Naotora: The Lady Warlord

Naotora: The Lady Warlord (おんな城主 直虎) is a 2017 Japanese historical drama television series and the 56th NHK taiga drama. It is written by Yoshiko Morishita and stars Ko Shibasaki as Ii Naotora.

Plot
During the Sengoku period, the Ii family governs the Totomi region. Due to many past wars, there are no more male successors left to become a lord. Naotora Ii (Kou Shibasaki), the only daughter of the lord, now becomes a lord. She faces a difficult period. The constant love from her fiancé, whom she became engaged to at a young age, helps her to keep moving forward.

Ii clan

 * Ko Shibasaki as Ii Naotora
 * Miu Arai as Otowa (young Naotora)
 * Haruma Miura as Ii Naochika
 * Kanata Fujimoto as Kamenojō (young Naochika)
 * Masaki Suda as Ii Naomasa, the adopted son of Naotora
 * Kokoro Terada as Toramatsu (young Naomasa)
 * Tetta Sugimoto as Ii Naomori
 * Naomi Zaizen as Chika
 * Shihori Kanjiya as Shino
 * Gin Maeda as Ii Naohira
 * Mari Hanafusa as Sana
 * Takashi Ukaji as Ii Naomitsu
 * Aki Asakura as Takase, Naomasa's half-sister
 * Hikaru Takahashi as young Takase
 * Shunsuke Kariya as Niino Chikanori
 * Yasuko Mitsuura as Ayame
 * Aoi Yoshikura as Kikyō
 * Marin as Sakura
 * Tsuyoshi Muro as Seto Hōkyū, a financial advisor
 * Yuki Yamada as Ihara "Suke'emon" Tomomasa
 * Masayo Umezawa as Take and Ume
 * Ono family
 * Issey Takahashi as Ono Masatsugu, a.k.a. "Tajima no kami"
 * Kai Kobayashi as Tsurumaru (young Masatsugu)
 * Mitsuru Fukikoshi as Ono Masanao, the father of Masatsugu
 * Yoshio Inoue as Ono Genba
 * Sayaka Yamaguchi as Natsu
 * Kai Inowaki as Ono Manpuku
 * Taketo Arai as Ono Inosuke (young Manpuku)
 * Nakano family
 * Toshio Kakei as Nakano Naoyoshi
 * Yūma Yamoto as Nakano "Yukinoji" Naoyuki
 * Keisuke Tomita as Nakano Naohisa
 * Okuyama family
 * Denden as Okuyama Tomotoshi, Shino's father
 * Miou Tanaka as Okuyama "Rokuza" Rokuzaemon
 * Monks of Ryōtan-ji
 * Kaoru Kobayashi as Nankei Osho
 * Hayato Ichihara as Ketsuzan
 * Shigekazu Komatsu as Kōten
 * Peasants
 * Gaku Yamamoto as Jinbei
 * Takashi Yamanaka as Hachisuke
 * Kō Maehara as Kakutarō
 * Takehiro Kimoto (TKO) as Tomisuke
 * Takayuki Kinoshita (TKO) as Fukuzō

Imagawa clan

 * Shunpūtei Shōta as Imagawa Yoshimoto, the master of the Ii clan
 * Ruriko Asaoka as Jukeini, the mother of Yoshimoto
 * Onoe Matsuya II as Imagawa Ujizane, Yoshimoto's heir
 * Tsubasa Nakagawa as young Ujizane
 * Shirō Sano as Taigen Sessai
 * Kenichi Yajima as Sekiguchi Ujitsune
 * Aki Nishihara as Haru (Lady Hayakawa), the wife of Ujizane and a daughter of Hōjō Ujiyasu
 * Hidetoshi Hoshida as a fake Ieyasu
 * Kyūsaku Shimada as Ōsawa Mototane
 * Kazutoyo Yoshimi as Nakayasu Hyōbu
 * Kazuyuki Aijima as Yamamura Shuri
 * Asahi Yoshida as Asahina Yasukatsu
 * Iinoya Triumvirate
 * Daikichi Sugawara as Suzuki Shigetoki
 * Jun Hashimoto as Kondō Yasumochi
 * Masanobu Sakata as Suganuma Tadahisa

