for those who hv interest in jap historical drama.... nhk's new taiga dorama will start on 6-jan 8pm tokyo time on nhk premium channel...
( available on singapore scv ch 43 on 7pm sunday nites )

title : toshiie to matsu
short background : about japanese sengoku jidai ( warring states period, 1500s-1600s ) major player maeda toshiie and his wife matsu

cast :
karasawa toshiaki - toshiie ( yamaguichi tomoko's real life husband, tokyo cinderalla story... )
matsushima nanako - matsu ( need any intros ? )
sorimachi takashi - oda nobunaga
sakai noriko - o-ne ( as toyotomi hideyoshi's 1st wife )
amami yuki - haru ( ex-takaratsuka super star )
takenouchi yutaka - sawako yoshiyuki
miura tomokazu - maeda toshihisa ( yamaguchi momoe's real life hubby )
oikawa mitsuhiro ( ice world, matsushima's kareshi )
matoba kouji ( beautiful life, tokiwa's social worker friend )
tanaka misato ( with luv, takenouchi's internet kanojou )

or check out http://www.nhk.or.jp/taiga/

otanoshimi ni !

Usoooo!!!!!O_O Sooo many stars in a Taiga drama!! I want to see, I want to see!!!! Can't wait! Do you know how many episodes there are??

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Sunday nights at 7.00 pm will defintely see . With Nanako Matsushima , Noriko Sakai , Takashi Sorimachi and Yutaka Takenouchi a not to be miss drama . However if only NHK can provide English subtitles for this

akemashite omedetou !

a word of caution though.... unless u hv real interest in jap history..... taiga dorama will bore u to death !! .... u won't get to hear those catchy conversations found in trendy doramas.... all the pple speaks old nihon-go...which is seldom used nowadaze... and the plot moves slowly.... and no english or chinese subtitles nor any 2nd sound channel... zannen kana...

but if u would like to catch a glimpse of how your favourite stars look like in ancient costumes, then it's okay... i think not many pple in this forum will follow thru after the 1st few episodes.... ( heehee...warau )

juz some additional background info for those who hv interest.... nhk produced one taiga dorama every year... it's a big cast, big budget dorama focusing on japanese history...

it starts in early jan and usually ends in december...and then followed by one or two special episodes (tokubetsu hen) juz b4 the year ends... one episode per sunday nite....
they usually assemble a huge cast of pple from traditional kabuki theater, kyogen theater, big names in japanese entertainment scene, and of course some of the popular trendy dorama idols as well... the key actors or actresses will usually be selected to be part of the judging panel for the new year's eve red & white song festival.. toshiaki and amami juz appeared in monday nite's red & white show...

last year's taiga dorama was "houjou tokimune", name of the "jiken" who was ruling ancient japan during the mongol invasions during the 1270s-1280s ... some of the popular trendy dorama faces were : nishida hikaru, tomosaka rie, kimura yoshino ...

omoshirokunai ka ... nette ta ? ( warau ) jya mata....

I watched it!!^^ Toshiie to Matsu, episode 1!!^_^ Really intrigued me from the first sight! The beautiful sceneries and the beautiful music!!!
Not to mention, famous, really well-known casts! Too bad, my nihongo skill is very low, so I didn't quite catch 80% of the story >_< I'll give you a summary of that 20% of the story(episode 1) I know^^

In 1550, (seems like) 17-20 yrs old Toshiie[Karasawa Toshiaki] met Oda Nobunaga[Sorimachi Takashi] for the first time. Everyone really respect Nobunaga-sama, as I assume he's a historic leader of Japan, he's very strict and bad-tempered, too. I think Toshiie's ambition is to be one of Nobunaga's soldier. He really admires Nobunaga.
Meanwhile, Toshiie also met a 10-11 yrs old Matsu, and remotely make friends with her. Matsu play with Toshiie together pretty often. After begging Nobunaga-sama, with the help of Toshiie's friend(not sure, friend or brother?), Sawako Yoshiyuki(Takenouchi Yutaka), which is also one of Nobunaga's soldier, Nobunaga accept Toshiie as his soldier now.
Sitting on a branch tree, Toshiie tells little Matsu, that from now on he will always be on Nobunaga-sama's side and have to be apart from her. He gives her a souvenir(a bottle with little rocks inside?), and Matsu tells him she will wait for him to come back.


