Ryōmaden

is the 49th NHK Taiga drama. It was shown on NHK from January 3 to November 28, 2010, spanning 48 episodes. The story centers on the life of 19th-century Japanese historical figures Iwasaki Yatarō and Sakamoto Ryōma. It has been announced that the series will be aired in several other countries, for example Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

Production

Production Credits

• Original – Yasushi Fukuda
• Music – Naoki Satō
• Titling – ShishÅ«
• Narrator – Teruyuki Kagawa
• Historical research – Manabu Ōishi, Tatsuya Yamamura
• Architectural research – Sei Hirai
• Clothing research – Kiyoko Koizumi
• Beauty and costume direction – Isao Tsuge
• Sword fight arranger - Kunishirō Hayashi
• Production coordinator – Kei Suzuki, Kanako Iwatani
• Casting – Keishi Ōtomo

Cast

• Masaharu Fukuyama as
• Tatsuomi Hamada as young Ryōma

Sakamoto family

• Shinobu Terajima as – older sister of Ryōma - later
• Tao Tsuchiya as young Otome
• Kiyoshi Kodama as – father of Ryōma
• Tetta Sugimoto as – oldest brother of Ryōma
• Wakako Shimazaki as – Gonpei's wife
• Atsuko Maeda as – Gonpei's daughter
• Tamaki Matsumoto as young Harui
• Rei Ōtori as – oldest sister of Ryōma – later
• Chieko Matsubara as – stepmother of Ryōma
• Tamiyo Kusakari as – mother of Ryōma
• Yōko Maki as – Ryōma's wife

Iwasaki family

• Teruyuki Kagawa as – the founder of Mitsubishi, born in Tosa
• Keizō Kanie as – Yatarō's father
• Mitsuko Baisho as – Yatarō's mother
• Maiko as – Yatarō's wife

Tosa clan

• Masaomi Kondō as - the 15th head of the Tosa Domain
• Munetaka Aoki as – nephew of Yoshida Tōyō
• Min Tanaka as
• Nao Ōmori as – leader of the
• Ryōko Hirosue as – first crush of Ryōma
• Hiroyuki Miyasako as – older brother of Kao
• Takeru Satoh as – assassin of the Bakumatsu period
• Takaya Kamikawa as – brethren of Ryōma, born in Tosa Domain
• Pierre Taki as

Chōshū clan

• Katsuhisa Namase as – master of Katsura Kogorō
• Shōsuke Tanihara as – disciple of Yoshida Shōin
• YÅ«suke Iseya as
• Toshio Kakei as
• Kyōsuke Yabe as
• Hiroyuki Onoue as

Satsuma clan

• Katsumi Takahashi as
• Mitsuhiro Oikawa as
• Kenichi Takitō as

Chiba Dojo

• Shihori Kanjiya as – daughter of Chiba Sadakichi
• Kōtarō Satomi as – management of sword school Chiba Dōjō
• Ikkei Watanabe as – older brother of Chiba Sanako

Tokugawa Bakufu

• Tetsushi Tanaka as – the 15th and last shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate
• Nakamura Hayato as – the 14th shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate
• Tetsuya Takeda as – a Japanese naval officer and statesman
• Tortoise Matsumoto as – one of the first Japanese people to visit the United States
• Tomoharu Hasegawa as Matsudaira Katamori

Shinsengumi

• Taizō Harada as – the commander of the Shinsengumi
• Satoshi Matsuda as – the vice-commander of Shinsengumi
• Rakuto Tochihara as – the captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi

Kyoto Mimawarigumi

• Ichikawa Kamejirō II as
• Tatsuya Nakamura as
• SION as

Kaientai

• Yō Ōizumi as – son of a bun store owner in Kōchi
• Jun Kaname as
• YÅ«ta Hiraoka as – a statesman and diplomat in Meiji period, born in Wakayama domain
• Kenta Kiritani as
• Daijirō Kawaoka as – Ryōma's adopted child
• Atsushi Korechika as

People in Nagasaki

• YÅ« Aoi as – geisha girl of restaurant in Maruyama
• Hirotarō Honda as – business tycoon in Nagasaki
• Kimiko Yo as – business tycoon
• Terry Itō as – photographer

Foreigners

• Timothy Harris as Matthew C. Perry – the Commodore of the U.S. Navy
• Randy Buinz as Townsend Harris – a successful New York City merchant and minor politician
• Tim Wellard as Thomas Blake Glover – trading merchant in Nagasaki, born in Scotland
• Jeffrey Rowe as William Alt
• Patrick Harlan as Ernest Satow
• Daniel Foley as Rutherford Alcock
• Péter Frankl as Léon Roches
• Dennis Zomerhuis as Anton L. C. Portman

Season overview

The box set is available in a general DVD version, and a Blu-ray Disc version.

