Sagara Yoshiharu

Sagara Yoshiharu
Name (Kanji)	相良良晴
Name (Romaji):	Sagara Yoshiharu
Nickname / Epithet:	"Monkey" (猿 Saru)
Characteristics / Profile
Gender:	Male
Age:	17
Eye Color:	Brown
Personal Status
Status:	Alive
Occupation:	Footsoldier (Volume 1) Vice-Captain (Volume 2) Daimyo (Volume 8)
Affiliation:	Oda Fraction Asano Clan
Relatives:	Nene (adopted younger sister) Asano (Adoptive Grandfather) Oda Nobuna (Wife)(Volume 19) [Fille non nommée](Volume 22)
Media Debut
Light Novel:	Volume 1
Anime:	Episode 1
Seiyū:	Takuya Eguchi

Sagara Yoshiharu (相良良晴) is an advisor to Oda Nobuna, after he saves her from a cavalry of incoming enemy troops.

Nobuna refers to him as "monkey" (猿 Saru)

At the end of episode 2, he swears his loyalty to her, in a European Knight manner.

In volume 13, it was confirmed that Sagara Yoshiharu was in fact, a descendant of Sagara clan in Higo province (Kyūshū island). His confrontation with his (supposed to be) ancestor (Sagara Yoshihi) would be able to make him "disappear".

Appearance

Yoshiharu is a young man of average height, with a slim build. He has brown eyes, and short-medium length brown hair that is somewhat wavy at the top, but falls down straight at the sides. He is seen wearing what looks to be a charcoal-gray school uniform, coupled with a yellow t-shirt and red Converse-style shoes. He wore a typical takoyaki stand uniform in a cooking competition in episode 8, but otherwise sticks to his usual clothing. Interestingly, even in the Sengoku period, he wears the same attire, with nobody even questioning his then-strange clothing.

In the Light Novels, however, Yoshiharu does regularly wear era-fitting attire. He is shown wearing a suit of armour in battle on multiple occasions as well as attending parties in attire fit for the time period. He changed into this attire right off the bat in the first novel after Nene's grandfather Asano gave him a foot soldier's uniform, though it stands to reason he still has his modern clothing, he doesn't wear it usually. He is also depicted wielding a spear, a bow, and riding a horse in a full suit of armour at different times, indicating the fact that he actually does eventually fight in the novels.

Sometime later in the novels, roughly around Volume 11, Yoshiharu is shown to have become considerably more muscular than he was originally, although it does not often show through his clothing.

Personality

Yoshiharu frequently shows a very bold personality. He is quite brave and willing to without hesitation, put himself in harms way to protect someone else; as shown when jumps in front of Nobuna to protect her from an enemy Ashigaru, and didn't even take into consideration that he was unarmed. He is a very outspoken character; and whether he his persuading Saidou Dousan to hand over his territory to Nobuna (in which he risked his life to plead his case), or admitting to Shibata Katsuie that he was ogling over her breasts, he is frequently willing to say whatever is on his mind, or voice his beliefs regardless of how the other party may react. Despite his initial low-status as part of the Oda clan, he's shown many times to challenge Nobuna's authority in front of her subjects, and even physically stops her from taking her own brothers life.

Yoshiharu swears loyalty to Nobuna "barbarian style" (European)

Yoshiharu is a very kind and caring character. He even manages to make Hanbei Takenaka comfortable by showing her kindness, and tending to her when she becomes weakened by using too many spells. He is at times though, quite rude, and insulting. He refers to people mostly (even Nobuna and Saitou Dousan) by only their given names, without adding an honorific title, which is considered extremely rude in Japanese society. On top of that, he's also occasionally quite foul-mouthed, most notably towards Azai Nagamasa, whom Yoshiharu insults nearly every chance he gets. It is also shown in the series that Yoshiharu has a weakness for cute girls, as shown in several occasions, such as in episode 4 when the Oda army ambushes Yoshimoto Imagawa's camp. Katsuie, who was about to strike down Yoshimoto, was forced to let her live as a result of Yoshiharu's unwanted breast-fondling. He then proceeds towards the fallen Yoshimoto and persuades her to surrender.

He is very loyal to Nobuna, and at the end of episode 2, he swears his allegiance to her, and vows to serve her in her conquests. Despite thinking of her as a "brat," he, despite pleads from Katsuie to restrain, berated and threatened Nobutsumi (then Nobukatsu) for insulting her, even after acknowledging that Nobukatsu and himself could probably get along well. He also tells Hanbei that he just wants to serve Nobuna, and "make her shine."

Strategically Yoshiharu has also become a fairly adept leader and is fearless when it counts. Even the threat of death in battle does not seem to completely break his calm. This is perhaps his most noble and impressive trait, as it has allowed him and his allies to escape from situations which would easily break other men down. Yoshiharu managed to lead his men towards a successful, although nearly fatal, rescue of Saito Dousan, as well as a successful retreat from the Azai-Asakura Alliance, and a nearly successful victory over the army of Date Masamune, which would've been victorious had it not been for the arrival of Magoichi Saika. He also appears to possess great charisma.