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...continued(I guess my earlier post exceeded limits^^)

Six yrs later(1556), Nobunaga send Toshiie to a town to do a task(not sure what it is >_< gomen..). When the gate to the town opens, a girl is standing there, as if she's welcoming him. Some guards below and above are about to attack Toshiie, but the girl commands them to stop and let Toshiie in. Toshiie ask her who she is. The girl just smile, without answering, then Toshiie walks in. Apparently, it's 16-17 yrs old Matsu(Matsushima Nanako).
Toshiie meets his old relatives there(I think one of them is Matsu's father), and Toshiie is pretty surprised when he know the beautiful girl is Matsu. He sees the souvenir he gives her is still being taken care of. Turns out, Toshiie can't stay there long, he even didn't have the chance to talk to Matsu again. When he's about to leave, Matsu yells, "SAYONARAAA, TOSHIIE-SAMA!!!", from afar.
One year later(1557), Matsu followed Toshiie to the place where Nobunaga's soldiers are being trained. She arrived there and watches Toshiie practicing archery. Two women also watches him, a young one, One(Sakai Noriko) and an older one. From the way One looks at Toshiie, seems she admire Toshiie very much and like him ^_~ After he shoot, One offers him help, but Toshiie, without answering, walks off. A little upset, One tries the bow and arrow herself with the old lady's instruction. A little curious, Matsu like to try the bow, too. Seeing Matsu standing beside her holding the bow, One ask her who she is. Just then, Toshiie comes back and very surprised to see Matsu there.
Toshiie and Matsu have a talk, Matsu tells Toshiie about her past(flashback on the day little Matsu leave home accompanied by her nanny), and then talk about something else, too. I'm really sorry, but I don't understand what they're talking about >_<
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...continued

I think something about engagement(I heard the word 'konyaku' ^_~). Matsu beg him to accept 'something' and Toshiie accepts it. Matsu is overjoyed by this! ...to be continued...

Karasawa Toshiaki is, like always, very good!^^ He played young Toshiie perfectly, with that cheerful and funny attitudes, really cracks me everytime this old guy(not sure who he is, otou-san, maybe?) hit his head.

I've seen Sorimachi Takashi's wonderful performance in GTO, with full of charisma. Now he impressed me again with his charismatic performance as Oda Nobunaga with this authoritative bearing, the historic person from Japan, which most ppl respect and scared of.

Matsushima Nanako is kawaii as ever. As a (supposibly) 17-18 yrs old girl, she really portrayed Matsu perfectly.

As a big fan of Takenouchi Yutaka, I have to say...he's very KAKKOOOOII here!!^______^ Too bad, he only got to showed up on two scenes, don't even know what his character like yet >_<

Sakai Noriko is also cute, I think she played a cheerful girl here, and not the quiet/sweet kind ^_~

I'm really looking forward to watch the rest of the show! This could be the best NHK Taiga dorama ever!!! =P

Can anyone, who already watched the dorama too, explain some parts of the story that I can't explain there? Like, what really happen to Matsu's family and what did Matsu ask Toshiie?
Who is Takenouchi Yutaka's character? What's his relationship with Toshiie?
Who is O-ne, actually?

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Toshiie's last name is Maeda, he's the founder of the famous Maeda clan from the Japanese West Coast. So Yoshiyuki Sawaki would be his friend.

Disregard the last statement on Sawaki. I found some rather useful links which will help understand the drama better. All are in English.

