In the Summer of 2011, Tele Vi Sion and Newspaper Advertisements, Bill

Conclusion National Drag n the summer of 2011, tele vi sion and newspaper advertisements, bill- Iboards, video screens, and shop- win dow displays across Japan re- vealed the existence of an in de pen dent “Osaka Nation,” established at the beginning of the Meiji period and maintained in secrecy until the pres- ent day. Th is campaign supported the release of Tōhō Studios’ live- action fi l m Purinsesu Toyotomi (Princess Toyotomi), an alternate history in the manner of Th e Da Vinci Code. Th e fi lm, starring established actors Tsutsumi Shin’ichi and Nakai Kiichi, as well as rising star Okada Ma- saki, scored the second- highest box offi ce numbers for its opening week- end, but its overall take was unspectacular, ranking thirtieth for the year. Regardless of this lackluster per for mance, the novel from which the fi lm was adapted can accurately be called a sensation. Written by Makime Manabu, Purinsesu Toyotomi was originally serialized in the journal Bungei shunjū in 2009. It was promptly adapted for a ten- episode radio drama broadcast by NHK. Th e novel was released in paperback in 2011, just before the debut of the fi lm. It was nominated for the Naoki Prize, a prestigious award for popu lar fi ction; it ranked second for the year on Kinokuniya’s fi ction best- sellers list; and it was the most downloaded novel of 2011— a rec ord of success that demonstrates both the per sis tent resonance and the shift ing relevance of Osaka as “treason.” Both novel and fi lm restage two watershed events in the history of Osaka and Japan: the Siege of Osaka Castle and the Meiji Restoration. Th e central fi gure in the fi rst event is Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who completed the task of unifying Japan’s domains and built Osaka Castle as his seat, making Osaka the po liti cal and economic center of Japan. Aft er Hideyoshi’s Conclusion 183 death, as every Japa nese schoolchild knows, Tokugawa Ieyasu betrayed his former lord, defeating Hideyoshi’s son Hideyori at the Battle of Sekiga- hara in 1600 and stamping out the remnants of Toyotomi- loyalist re sis- tance in 1615, in the Summer Campaign, or Natsu no jin. Osaka Castle burned, Hideyori committed suicide, and Tokugawa forces beheaded his son, Kunimatsu, bringing an end to the Toyotomi line. (Or did they?!). Th e center of po liti cal power shift ed irreversibly from West to East, from Osaka to Edo. Th e Meiji Restoration of 1868 confi rmed this shift by bringing the emperor to the city of Edo, making it the new imperial capital, Tokyo. Purinsesu Toyotomi’s alternate history develops from two prem- ises. First, it posits that Hideyoshi’s grand son Kunimatsu escaped the Tokugawa forces and that the Toyotomi line has survived, concealed by loyal Osakans, down to the pres ent day. Second, it posits that Meiji leaders borrowed money from Osaka merchants at the time of the Res- toration in 1868 to pay for modernizing reforms and, in return, offi cially recognized an in de pen dent Osaka nation, which has since then maintained a secret government beneath Osaka Castle, in an interior identical to that of the National Diet building (in a nice detail, it turns out that the Osaka version is the original; the national Diet Building in Tokyo is the copy). Th e Japa nese government pays Osaka an annual fee to cover admin- istration of the secret nation and to protect Hideyoshi’s descendants. Th e novel and fi lm relate the discovery of this secret history and its impact on several lives. Th ree investigators from the federal Board of Audit come to Osaka to review several grants. Th e chief investigator is Matsudaira Hajime, who bears the name of the clan from which the Tokugawa descended. His assistants are Torii, an awkward chatterbox with strong intuition; and Gainsbourg, a tall, half- French, half- Japanese beauty who is all business. One of the grants they investigate is paid an- nually to an association called “O.J.O.” (a near homonym for “o- jō,” or “princess,” in Japa nese), which is a front for the government of Osaka Nation. Th is is no random audit. Gainsbourg is in fact a cryptocitizen of Osaka Nation and opposes the policy of keeping its existence a secret. Gainsbourg longs to see Osaka stand up and declare its in de pen dence and has added O.J.O. to the list of audits in the hope that the punctilious Matsudaira will cancel the long- standing annual payments and precipi- tate a war. In the course of their investigation, Matsudaira, Gainsbourg, and Torii become involved in the lives of two schoolchildren: Hashiba Chako and Sanada Daisuke. Chako is the princess of the title, a direct .

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