According to Zenki, Yoshiharu's most impressive trait is to inadvertantly cause himself woman troubles. He has gained the affection of his lord Oda Nobuna, Akechi "Juubei" Mitsuhide, who at first hated him, Hanbei Takaneka, who at first feared everyone, including him, and Katsuie Shibata, who outwardly still hates him, all to name a few. Even the Tiger of Kai has become smitten with him after he saved her life and has chosen him as her new strategist, she even offered him the chance to marry any of her four Generals of Kai, and later all of them and herself, just to persuade him. Needless to say that the aformentioned generals were appauled by this idea until they saw his leadership in battle, at which point they too seemed to acknowledge him. Most impressive, or by his admission the most credible evidence of Zenki's claim, is that he once managed to make an entire cult of girls who worship the cat god smitten with him after defusing their potential uprising with a soccer craze. This event also secured the affection of Magoichi Saika as well, who now constantly seeks to make him her husband. The cult in question was so hung up on him staying with them that it almost erupted in a war with Nobuna and Juubei. Even louise Frois, a sworn Christian, shows affection towards him, although she sees herself as "healing his heart" during times of need and takes on a more maternal persona towards him. While he is openly perverted towards a lot of women, he later begins to show more and more feelings towards Nobuna, especially after the cult incident, during which he actually wanted to return to her side.

He is also very nice towards children, namely Hanbei, Nene, Bontenmaru(Date Masamune) and Motoyasu, who tried to kill him first time they met. This trait causes him some frustration, as he notes that in the end the harem he originally desired was quite different from the harem of Loli's he actually has. Nene even points out that this is Yoshiharu's harem, and counts herself amongst their number, even though she was originally put with him to prevent that from happening. He was even willing to show kindness to the children who annoy or antagonise him, namely Bontenmaru, who tried to become the destroyer foretold in the Christian faith, and Kuroda Kanbei. In Nobukatsu's case, Yoshiharu was willing to forgive and spare his life, despite how Nobukatsu had nearly executed Yoshiharu, because Nobukatsu's life was vital in order for Nobuna to retain her human heart.

During certain times, Yoshiharu apparently tends to use modern references that no one understands, indicating there are certain lapses where he forgets he is 400 years in the past and he casually talks instinctively. For example as Nobuna wanted to build a tourist centre in Azuchi, Yoshiharu asked if Nobuna wanted to "turn herself into Mickey Mouse." Other cases involve how Yoshiharu uses popular slang used in modern Japan such as using popular English phrases, understood by most modern Japanese, or when he asked Nobuna if she was suffering from chuunibyou. Due to this, Nobuna tends to say that Yoshiharu speaks in a "monkey language" that cannot be understood which furthers her imagination of Yoshiharu being some half monkey and half human.

Background

Little information has been given about Yoshiharu's life back in modern day Japan; however, it is known that before he ended up in the Sengoku period, he was a high school student, who was a huge fan of the RPG, 's_Ambition. He has studied Japanese history thoroughly, from multiple sources, hinted when he claims he's never seen the Battle Of Okehazama depicted as being fought on a mountain. He also appears to have been on fairly close terms with his mother, which comes up in a fever dream when he's in a near death state and is later pointed out to both Nobuna and Bontenmaru (the future Date Masamune).

Plot

Arrival in the Sengoku Period Arc

Main Article: Arrival in the Sengoku Period Arc

Invasion of Mino Arc

Main Article: Invasion of Mino Arc

Skills and Abilities

At the start of the series Yoshiharu had but one skill, and that alone, an almost superhuman ability to avoid being hit by dodge balls, which thankfully translated over to spears, kicks and punches as well. Only Nobuna, who hits him so often she's gotten used to his reflexes, and Katsuie, with whom he suspects it wouldn't matter how fast he is she'd kill him faster than he can avoid it if she fully intended to kill him, pose any threat of actually hitting him. He is not totally unavoidable, as he has been hit when surrounded by foes or when they are within a certain range of his body, and has once been beaten to a pulp by Nagamasa's men. He eventually trains and becomes quite skilled in the use of the spear, the bow, and horse riding, although he was unable to do the last for some time and would usually have to hitch a ride on Goemon's horse instead. By the time Danjou attacked them in Kyoto, Yoshiharu had gained a functional level of skill with the spear, but still needed to be protected by his allies to survive the ordeal. During the month before the Retreat at Kanegasaki, he finally seemed to master horse riding as he appeared before Nobukatsu on horseback and departed without anyone else to do the job for him.

He is a talented negotiator, having managed to convince Saitou Dousan to surrender Mino using his knowledge of the future, it's worth saying that even with said knowledge he still had to guess Dousan's own mindset from a passing comment that the man was historically said to have made. This has shown itself repeatedly, such as convincing Dousan again, this time not to die meaninglessly on a battlefield against his son, convincing Hanzo to let him and Inuchiyo escape, convincing Hanbei to join his side, convincing Motoyasu, who has a famous temper when she's been pushed around one too many times, to calm down, and convinced Takeda Shingen to end her invasion, later ally herself, briefly, with Nobuna, and even convinced Date Masamune to return home from invading Kai. He would've succeeded in bringing the lords of Harima to Nobuna's side, if not for the unfotunate pressence of Sunekosuri.

As a leader he is charismatic and intuitive, perhaps because of his low strategic skill he is also surprisingly creating and capable of solving problems as difficult as the Stone Sentinel Maze Hanbei set up. He has become such a skilful leader later on in the series that he rose to become a Daimyo alongside most of Nobuna's strongest and most famous retainers and, as shown from his brief command over the Generals of Kai, he can gain the complete co-operation of whatever group he happens to be leading, even if they hated him before, simply with his ability and composed demeanour in battle. During the retreat from the newly formed Azai-Asakura Alliance he even had men willing to die for him.

Finally and most obviously, being from the future grants him a number of advantages over everyone else, as he can predict the events which will occur and respond to them accordingly. While this is not so much a skill of his own the way he seems to utilise it is, as he has proven to be so adept at problem solving and planning when he sets his mind to it that even if something differs from the course he knows he can and will start to think of ways around it. The sole problem which keeps him stumped however is ironically the one he most wants to resolve: the Incident at Honnou-ji. He is also a gifted merchant and has managed to use the resources at his disposal, namely Goemon, the Kawanami group and his own knowledge of trading from his old games, to smuggle rice and amass a small fortune behind the scenes, as a result he's more wealthy than anyone of his rank should be early on in the series. However, while he's as good merchant he is not gifted with economics.

