Nippon Sangoku: Taira Denki - The Only Man Who Can End the Three Kingdoms Era?

Is Taira Denki a ruthless tyrant or the savior Yamato needs? Discover why this mastermind is the only one capable of ending the Three Kingdoms era in Nippon Sangoku.

Taira Denki is an important character who greatly affects the story of Nippon Sangoku, and the fate of one of the Three Nations, Yamato. Within the story, he is an incredibly famous figure, so well known that he surpasses even the emperor of Yamato, Fuji III. In Nippon Sangoku, many people despise him and wish for his death, yet at the same time, he is wealthy and powerful enough to provide for many people. From what we saw in Episode 3, we knew that there were people who had joined the Taira forces.

Since most of us will follow the story of Nippon Sangoku through Aoteru Misumi's perspective, we will naturally hate Taira and not think much of him, but there are reasons why he is still alive. Although he has one of the worst personalities, and his continued existence makes life incredibly difficult for the people of Yamato, he is actually the one who holds the power to bring the Three Kingdoms era to an end.




You may think I am exaggerating, but he is actually far more powerful than you might ever imagine. If Taira were just a weak nobody, he would not have survived so long in the brutal Three Kingdoms era. There are reasons why he is still alive, so let's break it down and see whether he is truly the one who can bring the Three Kingdoms era to an end.

Before diving deeper into this post, I understand everyone's concerns regarding spoilers. Although Nippon Sangoku is based on a manga, I want to ensure everyone gets the best experience possible — so this post will contain no manga spoilers. However, since this post focuses on Taira, it does contain some anime episode content. If you want to avoid all spoilers, please stop reading and leave this post now.

Source: 『日本三國』公式 Official X account

The one who controls and rules Yamato: The Lord of Home Affairs, Taira Denki

If we follow the story of Nippon Sangoku, we might often find ourselves forgetting that the true ruler of one of the Three Nations, Yamato, is Fuji III — not the Lord of Home Affairs, Taira Denki. Everyone in Yamato, including Ryumon Mitsuhide, knows that the rightful ruler of Yamato is supposed to be Fuji III, but no one has ever truly stopped Taira from accumulating so much power and effectively ruling the country.

As a result of everyone turning a blind eye to Taira's behaviour for so many years, Taira has become the "true" ruler of Yamato. Although Fuji III is still alive and uses the word "Chin" 朕 to refer to himself, just from the first few episodes of Nippon Sangoku, we can already see how disrespectful Taira is, and just how powerful he has become in Yamato. For those who are not familiar with Chinese history, the word "Chin" 朕 is a term that can only be used by emperors to refer to themselves.

Fuji III still uses the word "Chin" 朕, but Taira has casually sat in front of him, mocked him in front of everyone, sent out letters on his behalf, and even killed people right before his eyes. From these actions alone, we can easily tell that Taira holds no respect for Fuji III whatsoever. From the viewer's perspective, of course we would want Fuji III to grow strong enough to punish Taira, or to fully support Ryumon in pinning Taira down, but in reality, Fuji III never really had any choice other than to become a compliant "puppet."

It is quite natural for us to think that Fuji III had other choices, but in reality, he did not. Taira is a terrifying person who is exceptionally skilled at politics — he knew exactly what needed to be done to rob Yamato from the Fuji family. Before Fuji III could gain any real control or build his own forces in Yamato, Taira had already placed his men in every important role in the government, and had his family take control of Yamato's economy. With both the economy and politics firmly in the hands of Taira's forces, and Fuji III left with neither power nor money, how could he ever hope to reclaim his own country?

Source: 『日本三國』公式 Official X account

The power of money and reign of terror: The brutal methods to rule Yamato

Robbing a country is one thing, but ruling it is another. Although seizing a country is comparably easier, and Taira is undeniably talented at doing so, he does not really know how to rule a country — or we could even say he has failed at it. Even from just six episodes, we are already able to get a rough picture of how Taira is ruling Yamato.

From what we can observe through the Nippon Sangoku anime, Taira essentially rules Yamato with two things: money and absolute terror. For someone who had no legitimate claim to rule the country, he could only gain people, power, and loyalty through money. With his family already in control of Yamato's economy, it was all too easy for him to use money to buy everything he needed to rule Yamato.

Everyone knows that the country belongs to the emperor, Fuji III, but this is the cruel reality of politics — the one with the most money will have the most power, and will eventually become the one who truly rules the country. Taira is extraordinarily wealthy, rich enough to feed those who choose to follow him and ensure they all live well. Although this is definitely not a healthy way to rule a country, it is undeniably an effective way to eliminate every enemy and ensure no one dares to stand against you.

Using money and his own men to rule the country will naturally breed a great deal of hatred and enemies — so in order to rule Yamato for as long as he desires, Taira relies on a second method that is equally simple and effective: killing. There is no better way to silence others than through death. This is an undeniably brutal way to control a country, but as we saw in Episode 3, it has always been Taira's preferred solution — as long as he keeps killing, he can rule the country for as long as he wants.

Source: 『日本三國』公式 Official X account

The demon and the angel of Yamato: The one who is capable of protecting Yamato

Although for many people, even for us as viewers, Taira is the demon that everyone wants dead, he is actually the one who is equally capable of protecting Yamato. You might wonder: would it not be better for Taira to sell out Yamato, or to let others destroy it so that building a new country becomes easier? In Episodes 5 and 6, we get some hints that the answer to these questions is actually no — Taira would not sell out Yamato, but would instead protect it.

