is a historical novel by Japanese novelist Ryōtarō Shiba.It was serialised in Sunday Mainichi (Mainichi Shimbun Publishing Inc.) from August 1963 to June 1966.[1]
It consists of a first part starring Saito Dōsan and a second part starring Oda Nobunaga and Akechi Mitsuhide. Initially, Shiba planned to write only the story of Dōsan, but the series was too popular to be finished and Shiba was forced to write the second part, the story of Nobunaga and Mitsuhide.[1]
Shiba skilfully incorporated the results of post-war historical studies into his novels, positioning Nobunaga as a revolutionary with a clear will, a rarity in Japanese history, and establishing an image of Nobunaga in which light and shadow coexist by not only evaluating his innovativeness but also criticising his brutality. Thanks in part to Shiba's contributions, Nobunaga, who had not always been popular before, became one of the most popular historical figures in Japan.[1] [2]
Two TV drama adaptations have been produced by NHK and TV Tokyo.
| Genre: | Taiga drama |
| Starring: | Mikijirō Hira Junko Ikeuchi Keiko Matsuzaka Shigeru Tsuyuguchi Ryūtarō Ōtomo Juzo Itami Shôhei Hino Joe Shishido Yoko Yamamoto Minoru Chiaki Muga Takewaki Ryōtarō Sugi Chieko Matsubara Tōru Emori Kō Nishimura Goro Ibuki Tappie Shimokawa Ryūzō Hayashi Masaomi Kondō Hideki Takahashi |
| Opentheme: | NHK Symphony Orchestra |
| Country: | Japan |
| Language: | Japanese |
| Num Episodes: | 51 |
| Runtime: | 45 minutes |
| Channel: | NHK |
Japanese television series broadcast in 1973.[3] It is the eleventh NHK taiga drama.[4] It had an average viewing rating of 22.4, peaking at 29.9%. All footage of the regular broadcast is lost. In 2015, videotape recordings of episodes 37 and 38 were recovered.
The series is set in the Sengoku period. Based on Ryōtarō Shiba`s novel of the same name.[5] [6]
The story chronicles the lives of Dosan Saito and Nobunaga Oda.
Production Credits
Starring role
The drama was broadcast on 2 January 2005 in the Shinshun Wide Jidaigeki slot as part of TV Tokyo's 40th anniversary celebrations.The broadcast time was over 12 hours for the entire episode.