Relationships

Being the series main character, Yoshiharu naturally developed a large number of relationships with several major characters, below is a list of the most prominent of his relationships.

Goemon Hachisuka

Goemon is Yoshiharu's first subordinate, joining him even before he became a Daimyou by contracting herself with him as a Shinobi. Despite their role as master and subordinate Yoshiharu does not treat her any differently than he would his superiors, which is to say he speaks to her as a friend and not a retainer. He often points out Goemon's habit of biting her tongue, much to her enmity. The dynamics between the two are quite strong, as Yoshiharu was almost heartbroken when he thought she died and she has proven herself to be willing to take a bullet for him. Later on it's revealed that Goemon is of the age where she becomes somewhat aware of men and becomes flustered when hugged by Yoshiharu, yet at the same time she will not react at all to being seen in nothing but a loin cloth by him. When a job needs to be done Goemon is usually the first person aside from the strategist, Hanbei, who Yoshiharu will turn to and she is more than willing to see it through.

Oda Nobuna

The initial relationship between Yoshiharu and Nobuna was one of retainer and lord, however, even straight from the start, they began to develop a fondness for each other, in mutual Tsundere fashion. After Yoshiharu first saved her life when they met on the battlefield Nobuna kept him around as her subordinate nicknaming him Saru for his monkey-like appearance and personality. Nobuna is noted to treasure Yoshiharu, her father, Saitou Dousan and a certain missionary due to them each being able to understand her ideals, however, both the missionary and her father are already gone which causes her to find sanctuary in Dousan and Yoshiharu. Her desire to see him live was strong from the start and made stronger when he demonstrated his knowledge of the globe, however, Yoshiharu refused to plead for his life when she was nearly forced to kill him, as this would make her even more conflicted. Yoshiharu quickly became the only moral preventing Nobuna from turning into a demon king like Nobunaga, and with the death of Saitou Dousan, he is also the only person who can truly understand her. The two eventually developed mutual love for each other, which came full circle during Takeda Shingen 'sand the Azai-Asakura Alliance's simultaneous invasions wherein Nobuna, in her camp, was assaulted by Yoshikage Asakura, Yoshiharu not only rescued her by beating the man to a pulp, but loudly declared her his woman during the exchange. They later got together during the Christmas celebration which signified the mutual retreat of both invading armies, a fact which, much to their fear, was not unnoticed by the public.

Much later, although her Tsundere tenancies remain, Nobuna begins to stop distrusting Yoshiharu as much as before when it comes to other women, especially in regards to Juubei, whom he admits is just too airheaded for him to find a way to convince her of his decision.

After realizing that his own actions might have caused damage to Nobuna's ambition of conquest due to the return of the Ashikage Shogunate being made possible by the Imagawa Shogunate's existence and the constant scandal of their not so secret relationship, Yoshiharu has begun to worry that he himself could hinder her success and has become fixated on absolutely preventing the incident at Hannon-Ji no matter what. Whenever another character has pointed Yoshiharu out as being harmful to Nobuna's goal he has either fallen totally silent or openly agreed with them. He once even expressly told Kanbei to send him back to his time if he does indeed end up becoming an obstacle. Nobuna herself however doesn't seem to share this view, on the contrary, she is convinced that were he to disappear from her life for any reason, she would break down completely and that would be the end of everything.

After the events of volume 5, Yoshiharu seems singlemindedly attracted to Nobuna, even forgoing his original plans for a Harem, however he is not quite immune to the allure of other women, even though he admits Nobuna's the one he has ultimately chosen to focus on. They have repeatedly even attempted to cement their relationship, however they're interrupted every time by some unforeseen intrusion(Usually Juubei).

Katsuie Shibata

Katsuie repeatedly wanted to behead Yoshiharu for staring at her chest and also for his rude way of referring to her and Nobuna. However, she ultimately acknowledges him for being the only person aside from a now deceased missionary who could truly make Nobuna happy when talking to him, and as a result she begins to develop faith in him. Later, when Yoshiharu prevents Nobuna from executing Nobukatsu, Katsuie is both shocked and amazed by his bravery, or sheer stupidity, but goes back to hating him when he stares at her chest later on. Her opinion of his spikes even higher after he uses his one wish, which Nobuna had to grant, to prevent her marriage to Nagamasa(Katsuie had believed that if Yoshiharu won he would take Nobuna instead, and that she had to protect her from both him and Nagamasa), During this particular instance, Katsuie is visibly seen hugging Yoshiharu. She may develop and harbour feelings towards him over time, which Nagamasa points out and Katsuie herself can't 100% deny, however her feelings of admiration towards Nobuna are ultimately strong as well and she hates how close the two of them are while she herself wants to be close to Nobuna. She cared enough for him that she promised she would allow him to grope her if he returned alive from the retreat, but ultimately notes afterwards she was certain he'd die, and was very insistent he do it and get it over with. If nothing else, she is willing to say she will protect herself and Nobuna from the "saru" and is quite clearly jealous and frustrated with how close he has become towards Nobuna, or perhaps the other way around, or both.

Nagamasa has noted that Katsuie is probably so openly hostile to Yoshiharu specifically because she's fallen for him, she also seems to be openly annoyed whenever he gets along with other girls, for example, she very much disliked how he managed to bring Louise Frois over to their side, despite not even knowing what the relationship between the two of them was even like.

