Kou Shibusawa isn’t only one of Koei’s founders, he is also a game creator, a producer, and a brand name. As part of Koei Tecmo’s celebration of 40 years of the Kou Shibusawa banner, the company is offering some expensive gold coins.
Kou Shibusawa’s real name is Yoichi Erikawa, and his professional moniker takes the first syllable from Koei and borrows the last name from Shibusawa Eiichi, the father of Japanese capitalism, which is really quite fitting!
At Koei, Shibusawa has become famous for the Nobunaga’s Ambition series, Uncharted Waters series, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, among many other titles. This is why Kou Shibusawa has become a brand for the company’s strategy games. Koei, however, also released Nioh under the banner. It’s not a strategy game and has a historical, yet dark fantasy, setting, so I’ve always thought its inclusion under the Kou Shibusawa name is interesting.
To mark forty years of Kou Shibusawa, Koei is releasing a set of gold coins, which includes three 24 gram pure gold coins featuring Nobunaga’s Ambition, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Nioh, as well as a 54 gram one for Nobunaga’s Ambition. The coins are shaped like koban, which are Japanese oval-shaped coins that were used during the Edo Period.
The full set is also personally signed by Kou Shibusawa—the man, that is, not the brand per se.
The large 52g pure gold Nobunaga’s Ambition coin is also available individually for only 1,144,000 yen ($10,000), while the smaller 24g coins cost 528,000 yen ($4,649) each.
It’s amazing how distinctive Kou Shibusawa’s games have been over the years and have shaped Koei’s identity. Congrats to him and his brand on four decades. So if you really, really like Kou Shibusawa—or gold coins, for that matter—perhaps these might be of interest. Surely, the father of Japanese capitalism would approve.