Tokugawa clan

 * Sadao Abe as Tokugawa Ieyasu
 * Nanao as Sena
 * Seira Niwa as young Sena
 * Kinari Hirano as Matsudaira Nobuyasu
 * Raiki Komino as Takechiyo (young Nobuyasu)
 * Komaki Kurihara as Odai no Kata, the mother of Ieyasu
 * Seiji Rokkaku as Honda Masanobu
 * Ozuno Nakamura as Ishikawa Kazumasa
 * Tetsu Watanabe as Ōkubo Tadayo
 * Moro Moro'oka as Hiraiwa Chikayoshi
 * Soran Tamoto as Kogorō (Sakai Ietsugu)
 * The Four Heavenly Kings of the Tokugawa
 * Minosuke as Sakai Tadatsugu
 * Masahiro Takashima as Honda Tadakatsu
 * Toshinori Omi as Sakakibara Yasumasa
 * Matsushita
 * Masato Wada as Matsushita Jōkei, a spy
 * Kanji Furutachi as Matsushita Gentarō

Oda clan

 * Ichikawa Ebizō XI as Oda Nobunaga
 * Ken Mitsuishi as Akechi Mitsuhide
 * Sora Uehara as Tokuhime
 * Ryōta Sakanishi as Sakuma Nobumori
 * Shōzō Uesugi as Mizuno Tadashige
 * Seiji Kinoshita as Hasegawa Hidekazu
 * Rei Tanaka as Jinen, Mitsuhide's son

Takeda clan

 * Ken Matsudaira as Takeda Shingen
 * Eita Okuno as Takeda Katsuyori
 * Oreno Graffiti as Takeda Yoshinobu
 * Mari Kishi as Suzu, the wife of Yoshinobu and a sister of Imagawa Ujizane
 * Ryūji Yamamoto as Yamagata Masakage
 * Yōji Tanaka as Anayama Nobutada

Later Hōjō clan

 * Shinobu Tsuruta as Hōjō Ujiyasu
 * Tōru Shinagawa as Hōjō Gen'an
 * Etsuo Yokobori as Ogasawara Yasuhiro

Ryūun-maru's Bandits

 * Yūya Yagira as Ryūun-maru
 * Kōta Noura as young Ryūun-maru
 * Makita Sports as Mogura
 * Togi Makabe as Rikiya
 * Kengo Yoshida as Kaji
 * Kōki Maeda as Gokū
 * Takashi Ashida as Kuwa

Merchants of Kiga

 * Hirotarō Honda as Nakamura Yodayū
 * Takashi Matsuo as Iseya
 * Ichirō Ogura as Kumanoya

Others

 * Takurō Tatsumi as Chaya Shirōjirō Kiyonobu
 * Misaki Momose as Akane
 * Dankan as Negi
 * Yu Inaba
 * G.G. Sato
 * Moemi Katayama
 * Hajime Okayama as Gohei
 * Mansaku Fuwa
 * Yusuke Kodama
 * Shōdai Fukuyama
 * Yoshiyuki Morishita
 * Shigemitsu Ogi
 * Wataru Murakami

Production
Production Credits
 * Music – Yoko Kanno
 * Title designer – Maaya Wakasugi
 * Historical research – Tetsuo Owada
 * Architectural research – Kiyoshi Hirai
 * Clothing research – Hiroaki Koizumi

Casting
Ko Shibasaki was announced to portray the lead role of the warlord Ii Naotora on August 25, 2015. The rest of the main cast was announced on May 26, 2016, which included Tetta Sugimoto, Naomi Zaizen, Gin Maeda, Kaoru Kobayashi, Haruma Miura, Issey Takahashi, and Yūya Yagira among others. The third cast announcement on July 12, 2016 included Shunpūtei Shōta, Once Matsuya II, Ruriko Asaoka, Sadao Abe, Nanao, Masaki Suda, and Hayato Ichihara among others.

Filming
The usual taiga drama production would first have one-third of the expected number of scripts finished before shooting begins. Afterwards, audience reception is taken into account as the rest of the series is written and shot. Filming began in September 2016.

Music
Yoko Kanno was announced as the series composer on November 16, 2016. By December 6, Paavo Järvi and Lang Lang were announced as the performers for the series' theme music.

Marketing
On November 16, 2016, the first visual poster for Naotora: The Lady Warlord was released. A trailer for the drama was later released in December 2016.

Kotobukiya released Naotora-themed chopsticks in January 2017 to coincide with the series' broadcast.

Soundtracks

 * NHK taiga drama Naotora: The Lady Warlord, 音楽虎の巻　イチトラ (Ongaku Tora no Maki: Ichitora) (January 11, 2017)
 * NHK taiga drama Naotora: The Lady Warlord, 音楽虎の巻　ニィトラ (Ongaku Tora no Maki: Niitora) (April 5, 2017)
 * NHK taiga drama Naotora: The Lady Warlord, 緊急特盤　鶴のうた (Kinkyū Tokuban: Tsuru no Uta) (August 23, 2017)
 * NHK taiga drama Naotora: The Lady Warlord, 音楽虎の巻　ベストラ (Ongaku Tora no Maki: Besutora) (December 20, 2017)