Inuchiyo Maeda

Yoshiharu became friends with Inuchiyo very quickly due to Nobuna's relationship with Yoshiharu. Inuchiyo is protective enough of him due to Nobuna to even stand up to her brother Nobukatsu and the strongest warrior, Katsuie, simply because Nobuna only seems to have fun around Yoshiharu and Saitou Dousan due to their ability to comprehend her ambitions. She also appears to playfully go along with Yoshiharu's games and also gets very dejected due to his preference of more boxum women. While she was willing to help him raise funds to buy rice for the Oda clan Inuchiyo was surprised to see Yoshiharu massively raise the amount of money they possessed and go mad due to it. Initially she pointed out that the money was Nobuna's, but after Yoshiharu promised to buy her a silk garment she gave up arguing and made him stick to that promise even when she was forced to leave the Oda clan temporarily. She was willing to strike one of Nobukatsu's retainers in order to make the delivery and save Yoshiharu's head, and also fought against Hanzo in order to protect Yoshiharu, on both occasions taking high risks for his sake. At the very least the two are close friends.

Akechi "Juubei" Mitsuhide

Initially Juubei maintained an air of admiration and a strong senpai/kouhai relationship towards Yoshiharu, after meeting him she even called him famous for his "build a castle in a day" strategy and immediately blushed when meeting him. However that changed during their time in Kyoto, where Juubei made it clear that she intended to be superior to him and that Nobuna only needed her in order to succeed. She ultimately decided she would surpass Yoshiharu and became a recurring problem for him during their time in Kyoto, eventually she ended up alienating herself even from Nobuna herself, whom she wanted to prove her worth to. After hearing that Nobuna might be dead it was Yoshiharu himself who snapped her out of it and ultimately helped her protect Kyoto from Mutsunaga Danjo. After this event, Juubei and Yoshiharu started to get along, with her defending him during the battle, giving him a protective charm and even allowing him to ride behind her on her horse(at this time he could not yet rise a horse properly). Given Yoshiharu's actions and words during the battle with Danjou, Juubei has come to the impression that he knows her fate and that he is trying to prevent that sad future from happening, causing her feelings for him to grow stronger still. After saving his life and while nursing him back to health in the middle of a battlefield she develops a matternal feeling of sorts towards him and later, if it didn't exist already in some form, a romantic interest as well. She is not very subtle about her interest in him as she almost immediately put on a bridal gown and attempted to marry him at the nearest oppurtunity, which led to a massive misunderstanding with Nobuna. She is also very sharp towards Nobuna and Yoshiharu's relationship and insists that a lord and retainer should not wed, so naturally she is the better "sacrifice" to marry him. Yoshiharu has in fact become quite worried that Juubei might start the Incident at Honnou-Ji and kill Nobuna due to her love for him. Nowadays Nobuna and Juubei only actually seem to be in sync when they're both angry at Yoshiharu at the same time. Yoshiharu admits to Nobuna that he does not plan to be in a relationship with any girl but her, and notes that Juubei is unfortunately just too airheaded for them to convince her of it.

Saitou Dousan

Yoshiharu and Saitou Dousan seem to have a mutual respect towards one another, and it can be inferred that Dousan was the first to actually believe Yoshiharu came from the future. Yoshiharu seems to take advice from Dousan as an older and wiser individual, usually it's either Dousan or Zenki who manages to knock sense into Yoshiharu when he's losing his resolve. He is trusted by the Viper in return, though Dousan is his usual stubborn self in showing it. However, due to Dousan's stubborn nature, he much disliked being rescued by Yoshiharu since it meant that the boy put himself in harms way and he knows what it would mean to Nobuna for him to die. Yoshiharu might be the only person who could actually talk the stubborn Dousan down and reason with him, not once but twice in fact.

When Saitou Dousan later died he entrusted Yoshiharu, the last living person who could comprehend Nobuna's dream, with helping her reach her dream, he was more than aware of Nobuna's feelings(pretty much all of the retainers had guessed it, even Katsuie, long before then) and effectively seems to accept Yoshiharu as a son in law.

Oda Nobukatsu/Tsuda Nobusumi

Nobukatsu and Yoshiharu's relationship was initially founded upon mutual dislike, Yoshiharu disliked Nobukatsu for his opinion of his older sister, which was painted by his mother and his retainers, and Nobukatsu hated Yoshiharu for hitting him, a thing which is amazing Yoshiharu got away with. However Yoshiharu noted that Nobukatsu is only at a "cute" level compared to Nobuna, and doesn't seem to think badly of him despite him and his retainers constantly hindering and taunting him during his job. After Yoshiharu saved Nobukatsu from being executed by his sister Nobukatsu appears to have developed some level of respect for him and later appeared at his house with Nene and Katsuie to celebrate the outcome. During this celebration Nobusumi stated outright that he will never forget his debt to Yoshiharu and will hence forth fight alongside him in battle. Yoshiharu also admits that the two of them are similar, and has developed as much trust in Nobusumi as the later has developed respect towards him, going so far as to rely on his help to deal with powerful warlords and battles. It also stands that Nobusumi was willing to let Yoshiharu take a promotion in his stead, even ignoring his mother's complaints and Yoshiharu's lack of noble blood, because he acknowledged the latter's contribution as greater than his own.

Yoshiharu is jealous of Nobusumi for the fact that he has 100 girls serving him, even after changing his name and abandoning his right to oppose Nobuna for leadership of the Oda clan these girls remain loyal to him.

