A modern-day chef named Ken wakes up and finds himself in the Sengoku Era without any memory of himself. However, he remembers how to cook and retains most of his knowledge on the subject, and the wonders of his dishes soon reach the ears of Oda Nobunaga, who promptly recruits Ken to be his head chef. Under Nobunaga's service, Ken uses his cooking skills to survive the war-torn era, in ways which might or might not be subtly derailing the course of history.
A Chef of Nobunaga (信長のシェフ lit. Nobunaga no Shefu) is a Japanese manga series written by Mitsuru Nishimura and illustrated by Takuro Kajikawa. The title ran from March 2011 in the Weekly Manga Times magazine and has been concluded on April 2024, with a total compilation of 37 volumes.
Compare Sengoku Komachi Kurou Tan, another manga with a similar premise.
This series provides examples of:
- Artistic License – Pharmacology: In one story arc, Kennyo attempted to have Nobunaga poisoned by serving him several nutmeg macarons. Nobunaga almost immediately collapsed after eating them, despite the fact that: 1) The number of nutmegs placed in 3 macarons is nowhere near enough to cause poisoning, 2) Fatal nutmeg poisoning is very rare, 3) Nutmeg intoxication takes a few hours after consumption to reach its effects.
- Artistic License – History: While most of the historical events fit correctly, Yoshikage Asakura actually died after the final siege of Odani Castle. In this manga, he died shortly before that particular siege began. The razing of Mount Hiei is also depicted differently than common beliefnote , but the author does have a few facts backing that upnote .
- Berserk Button: Poisoning people by food is a BIG berserk button for Ken, and it's evident throughout the series. When he is ordered to infiltrate Nagamasa's camp with Kaede, he angrily rejected her suggestion to poison Nagamasa and his family. And when he realized that Youko is the one who poisoned Nobunaga's macarons with a lethal dose of nutmeg, he becomes so furious that he's even unwilling to hear her side of the story.
- Catchphrase: Ken has one in the Live-Action Adaptation.
- Cooking Duel: Near the end of volume 5, Nobunaga has Ken participate in a cooking showdown against an Ikko-Ikki representative to force a stalemate between the two parties. Both chefs are required to concoct a dessert before the Emperor himself, using only 3 ingredients.
- Everyone Can See It: Between Natsu and Ken, although nobody really encouraged them due to Natsu's oath as a female blacksmith.
- Fatal Flaw: Despite being a resourceful and ferocious military commander, it is later found out that Nobunaga's biggest flaw is him being unable to give clear details regarding military operations to his followers. Despite this flaw is caused by justifiable cause due to the existence of enemy spies within his castle (which means he can't speak his own tactics directly), him losing Yoshinari later on means that he has no one left to communicate his true intentions, at least until Ken comes along.
- Food Porn: Each and every dish that Ken presents is drawn in great detail.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Even during the wars between Oda Nobunaga and other military leaders in the Warring States Period, none of them is truly good or evil per se. Despite Nobunaga being somewhat infamous due to his ferocity in battles, he is surprisingly considerate to his own army and even to the commoners as long as they don't oppose him. On the other hand, those who oppose Nobunaga consist of people who genuinely want to protect the current Ashikaga shogunate or people who are only into it for personal benefits and goals.
- Happily Married:
- Azai Nagamasa and Oichi. The latter even turned down her brother's offer to flee from Odani when Nobunaga expressed the desire to attack so that she could remain with her husband. During the siege of Odani, Nagamasa summarily divorced Oichi so she could look after her daughters while under the protection of Nobunaga. She remarked that Nagamasa is a horrible liar before his death.
- Oda Nobunaga himself seems to have a good relationship with Nouhime.
- Have We Met?: It is implied that the Ikko-Ikki representative is another time-displaced chef that was transported along with Ken from the Heisei Era. Confirmed in Chapter 49.
- Historical Domain Character: Definitely. All three unifiers of Japan make an appearance, and so do most of the important historical figures in that era. Uesugi Kenshin only showed up much later, in the 13th tankoubon.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Mostly averted. Nobunaga has plenty of Pet the Dog moments as well as Kick the Dog moments throughout the manga, and it has been quite balanced so far. Ken himself considers that the Nobunaga person that he serves personally is unlike any other depiction of Nobunaga by later Japanese historians.
- In Spite of a Nail: After Shingen's death, Ken remarked that despite his efforts, history still flows as he knew it. Later subverted. The split from the real-world timeline is subtle but gets increasingly more evident in later volumes as evidenced by the death of Nobutomo Akiyama, who died almost a whole year later compared to the actual date in the real world. Perhaps it's more fitting to say that the order of events stayed, but their actual dates are changed.
