Nikola Šubić Zrinski, known as Nikola Zrinski, was born in 1508 in Zrin. He was a Croatian statesman, a military leader and one of the most famous greats of Croatian and Hungarian history. When he was only 21 years old in 1529, Nikola Zrinski distinguished himself in the defense of Vienna. Emperor Charles V awarded him a horse and gold. He went through numerous skirmishes and became famous for the first time in 1542 when he with 400 Croats saved Pest from certain ruin. Because of his heroism, King Ferdinand I elected him Croatian banus on December 24, 1542.

In 1546 the king also gave him Međimurje, the northernmost Croatian province, in the center of which was the fortified town Čakovec. Thus, from 1546 when Zrinski took it over, Međimurje was in the possession of the Zrinski family, until their extinction (second half of the 17th century).

In 1566, Nikola Zrinski defended the fortress of Siget, a place that was blocked by the Ottomans on their way to Vienna, on the way to an important goal - the conquest of the West. That year Sultan Suleiman I embarked with more than 100,000 soldiers and 300 cannons on the sixth military campaign with the goal of conquering Vienna. Despite smaller number of defenders, soldiers led by Zrinski managed to repel an attack by Turkish army. Most of the defenders were Croatian soldiers, but there were also many Hungarians. Zrinski died in the last breakthrough and the janissary commander cut off his head.

The Battle of Szigetvár (1566) is considered to be one of the crucial points in Croatian history, as well as the commander of the fortress, Nikola Šubić Zrinski, is among its main historical figures. That did not become so because the battle took place in an unprecedented way, but due to a series of circumstances by which the battle, in only a couple of years, outgrew its historical importance and became a myth to be perpetuated and even strengthened in the centuries to come. Although the final issue was a military defeat, the moral victory of the Szigetvár defenders became a model of self-sacrifice for one’s own homeland, people and ideals which was intended to be implanted in the hearts and minds of individual members of a nation.

Nikola Zrinski is celebrated as a national hero in Croatia and Hungary. The opera “Nikola Šubić Zrinski” was sung in his honour. Interestingly, this opera is extremely popular even in faraway Japan. There, he is revered primarily for his honourable and samurai death. In honour of this act, Japanese male choirs often perform an aria from the opera “U boj, u boj”, which they learnt in 1919 when the ship of Czech and Slovak soldiers broke down in the port of Kobe. At Kwansea Gakuin, one of the most prestigious and oldest Japanese universities, this aria is the anthem.

On February 26, 2006, at the Kokugian Hall in Tokyo, Japanese male choir of 1,000 people led by maestro Katsuaki Kozai sang “U boj, u boj” (“To battle, to battle”) from the opera “Nikola Šubić Zrinski“, and it was a record for this type of choral singing. The concert was attended by 10,000 people and the sponsor of the concert, among others, was the Croatian Embassy in Japan. Also, there are many other reminders of his glory: Zrinjevac Square in Zagreb, a monument in Čakovec and a street in Budapest (Zrinyi utca).