Humorously, shown in the Light Novel, as Nobuna was stumped as to how to deal with Azai Nagamasa’s request for marriage did Yoshiharu asked if Oichi can take the role, much like the history he knows. However, in contrast to the historical sister of Oda Nobunaga, a confused Nobuna had stated that she had no sister and only a little brother. Though, because Nobusumi had coincidentally appeared, stating his loyalty to his sister while doing an oiran dance as he was dressed like a woman, did Nobuna realize she can give her “sister” to Nagamasa; thus, Yoshiharu realized he gave Nobuna an unintended suggestion as Nobusumi was forced to cross-dress, be given the new identity as Oichi, and was sent to be married to Azai Nagamasa. Ironically this turned out to have positive results as Nobusumi discovered that Nagamasa was a woman and developed romantic feelings for her; later, after his ordeal where he escaped and returned to the Oda clan, Nobusumi has awoken to romance and is more mature in that field than either Nobuna or Yoshiharu, both of whom he actually tries to bring together and can even briefly cause the other Oda retainers to become inspire to literally drag Nobuna to Yoshiharu when he believes she's gone too far. The identity, Oichi, was continued to be used as it was now adopted by Nagamasa, whose death was faked so she can together be with Nobukatsu who returns to his male identity. Originally happy for Nobuna's little brother, Yoshiharu's jealousy and pure rage towards Nobusumi spiked again when Nobusumi casually mentioned that he'd gotten Oichi pregnant.

Takenaka Hanbei

Hanbei at first feared Yoshiharu as she does everyone, however, due to him helping her rescue her uncle, she has come to genuinely trust him. At one point, he effectively had Inabayama Castle in his clutches, all he would have to do would be to kill Hanbei herself and it would be her's, the fact that he never thought of this nor considered it when she herself brought it up further provided her reasons to trust in him. Finally, after seeing his devotion to Nobuna, Hanbei developed feelings for him she could not understand, and would seem to hint that these are feelings of jealousy. She comes to have a dream as well, which is to make Yoshiharu shine just as he would have Nobuna do, and she decides to serve him and nobody else.

Much later, when she is dying due to her weak condition, her one will is that Yoshiharu not be burdened with the knowledge of it, she tried to entrust her will to Kanbei, who was a comparable strategist to herself. Yoshiharu however could not accept such an end and, upon realising the only way to save her is to take a powerful spiritual item which is considered the single most sacred artifact in the entire country, he resolves to steal it, potentially making an enemy out of the entire country and all of its warlords to save her and Kanbei. He is fiercely protective of her, as he is with all of his subordinates.

Yoshiharu has recently started refering to Hanbei by her name, which Zenki seems to think means that he has taken to seeing her as a woman instead of a mere child. It can be implied that Yoshiharu even somewhat admires her intelligence. After Yoshiharu and his allies save Hanbei from her illness, she proves to be much more active in her feelings towards Yoshiharu, openly flirting, and admitting to flirting, with him in competition with Kanbei, and even actively agreeing with Nene's encouragement to carry his child.

Zenki

Yoshiharu's very first meeting with Zenki was poor at best, with Zenki tricking him into consuming something unquestionably disgusting and then having him bite him. Later on however, with Hanbei now loyal to Yoshiharu, Zenki has followed his master and joined his side. Due to Zenki's centuries of experience and his great wisdom, Yoshiharu usually finds himself learning from him, and Zenki himself seems to actually take a mentoring role towards Yoshiharu on occasion. it was Zenki who first mentioned Yoshiharu's woman troubles, and hilariously Yoshiharu is more than a little aware of it himself.

Later on, with Hanbei dying, Kanbei captured, Nobuna incapacitated and Shikanosuke rushing off to her death, it was Zenki who, while also having caused the last one in order to prove his point, broke Yoshiharu out of his stupor and told him exactly what he would need to do to save them all: go and do it, and let nothing get in his way no matter how difficult it is to transcend.

Zenki has also taken note of how Yoshiharu recently stopped using honourifics to refer to Hanbei, and seems to take it as a hint that he finally sees her as a woman and not a child. During their attempt to rescue Kuroda Kanbei, Zenki realized that Hanbei's power was no longer sufficient to keep him in the living world and that he would return to the afterlife next time he was "killed". He mentioned to Yoshiharu how the latter was more or less his first friend since returning to this world and that it was Yoshiharu who reminded him of his humanity, finally, as Ukita Naoie managed to catch them, Zenki shielded Yoshiharu with the last of his strength, losing his physical form, and still held on long enough to guide him to Hanbei before his soul faded away. At the nearest opportunity, Yoshiharu took it upon himself to punch Ukita once in Zenki's name, and his grateful for his sacrifice.

Louise Frois

Yoshiharu first meets Frois in a Christian church in Sakai alongside Bontenmaru and spoke to her about his coming from the future. Rather comically she is prone to become embarrassed when Yoshiharu stares at her or comments that she is his type, in which case she will note she's already married to god. As their relationship develops later in the story she finds excuses around this, such as embracing him to "ease his heavy heart". She tends to have a rather mother-like or older sister-like personality towards him at times when he needs it, such is her role as a nun. She gains some level of confidence after meeting him due to his stating how people of his time don't discriminate against her type as much as now and how she should not be concerned about it but proud(especially of her blonde hair and large chest, according to him).

Bontenmaru

Like with most children Yoshiharu is kind to Bontenmaru, even letting her on his lap and shoulders after their first meeting. He acts somewhat like an older brother to her. When he mentions that mixed racial children like her are more common in his time she begins to confide in him due to her situation and ultimately grows to admire Nobuna when Yoshiharu tells her about their similar situation. She got the idea of her "Jakigan" from him after he mentioned it and revealed to her the truth of her Hetero-chromatic eyes, and shockingly puts it to genuinely good use in psychological warfare later on. When he realizes that she is Date Masamune, he is both confused and horrified since he has literally just taught her how to use her Heterochromia to defeat the superstitious individuals of the modern age. Essentially, when he hears Bontenmaru loudly declare she will use what he taught her to usurp the throne, conquer Oshu, unite with the Nanban people and sink all of japan as the beast of revelations, his only response possible was to ponder the consequences of what he had just unleashed upon the world.