The 1st episode and last episodes are 75 minutes long. The others are 45 minutes long, excepting commercials.

Highlight

• Navigator: Munetaka Aoki (Season 1, 2), Teruyuki Kagawa (Season 3, 4)

International

Soundtrack and books

Soundtrack

• NHK Taiga Drama Ryōmaden Original Soundtrack Vol.1 (January 27, 2010)
• NHK Taiga Drama Ryōmaden Original Soundtrack Vol.2 (May 26, 2010)
• NHK Taiga Drama Ryōmaden Original Soundtrack Vol.3 (September 8, 2010)

Books

Official guide

• NHK Taiga Drama Story Ryōmaden First Part (December 8, 2009)
• NHK Taiga Drama Story Ryōmaden Latter Part (June 30, 2010)
• NHK Taiga Drama Story Ryōmaden Last Part (October 22, 2010)
• NHK Taiga Drama, Historical Handbook, Ryōmaden (November 19, 2009)

Novel

• Ryōmaden I SEASON1 RYOMA THE DREAMER (November 28, 2009)
• Ryōmaden II SEASON2 RYOMA THE ADVENTURER (March 25, 2010)
• Ryōmaden III SEASON3 RYOMA THE NAVIGATOR (July 17, 2010)
• Ryōmaden IV SEASON4 RYOMA THE HOPE (October 9, 2010)

Photo album

• Masaharu Fukuyama - Sakamoto Ryōma Photo Album (July 1, 2010)
• Oryō - Yōko Maki Photo Album (September 22, 2010)
• 2010 Years, the Journey with Masaharu Fukuyama and Ryōma Sakamoto (December 9, 2010)

Comics and other

• Ryōmaden, Comic Version, First Volume (January 25, 2010)
• Ryōmaden, Comic Version, Second Volume (April 19, 2010)
• Ryōma Design. (November 2010)

Reception

Impact

Ryōmaden made a huge impact in Japan. Kōchi, Sakamoto Ryoma's birthplace reported an increase in tourism when the drama started airing. The Bank of Japan (Koichi Branch) initially estimated the economic benefit to be around 23.4 billion yen. However, they have revised the estimation to 40.9 billion yen in April 2010, due to an increase in tourism because of 'Ryoma Fever.' The final estimation is around 52.5 billion yen, 2.3 times the value from the initial estimation. The Nagasaki Branch also estimated around 21 billion yen of economic benefit to Nagasaki, the place where Ryoma was in the Kaientai business. Copies of the necklace Ryoma wore are selling well, and it is the number one selling item in the NHK gift shop.

Accolades

• 2010 Teamwork of the Year Award
• Hashida Sugako Awards - Fukuyama Masaharu in Ryomaden
• Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Award for Domestic Tourism- Fukuyama Masaharu
• TV Navi Awards for Best Principal Male Actor 2010 – Fukuyama Masaharu
• 4th Int'l Drama Festival, Tokyo Drama Award: Best Drama (Series Drama)
• 4th Int'l Drama Festival, Tokyo Drama Award: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role – Kagawa Teruyuki
• 4th Int'l Drama Festival, Tokyo Drama Award: Special Award – Filming staff of "Ryomaden"
• 2011 Elan d'Or Awards: Best Series (TV Guide Award)
• 2011 Elan d'Or Awards: Best Producer (TV) – Suzuki Kei
• 2011 Elan d'Or Awards: Newcomers of the Year – Kiritani Kenta & Sato Takeru
• 2011 Elan d'Or Awards: Special Prize – Terajima Shinobu
• 2011 Galaxy Awards: Special Award for Contribution to Art (Television category) Individual Award – Fukuyama Masaharu

References

External links

• 2010 NHK Taiga drama exhibitions "Ryōmaden"
• Edo-Tokyo Museum 2010 NHK Taiga drama exhibitions "Ryōmaden"
• The Museum of Kyoto 2010 NHK Taiga drama exhibitions "Ryōmaden"
• Kōchi Prefectural Museum of History 2010 NHK Taiga drama exhibitions "Ryōmaden"
• Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture 2010 NHK Taiga drama exhibitions "Ryōmaden"
• VL Japan Channel website

< Tenchijin | Taiga drama | Gō >