Even though everyone knows that Taira has robbed the country, and even Fuji III can no longer control him, it is still crucial for both Yamato and Fuji III to exist. Why? Because they are the very reason why Ryumon Mitsuhide has not taken any action, despite knowing every terrible thing Taira has done. There are many powerful figures in Yamato — from Ryumon to the strategist Kaku Yasuaki, and the main character Aoteru — all of them are exceptionally talented, and the only reason none of them have acted is because they remain loyal to both the country and the emperor.

As long as Yamato and Fuji III exist, Ryumon and the others have no choice but to play along with Taira, and must try their hardest to keep him alive. However, if anything were to happen to them, or if Taira were to sell out the country, the tables would be turned — Taira would no longer have the power to control those powerful figures, and they would have every justification to start a civil war and hunt Taira down.

Source: 『日本三國』公式 Official X account

Since we are following Aoteru's perspective, it is hard for us to accept, but the one who is truly capable of protecting Yamato is actually Taira. Although Taira has not won as many wars as Ryumon, and has never really gone to war himself, he possesses an extraordinary amount of money. With that money, Taira can easily recruit any strong and capable person to work for him and protect him for as long as he desires. You may think what he said in Episode 3 is just bluffing, but in the end, if you have enough money, you can win wars — even if you are not particularly good at fighting them.

Taira is capable of protecting Yamato — and even when he does not have the direct power to do so himself, he can simply ask Ryumon to do it for him, just as we saw in Episode 5. Since Taira is controlling Fuji III, and Fuji III is deeply tied to him, Taira can always move Ryumon whenever the situation calls for it. This is a great tactic for Taira — although Ryumon may gain more power and victories, Taira himself will take no damage in the process, and can always wait for someone to defeat or even kill Ryumon, allowing him to absorb Ryumon's power with ease.

Taira is a clever person who definitely knows what to do and what not to. From everything he has done in the anime, especially in Episodes 5 and 6, we can see that he is trying to move into the next phase — training and grooming his son. Although Taira is a terrible person, now that his son has begun to become an important character in the story and they are starting to build military power, Taira will become more cautious in his actions and ensure his son does not get killed out there.

Source: 『日本三國』公式 Official X account

The one who is capable of ending the Three Kingdoms Era: The final goal of Taira Denki

With Yamato's economy under his control, Taira is actually the character who has the power and is the closest to bringing the Three Kingdoms era to an end. In the world of Nippon Sangoku, money is capable of doing everything. Not only can money secure people, loyalty, and power, it can also provide weapons and food for war. War requires money — and although this is a bold statement, those who have the most money have the highest chance of winning, especially in a warring era.

Although many characters have appeared within just six episodes, most of them do not have the capacity to end the warring era. Ryumon, Kaku, and Aoteru's team are strong, but without the power of politics and money, they will not get very far. The same goes for Wajima Ohga — Wajima is indeed an exceptionally talented person, but she is too tied down to Seii, and war burns through money very fast. Sooner or later, Seii will start to face serious financial problems.

Of course, with Wajima's talent, she could very well defeat Ryumon and conquer Yamato in a very short time — but what comes next? This is the Three Kingdoms era, and simply defeating one country cannot really change the whole situation, especially when we do not know what Buo is truly thinking. Will Buo help Wajima take revenge on Ryumon, or will they seek a deal with Taira and strike from behind? There are too many possibilities for now, which means that even if Wajima manages to win, it would actually be very easy for her to lose everything in no time.

Source: 『日本三國』公式 Official X account

Besides money, Taira actually holds another secret advantage over the other characters — his son. While it may be hard to believe, having a son is actually a great advantage in a warring era, especially when the child is brave beyond his years. Taira's son, Taira Tonotsugu, may seem like a terrible kid, but just from the fact that he is willing to venture into dangerous places for the sake of his family, he is capable of doing great things in the future.

Having a son also means that Taira no longer has much to worry about in terms of his legacy — of course he will need to look out for his son, but no matter what happens in the upcoming episodes, Taira is positioned to remain the biggest winner. Even if he gets killed down the line, as long as his family and Tonotsugu still exist, Taira dies as the biggest winner. With that in mind, Taira is also the one character who can go all in on ending the Three Kingdoms era, as he has no regrets and nothing left to hold him back.

Although this may sound unbelievable, Taira is actually the one who stands to gain the biggest benefit from the unification of Japan. Anything can happen in the upcoming episodes, but as long as Tonotsugu is alive, once the unification of Japan is complete, Tonotsugu will be able to become the new emperor — and the whole of Japan will be controlled by Taira's family. Since we are quite familiar with Taira, we know that this would be another nightmare for Japan, but realistically, the unification of Japan is something Taira wants to achieve, and I am sure he will work towards it with everything he has.

Here’s a great YouTube video worth checking out.

Conclusion:

Since we are following the story from Aoteru's perspective, and Taira undeniably has one of the worst personalities, we will naturally hate him and wish for his death — but unfortunately, he is too deeply tied to the fate of Yamato, and even the Three Kingdoms era as a whole. Taira's death no longer benefits anyone, but if he remains alive and somehow moves towards the unification of Japan, the future could change dramatically.

Taira and his son are indeed nightmares for everyone, and they will need to be defeated eventually — but not now. I believe Ryumon has realised this, which is why he has not done anything all this time. The one thing Yamato and Ryumon must avoid is civil war, as once it breaks out, Seii and Buo will have plenty of opportunities to wipe them out. However, once the unification of Japan is complete, if Ryumon, Kaku, and Aoteru are able to survive that long, it will finally be their time to bring down Taira's family.

Here’s a great YouTube video worth checking out.