Taiga drama

 ( Japanese Drama Television Series ) 

lead=yes is the name NHK gives to the annual year-long historical drama television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white Hana no Shōgai, starring kabuki actor Onoe Shoroku II and Awashima Chikage, the network regularly hires different writers, directors, and other creative staff for each taiga drama. The 45-minute show airs on the NHK General TV network every Sunday at 8:00pm, with rebroadcasts on Saturdays at 1:05pm. NHK BS, NHK BS Premium 4K and NHK World Premium broadcasts are also available.

Taiga dramas are very costly to produce. The usual procedure of a taiga drama production would have one-third of the total number of scripts finished before shooting begins. Afterwards, audience reception is taken into account as the rest of the series is written. Many times, the dramas are adapted from a novel (e.g. Fūrin Kazan is based on The Samurai Banner of Furin Kazan). Though taiga dramas have been regarded by Japanese viewers as the most prestigious among dramas in Japan, viewership ratings have considerably declined in recent years.

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Current series

• Unbound (2025)

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Upcoming series

• Toyotomi Brothers! (2026)
• Gyakuzoku no Bakushin (2027)

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List of series

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NHK Special Drama Saka no Ue no Kumo was originally set for a 2006 broadcast as "21st Century Taiga Drama". However, the scriptwriter of the series committed suicide, causing a delay in production. The series was aired as "NHK Special Drama" in three parts, each part airing from late November to late December of each year.

Saka no Ue no Kumo	1	5 eps	29 November 2009	27 December 2009	Masahiro Motoki Hiroshi Abe Teruyuki Kagawa	Miho Kanno Gō Katō Hideki Takahashi Tetsuya Watari
	2	4 eps	5 December 2010	26 December 2010
	3	4 eps	4 December 2011	25 December 2011

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Fantasy taiga drama

	1	4 eps	26 March 2016	9 April 2016	Haruka Ayase	Masahiro Higashide Mizuki Itagaki Mikijirō Hira Tatsuya Fujiwara
	2	9 eps	21 January 2017	25 March 2017
	3	9 eps	25 November 2017	27 January 2018

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New Big Jidaigeki NHK broadcast three taiga dramas covering modern and contemporary history from 1984 to 1986. Instead, they specially prepared these three productions for jidaigeki fans. Many viewers see them as almost equivalent to Taiga dramas.

1	Miyamoto Musashi	宮本武蔵	45 eps	4 April 1984	13 March 1985	Koji Yakusho	Yūko Kotegawa Eiji Okuda Kōji Naka Tetsurō Tamba
2	Sanada Taiheiki	真田太平記	45 eps	3 April 1985	19 March 1986	Tsunehiko Watase	Masao Kusakari Kurara Haruka Misako Konno Tetsurō Tamba
3	Musashibō Benkei	武蔵坊弁慶	34 eps	9 April 1986	12 December 1986	Nakamura Kichiemon II	Tarō Kawano Keiko Oginome Bunta Sugawara Yorozuya Kinnosuke

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Series overviews

• Kōmyō-ga-tsuji: Yamauchi Kazutoyo no Tsuma. Takaya Kamikawa plays the role of Yamauchi Kazutoyo, the military commander and daimyō who took over the Tosa Province han and built Kōchi Castle. Yukie Nakama plays the role of Chiyo, the ever-supporting wife of Kazutoyo. The story by Shiba Ryōtarō spans the closing years of the Sengoku period, the Azuchi–Momoyama period, and the beginning of the Edo period.
• 武蔵 MUSASHI (2003). Kabuki actor Ichikawa Shinnosuke VII (now Ichikawa Ebizō XI) held the lead role as the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, whose lives spanned the end of the Sengoku period and the beginning of the . The series was based on the Yoshikawa Eiji novel that forms the basis for most modern fiction based on the events of Musashi's life. This was the first Taiga Drama to have its title in both kanji and the Latin alphabet.
• Toshiie and Matsu (2002). Toshiaki Karasawa as Maeda Toshiie and Nanako Matsushima as Maeda Matsu recounted the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate from the point of view of an outside daimyō.
• Hōjō Tokimune (2001). Kyōgen actor Izumi Motoya played the lead character, heading a cast that included Watanabe Ken. Major events in the series included the Mongol Invasions of Japan.
• Genroku Ryōran (1999). Kabuki actor Nakamura Kankurō V played Ōishi Kuranosuke in this story set in the Genroku period, during which the events of the Forty-seven rōnin occurred.

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See also

• Japanese television dramas
• Jidaigeki
• Asadora
• Sageuk

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External links

• Official Site

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