Later, on Yoshiharu even has to stop her rampage due to Oda needing the aid of Takeda Shingen and Kai, who Bontenmaru had actually managed to put into a tight spot, he's stopped by the arrival of Magoechi Saika, who Bontenmaru was smart enough to employ, but ultimately his life is not harmed and he is able to talk Bontenmaru into going home to aid her mother who's fighting her uncle. At this point in the story, he still acts like an older brother to her, scolding her for her actions yet also giving her good advice and encouraging her to help the mother she is afraid will turn on her, due to her insecurities about her eyes and mixed racial birth. Being the only man who actually knows what her "Jakigan" really is, just a harmless pair of different colored eyes, Yoshiharu is probably also one of the few people who actually would fight her in battle, everyone else is too afraid of the rumors spread by her herself about the eye's so called supernatural powers.

Organtino

Yoshiharu is initially quite envious of Organtino's good looks, which apparently are enough to completely conquer the all female Kuki Pirates, however he and Organtino get along quite well. Organtino immediately accepts Yoshiharu's having come from the future, but Yoshiharu could not honestly tell him the answer to his question about how well Christianity will fair in Japan and simply tells him to try to make his own future. Organtino and Yoshiharu both appear to like Louise Frois, or more specifically both are drawn to her chest, however Organtino, being a priest, considers this his sin. Organtino was more than willing to help in the battle with Takeda Shingen because he had heard about Nobuna's good treatment of Missionaries.

Giovanna L'Ortese

Yoshiharu initially met Giovanna when he was forced to duel her by Kazumasu in order to conquer Ise Spanish Isle. Their duel more or less flowed in Giovanna's favor, however, since she was stopped by Organtino from defeating Yoshiharu in a bad position, she considers it a godsend she didn't win and insult the name of knights. She and Yoshiharu appear to develop mutual respect as a result of this duel, with him calling her honorable for always fighting him on equal terms and her recognizing his kindness towards what she considers a slight. When she offered him any wish he desired Yoshiharu immediately asked her to be his girlfriend, which only enraged her, he then changed his request to "Join the Oda Clan" and effectively recruited her. as with many girl's in the series, Yoshiharu finds her quite attractive.

Shingen Takeda

Takeda first heard of "the man who defies fate" from her retainer, and discovered that Oda's monkey claimed to be someone from the future.

Yoshiharu first met Shingen at a hot spring she was hiding herself away to from her men. During this time, Yoshiharu came to inspect whether she was unwell, as history notes she was either assassinated or died of illness. Despite how Takeda had revealed her identity, much to her shock, Yoshiharu had not shown the slightest sign of fear before her. On the contrary, because of how Nobuna had spread false information that affected Yoshiharu's image negatively, Yoshiharu had buried his face into Shingen's well endowed breasts which further confused Shingen.

Takeda realizes he is in fact the "man who defies fate" who she sought and asks him how and when she will die, somewhat hesitantly, due to her being the enemy, Yoshiharu shows her sympathy and tells her to beware of assassins. The theory was later proven to be true where coincidentally Zenjuurou Sugitani, who Yoshiharu had foiled in the past, was the assassin. This results in Yoshiharu accidentally saving Shingen's life, a decision he came very close to regretting. After the death of her strategist Shingen began to desire to recruit Yoshiharu into her ranks, as "the man who defies fate" would be a worthy successor to him.

When they meet again she goes so far as to offer him the finest of her female generals of Kai, or even herself, and then all of them as well as herself, in order to get him to join her side. Amusingly, Yoshiharu responds to these offers in a playfully professional, if somewhat perverted, and analytical manner. This desire to steal Yoshiharu has earned her much enmity from Nobuna, yet at the same time both of them will get along perfectly if they believe he has come to harm. Yoshiharu does not seem to resent or fear Shingen in any way despite her being a powerful enemy and he is trusted enough by her to lend him her troops to lead into battle against Date Masamune.

He also seems to prefer to call her by her other name, "Katsuchiyo", partly because that was her alias when they first met. He seems to respect and acknowledge her intelligence and abilities to a point where he has a grasp of her capabilities that even Nobuna does not.

Yoshimoto Imagawa

When they first met on the battlefield Yoshiharu tried to become her subordinate due to the dangerous situation he was in, however she promptly ordered Motoyasu to kill him.

Later, after her army was defeated by that of Nobuna's, she was attacked by Katsuie Shibata, who offered her either to die or surrender. Being too proud to surrender and too scared to die, Yoshimoto is ultimately indecisive until Yoshiharu subdues Katsuie(by hugging her breasts) and asks her in a slightly more flattering tone. She asks him who he is, having utterly forgotten their previous encounter, and promptly accepts to surrender. Yoshiharu appears to be smitten with her beauty, as when he was speaking of the No.1 Bishoujo in Japan he meant her, and his request to have said beauty was also no less clear.

Later, in Kyoto, he was the one who she embraced when Hanbei mentioned curses in the city and scared her, which caused Nobuna to kick her.

She later admits to Himiko, and states she will only tell Himiko, that she never doubted Yoshiharu would return from the Retreat at Kanegasaki because he is the only real Japanese man she acknowledges that would never die.

Motoyasu Matsudaira

When they first met, due to Motoyasu serving Imagawa Yoshimoto, she tried to kill him with her sword. Later, after his actions helped Nobuna bring down the Imagawa clan and Motoyasu came to ally herself with Nobuna, she clearly remembers trying to kill him, but chooses not to bring it up out of awkwardness. After seeing Nobuna and Yoshiharu's usual routine she also develops some respect for Yoshiharu's bravery(She's terrified of Nobuna for setting her on fire, grilling her, and other such events when they were childhood friends).

