「Kanazawa Hyakumangoku Matsuri 2024」 – The roles of Toshiie Maeda and Omatsu-no-Kata have been decided What is the relationship with Ishikawa Prefecture? 【Kanazawa Event】

The main feature of the 『73rd Kanazawa Hyakumangoku Festival』 will be the 「Hyakumangoku Procession」 scheduled to be held on June 1, 2004. Every year, the main roles of Lord Toshiie Maeda and Lady Omatsu in the Hyakumangoku Procession attract a great deal of attention as to who will be chosen for the roles. This year, the roles of Lord Toshiie Maeda will be played by actor Toru Nakamura and Omatsunokata by Natsuna. By the way, what kind of connection do these two have with Ishikawa Prefecture?

Image from 『The 73rd Kanazawa Hyakumangoku Festival』

Talk by Toru Nakamura

Toru Nakamura is listed in his agency’s profile as being from Tokyo. He established his popularity from a young age playing the role of Toru Nakama, one of the main characters in the movie 『Be Bop High School』. In the drama series 『Abunai Deka』, he plays the role of Toru Machida, a.k.a. 「Toru」 in the Yokohama Port Police Station, and is a regular in the series. Although his roles give him a strong image of Tokyo, he seems to have a surprising relationship with Ishikawa Prefecture.

Toru Nakamura, whose father is from the current city of Hakusan in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.

At a press conference held in Tokyo last December, he said, 「I want to play the role of Lord Toshiie Maeda in Kanazawa, which is like my hometown, without embarrassment」, and 「Please pray that everyone will be fine on that day」.

Natsuna’s Discourse

Natsuna, on the other hand, was born in Saitama Prefecture. She moved to Tokyo when she was in junior high school and transferred to a school in Tokyo, where she began her entertainment career. She made a name for herself in TV dramas and gravure for magazines, but her big break probably came in the scene in the movie 『GANTZ』 (January 2011) in which she is transfered naked. We don’t feel any connection with Ishikawa Prefecture here either…

Her husband is from Kanazawa City, and her husband’s parents, who live in Kanazawa, had hoped that Natsuna would someday play the role of Omatsu-no-Kata at the Hyakumangoku Festival, and they were overjoyed when it came true early on.

One more thing on the 『Abunai Deka』 connection

The movie 『The Return of the Abunai Deka』 is scheduled to be released on May 24. The strongest buddies in 『Abu-Deka』 are Hiroshi Tachi as 「Taka」 (Toshiki Takayama) and Kyohei Shibata as 「Yuji」 (Yuji Oshita).

One of the main cast members, Hiroshi Tachi, visited Himi City in Toyama Prefecture and Wajima City in Ishikawa Prefecture in the Noto Peninsula earthquake-stricken areas from the 21st to the 24th of this month to provide food for the victims of the earthquake, which became a hot topic.

We are happy to see that following Hiroshi Tachi from 『Abunai Deka』, Kyouhei Shibata will also be making Ishikawa Prefecture more popular, even if it is only by coincidence.

Information on 『The 73rd Kanazawa Hyakumangoku Festival』