Drama Description, with emphasis on Sawaki (because he's played by Yutaka):
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Shrine/5335/TAIGA/taiga.html

Toshiie & Matsu Bio: http://shofu.pref.ishikawa.jp/inpaku/toshiie/eng/history.html

Toshiie's Own Career:
http://shofu.pref.ishikawa.jp/inpaku/toshiie/eng/history2.html

thank you yanie for so much information! just look at all the folks in this one! i'm so surprised. i'm just wondering if karasawa-san can fulfill his part opposite such a good actress as nanako-san? he certainly looks less worn out.

this drama's been riding at the top of the ratings since it aired, and the ratings were even higher for the second episode, so wow, is there really a gem here?

thanks UWFShooter, for all the links. very useful.

May I know who is Yamaguichi Tomoko and Yamaguchi Momoe ? Can the VCD for this Dorama be found anywhere ?

Is it Yamaguchi or Yamagu'i'chi Tomoko? If it's Yamaguchi Tomoko, than she starred in the famous drama "Long Vacation" with Takuya Kimura. Her character's name was Minami. If it's Yamaguichi Tomoko, then I don't know who she is.

anyone has updates on this drama ? heard that takenouchi yutaka looks gorgeous in this show.

Hey!

Thanks for the great introduction to taiga dramas. I was interested to know more about this. I saw the book (the novel and also the introduction book) at Kinokuniya SG. The casts look good in period clothes esp. the actresses. The actors are a little too modern looking and I am just not used in seeing them in period clothes. I think Mitsuhiro Oikawa looks nice in period clothes with red eye shadow under his eyes.

I like Mitsuhiro Oikawa, but I can't really understand the description of his character in the book. I think it's like his mother remarried into another family and he is the successor of that family. He is well-versed in poetry and arts??? I may have got this wrong. Please correct me on this. I would like to know more about his character in the show. Thanks.

If I am not wrong, this drama is about 43 episodes, aired once a week??? I don't think it would be on VCDs cos I have not seen any other Taiga dramas VCDs in stores.

I think all ancient series are supposed to be artistic and reflects history, so it may seem uninteresting esp. to foreigners.

Gin

This samurai dorama has Yutaka Takenouchi, Nanako Matsushima, Sorimachi Takeshi etc etc in it... is it for sale yet? And does anyone know more about this dorama series? I only know that it's a long samurai series with lots of stars in it..

I don't think it would be out on VCDs since the previous taiga doremas are not in vcds. Please post a message here if you know this series is out n VCDs.

I do have much information about the series. Toshiie and Matsu are actually husband and wife. Takashi Sorimachi acts are some historical character and would die in the show. There is also Mitsuhiro Oikawa in the show (and which is basically why I have shown so much interest in this show). His mother brought him to Maeda family when he was young. Well versed in arts and Kabuki and left the house due to unfair treatment from the family.

Gin

wondering who is still following this dorama ?

takenouchi's character ( he really looks gorgeous in this drama ) died a few weeks ago in battle.

sorimachi's character will be committing ritual suicide soon (seppuku, literally cutting own stomach by ownself and subordinate chopping off the head while still in agony pain )in the next few weeks, to avoid capture by his rebelling subordinate akechi mitsuhide.

quite interesting to see matsushima in scenes with guys like sorimachi (lord master here in this series, real hubby and lover in GTO), takenouchi (brother-in-law here, lover in ice world), oikawa (adopted nephew here, lover in ice world)

Hi!

I don't have a chance to watch this show. I would like to watch it very much as I would like to see Mitsuhiro Oikawa in action (esp. in ancient series.)

Do you mind telling me more about Oikawa's characters, Maeda keiichiro? e.g. Is that a historical character? Honourable or you know, not so honourable? How's his performance in your opinion?

Thanks.

Gin

Sato Aiko and Seto Asaka just showed up in last week's episode in the series as concubines of Hashiba Hideyoshi.

Ito Hideaki is also in the show as Toshiie's eldest son and heir apparent.

Sato Aiko and Seto Asaka in a taiga drama?....it seems kind of weird don't you think? Anyway, here in San Francisco, CA(USA) we aren't at that episode yet. Jeez...I don't mean to poke fun at her but man, her big ears don't seem to fit in a period type drama such as this (no pun intended)...but I'll just have to wait and see. Seto Asaka might fit in better though.