Alongside Mitsuhide, she didn't want to let him stay in the back during the retreat from Kanegasaki, as he would most likely die, she noted she wanted to help him as thanks for him helping her country become independent, but was finally convinced to leave by him when he told her that she is the only person who can lead the country once Nobuna unites it.

She seems to have developed some level of admiration towards him, as later on, when she was enraged by Takeda Shingen's act of ignoring her, it was Yoshiharu who managed to talk sense into her, which Hanzo noted nobody had ever succeeded in doing before. After this, she managed to regain her calm mindset and attacked Takeda again, this time yielding much better results.

Hattori Hanzo

Yoshiharu's relationship with Motoyasu's ninja, Hanzo, is rather obscure due to the latter nature. when they first met Hanzo tried to kill him on orders from Imagawa Yoshimoto and even found him a worthy opponent because he could evade his techniques. Yoshiharu finally managed to convince Hanzo to let him go as it would result in Mikawa's independance and thus benefit his master, even if he failed all Hanzo would have to do is kill him later anyway though. This event, and the successful independence of Mikawa, has left some impression on Hanzo, as he seems to have grown to respect Yoshiharu somewhat. Later, he even praises Yoshiharu's skills as a commander during the Retreat at Kanegasaki, as Yoshiharu's strategy grouped the enemy together and allowed Hanzo's ninja corps to blow them away with their own bombs. According to Motoyasu, Hanzo himself actually wished to help Yoshiharu during the aforementioned retreat at Kanegasaki, although Hanzo abandoned him briefly when his master was in danger due to priorities. When Hanzo tried to have Takeda assassinated, only for Yoshiharu to accidentally thwart it, he and the rest of Motoyasu's men beat him for it.

Takigawa Kazumasu

Takigawa initially took an interest in Yoshiharu after the rumors about him and Nobuna. After he was banished to Ise, he met with her about aiding the Oda forces against Takeda's army, which she agreed to do if he conquered Ise Spanish Isle for her and allowed her to use her powers and read his mind when they succeeded. She seems to enjoy teasing Yoshiharu. During his attempt to meet with Shingen, she managed to sneak him past her soldiers and encounter her in a hotspring, effectively using her ninja skills to replace the then absent Goemon. Yoshiharu is quite curious about how she resembles Empress Himiko and was born with similar powers, but he ignores it since it does not even appear that she actually knows about it either.

Kuroda Kanbei

Kanbei originally intended to send Yoshiharu back to his time, as she believed him to more or less be the cause of Nobuna's inability to conquer the country. Yoshiharu agreed to this, and asked her to send him back if he ever became a genuine threat to Nobuna. However, after Yoshiharu defended her from the rants of the Harima noble's, which bothered her for years, she has begun to open up to him and acknowledge him for his effort. Yoshiharu shows a lot of trust in Kanbei unconditionally, even being willing to tell her, Hanbei and Goemon, about the Incident at Honnou-ji. After hearing this and realizing that ultimately Nobuna was doomed because of it, not Yoshiharu, she begins to realize the struggle he has endured. she was eventually captured and held hostage by Ukita Naoie, which reduced her to a desperate state virtually unable to walk on her own. She remained in a cell until Yoshiharu and Zenki, at the cost of the latter's last remaining bit of energy, rescued her with the help of Naoie's daughter. After being rescued she cried and fell asleep in Yoshiharu's arms. Later on, Kanbei protested when Yoshiharu showed more concern towards Hanbei than her (because he already knew the extent of Kanbei's current condition and didn't have to worry about it). This extends later to their flirting with Yoshiharu, where he considers Kanbei to be still a child and Kanbei notices and he doesn't think that way of Hanbei any longer.

Yamanaka Shikanosuke

Due to her apparently "M"-personality, Shikanosuke more or less seems genuinely happy with the idea of becoming Yoshiharu's slave, literally. Yoshiharu immediately suspects she's a masochist, and it would not come as a surprise if she genuinely was. He views her as a very pure individual, due to her personality and would even say she's the purest of the women he's ever met. He is willing to lie to her to protect her, as he knew in his future's history that she would likely die fighting against the Mori clan and chose to keep the grim possibilities to himself, because she would actually go and do it: Shikanosuke tends to pray for suffering rather than victory, again, he suspects she's a masochist.

Shikanosuke however eventually learns of her fate from Zenki in the latter's provocation towards Yoshiharu, after which she goes off to give her life so that Ukita will release Kanbei from his custody. She is stopped by Yoshiharu and reveals that she only joined him because she needed to side with the Oda to defeat the Mori, after repeatedly beating him, she eventually concedes to his goal of saving all of them, despite how shallow a hope that is, and swears her genuine loyalty to his side.