- Medicinal Cuisine: Ken is not just concerned about the flavours of the food he cooks but also their nutritional values, and frequently rattles of the vitamin and mineral contents of his food, as well as the health benefits of the ingredients he used, when presenting his dishes. When he is captured by Shingen Takeda's forces, Akiyama suggests that he should make Ken serve as Shingen's doctor because of this.
- Merchant City: Sakai is governed by a guild of wealthy merchants instead of nobles or samurai. Soukyuu Imai and Sen no Rikyuu are both influential members of the guild.
- Punny Name: Katsunote rice pops up one time, complete with Ken's explanation for it.
- Red Baron: True to historical records, Oda Nobunaga's decision to raze Mount Hiei definitely earns him the title of Demon King. Even though he actually decided to spare the women, children and the elderly from the massacre that finished off many warrior monks from the temple (a major contrary from what people believe at the time), the infamous title stuck to him to this day.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Yoshinari is Nobunaga's right-hand man and is often on Ken's side of the argument. Another one is Princess Nou and while she doesn't hold any sort of political status, she is a voice of reason for Nobunaga and often mediates disputes between Ken and Nobunaga whenever they arise.
- Running Gag: Ken (who is tall even for a modern-day Japanese person) never fails to hit his head against the ceiling beam (or doorway) whenever he visits Natsu's house.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Just about everyone aside from court officials, really.
- Shown Their Work: The manga gives quite an accurate portrayal of the Sengoku Era, barring Ken's involvements; the author even bothered to reference the sources he used for the historical information. There are also brief trivia and a recipe at the end of each bound volumes.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Nobunaga can be seen like this in a non-romantic way. He may appear cruel and ruthless but he's actually quite caring and compassionate, like when he spared an Azai soldier who (unwillingly) went with his general in a Desperation Attack to Oda camp because he provided him shelter when he returned to Gifu from Kanegasaki (Nobunaga, along with Ken, also helped the soldier's son on that occasion) by saying then he's not interested in a nobody's head.
- Supreme Chef: Ken, of course. Already considered a good chef in his own era, his cooking is considered as Impossibly Delicious Food in the Sengoku Era. And his creativity and ability to adapt his cooking to the era's lack of proper cooking equipment truly highlights his skills. However, he admits that he isn't quite on the tier of another time traveller, Youko when it comes to sweets and he has to work out a new dish to properly fight her.
- Title Drop: Ken's title as Nobunaga's chef has been mentioned twice:
- Ken declared himself as Nobunaga's chef when refusing Ashikaga Yoshiaki's offer to work for him instead.
- Azai Nagamasa angrily referred to Ken as such when he realized that Ken had somehow divided his forces.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Sea bream for Ieyasu. Ken uses that knowledge to send a nonverbal diplomatic message from Nobunaga, a move Ieyasu recognizes because he was the one who told Nobunaga about his favourite food when they were children.
- Miso for Tadakatsu Honda.
- Tongue Suicide: When Kaede is discovered to be a spy by the Hongan-ji, she attempts to bite off her tongue, but Rairen stops her, saying that he has questions for her and will not let her kill herself so easily.
- Villanous Valour: Similarly to how Nobunaga is portrayed very neutrally, his enemies are in no way demonized and often shown to be nearly as resourceful as him, as is historically accurate. Kennyo is both clever and a skilled diplomat and Takeda Shingen ooze wisdom whenever he appears.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Ken had Nobunaga vomit out the poison he was given by Kennyo, and the scene pans over to show Mitsuhide's disgusted reaction.
- War Is Hell: The manga does little to gloss over the truths of war. Ken even said this word-per-word when he witnessed the terrible bloodshed caused by wars when he was attached to Mori's troops early on.
- Wham Shot: Though we hear of a chef on Ken's calibre for a bit, it isn't until we see a Western sweet being served that we realise this chef is another time traveller.
- Warrior Monk: They form a sizable part of Ikko-Ikki sect's army, although not all.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Katsuyori struggles against the insanely high expectation of his father (and retainers).
- Nobutada Oda has this vibe later on since as a leader he is nothing like his charismatic and visionary father.
- Wrong Line of Work: Ken is most definitely a very highly skilled chef, but even he is not a doctor and he really knows it. When he is taken hostage by the sickly Shingen Takeda, he does not sugarcoat the fact that his nutritious dishes can only do so much and he promptly encourages Shingen to rest and recuperate himself properly. True enough, Shingen later dies from his sickness since he did not take any proper form of medication to cure his illness.
