Honnoji's Strange Day (June 2) Announcement of voting results was also talked about.
The first place was "Tyrant Subjugation Theory (* Nobunaga Outrage Theory)" with 4046 votes.
What do you think, was it surprising?

By the way, the lowest 50th place was "Omi Shigo Union Involvement Theory" with 48 votes.
Please check the results of the poll for 50 causal theories.

Overall, there were many comments that were favorable or sympathetic to Mitsuhide.
It was an event that made me feel that everyone's image of Mitsuhide has changed in various ways from "a traitor who avenged his master".
(By the way, I came to Fukuchiyama and started calling him "Mitsuhide" by name, so I do that here as well.)

❺ "Go beyond Akechi Mitsuhide" and support "changers" who will change the city

In general, it is said that the effect of taiga dramas is transient.
It is true that compared to the taiga drama during the taiga drama, when the number of visitors to Fukuchiyama Castle increased dramatically, it has calmed down now, two years later.
Still, the image of Akechi Mitsuhide has changed.
And we also learned about the joy of our town and the warlords associated with it becoming known to the world.

It is said that Akechi Mitsuhide built Fukuchiyama Castle in this area with an eye on the world after the war, and opened up the city.
The "Mitsuhide Mind" has been passed down from Mitsuhide to take on the challenge of urban development.
We started a new challenge with this theme in 2022.

Go beyond Akechi Mitsuhide. "Fukuchiyama's Weirdness".

This is a series project that supports the "changers" who will take on the challenge of surpassing Mitsuhide, who laid the foundation of the town, and change this town. (Still ongoing)
The people who appear are all citizens of Fukuchiyama.

Please pay attention to the activities of the changing people in Fukuchiyama.
♪ Akechi Mitsuhide, Hirome Tamba no Fukuchiyama

More than 400 years after the time of Mitsuhide, the "present" Fukuchiyama City should be able to be seen lively.

If I have a chance again, I would like to introduce you to other attractions of Fukuchiyama City, such as "demons", "sweets", and "meat". And now!

March 21st, Mitsuhi Day (3-2-1-Day).