Trivia

• Although he is an original character for the novel, his main role is based on Toyotomi Hideyoshi who assisted Nobunaga's ambition for unifying Japan during the Sengoku Era. His nickname "Saru" is based on the fact that Toyotomi was nicknamed "Saru".
• In fact, there's many parallels between Yoshiharu and the real life Toyotomi Hideyoshi: When Toyotomi (then known as Kinoshita Toukichirou, then Hashiba Hideyoshi) first became a servant of Oda Nobunaga, Oda made him in charge of his shoes. Toyotomi was even known to be a successful negotiator, good at convincing others, and had a usually friendly and easy-going personality, just like Yoshiharu.
  • However, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was less tolerant to Christian than Sagara Yoshiharu; the former, in real life, once rounded up 26 Christians and had them crucified, he also ordered the banning of Christianity, it was not until Meiji Restoration that the Christianity were restored; the latter seemed to welcome Christian as friends, but he was also aware of its political potential when under the hand of Nanban nations.
  • It was hard for Christianity and Shinto-Buddism (the major religion of Japan at that time) to co-exist at that time due to their differences in belief and philosophy about the world (for example, Christianity did not honor their ancestors, unlike Shinto-Buddism), and as number of Christians grew, Hideyoshi saw them as a threat to public order and ordered the banning of Christianity, even forced some of his own men who followed Christianity, namely Kuroda Kanbei, to commit seppuku. The conflict in belief was also the reason why the Shimazu clan were so hostile towards Otomo clan, under Otomo Yoshishige (then Otomo Sorin) in Kyushu.
• As Sagara Yoshiharu effectively represents Toyotomi Hideyoshi in-universe, he got some Historical In-Joke relationships with other characters:
  • In the series, Yoshiharu and Inuchiyo become buddies and are usually seen with each other. This was also the case in real life (Yoshiharu being based on Toyotomi Hideyoshi), as the two became good friends.
  • The slight hostility between Yoshiharu and Katsuie was also a note to the real life situation. After Oda Nobunaga was assassinated by Akechi Mitsuhide, Katsuie and Hideyoshi supported two different Nobunaga's sons, and resulted in Katsuie's defeat and seppuku. The relationship between Katsuie and Yoshiharu was not so close compared to the others with the latter.
  • The rather neutral relationship between Yoshiharu and Niwa Nagahide was due to the fact that Nagahide did not make too much contribution under Hideyoshi's leadership. Nevertheless, they two maintained a professional attitude towards, and have a sense of mutual respect to each other,
  • The brother-sister like relationship between Yoshiharu and Date Murasame should also be noted: Date Masamune in real-life complied to Hideyoshi's leadership after some initial refusal; his incarnation in-universe is a young girl who looked up to Yoshiharu as a big brother and seemed to obey Yoshiharu's words to a degree. In fact, only Yoshiharu can fight and negotiate with Date Masamune effectively.

v · e · d Oda Nobuna no Yabō
Characters
Oda Army
Oda Nobuna - Sagara Yoshiharu (Saru) - Akechi Mitsuhide (Jūbei) - Asano - Gōki - Hachisuka Goemon - Ii Naomasa - Kuroda Kanbei - Maeda Toshiie (Inuchiyo) - Manmi Senchiyo - Matsunaga Hisahide - Niwa Nagahide (Manchiyo) - Nō - Oda Nobuhide - Oichi - Shibata Katsuie (Riku) - Takenaka Hanbei - Takigawa Kazumasu (Sakon) - Tsuchida Gozen - Tsuda Nobusumi - Gamō Ujisato - Zenki
Sagara Corps
Sagara Yoshiharu - Gōki - Hachisuka Goemon - Kawanami group - Kuroda Kanbē - Nene - Takenaka Hanbē - Yamanaka Shikanosuke - Zenki
Takigawa
Takigawa Kazumasu - Giovanna L'Ortese - Kuki Yoshitaka
Matsudaira
Matsudaira Motoyasu - Hattori Hanzō
Imagawa
Imagawa Yoshimoto - Kinoshita Tōkichirō - Taigen Sessai
Saitō
Saitō Dōsan - Akechi Mitsuhide (Jūbei) - Nō - Saitō Yoshitatsu - Takenaka Hanbē - Takenaka Shigetora
Azai
Azai Nagamasa - Azai Hisamasa - Kuchiki Shinano - Tsuda Nobusumi (Oichi)
Asakura
Asakura Yoshikage - Asakura Takakage - Makara Naotaka - Makara Naozumi
Rokkaku
Rokkaku Yoshikata (Shōtei) - Rokkaku Yoshiharu
Takeda
Takeda Shingen - Takeda Katsuyori - Yamamoto Kansuke
Uesugi
Uesugi Kenshin - Nagao Masakage - Naoe Kanetsugu - Naoe Yamato - Usami Sadamitsu
Date
Date Masamune (Bontenmaru) - Katakura Kojūrō - Saika Magoichi
Hōjō
Hōjō Uchiyasu - Fūma Kotarō - Manmi Senchiyo
Mōri
Mōri Terumoto - Kikkawa Motoharu - Kobayakawa Takakage - Konishi Yakurō - Mōri Motonari - Mōri Takamoto - Murakami Takeyoshi - Ukita Hideie - Ukita Naoie
Kuroda
Kuroda Kanbē - Kuroda Sōen - Shojyomaru
Kyo authorities
Ashikaga Yoshiaki - Ashikaga Yoshiteru - Ashikaga Yoshihide - Himiko - Imagawa Yoshimoto - Konoe Sakihisa - Yamato Gosho
Mount Hiei
Shōkakuin Gōsei
Honbyo Temple
Kennya - Kyonya - Magoichi Saika
Others
Aga (Ashiya Dōkai) - Dom Justo Takayama - Francisco Cabral - Imai Sōkyū - Joaqim Konishi - Louise Frois - Manase Belchior Dōsan - Organtino - Rikyū - Sue Harukata - Sugitani Zenjubō - Tsuchimikado Hisanaga - Tsuda Sōgyū
States
Arima - Azuchi - Echigo - Echizen - Harima - Ise - Kai - Kyo - Mikawa - Mino (Gifu) - Ōmi - Ōsaka - Owari - Sakai - Yamato
Terms
Dragon Veins - Nanban - Onmyōji - Sengoku Era - Shogun - Soccer - Tenka Fubu - Three Regalia
Series
Novel - Manga - Anime