Every January, a new taiga series debuts on public broadcaster NHK, unfolding over the year. It¡¯s a Sunday night ritual for many that has been going on for more than six decades.
The taiga ¡ª literally meaning ¡°big river¡± ¡ª franchise dramatizes the lives of real-life historical figures, portrayed by top-tier actors, often amid periods of turmoil involving bloodshed and high-stakes political maneuvering.
Last year¡¯s taiga drama was a notable outlier. Rather than focusing on a warlord or a samurai, ¡°Unbound¡± broke with convention by moving the action to the late 18th century, a relatively peaceful time in Japan¡¯s history. The plot centered on Tsutaya Juzaburo (played by ¡°Kokuho¡± star Ryusei Yokohama), a commoner raised in the notorious Yoshiwara red-light district of Edo (feudal-era Tokyo). Also known as ¡°Tsutaju,¡± he became a publisher who championed ukiyo-e woodblock print artists such as Utamaro, Hokusai and Sharaku, helping to lay the foundations of Japan¡¯s modern media and pop culture.
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