Ryōmaden

Ryōmaden (龍馬伝) 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 – Shishū
 * 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 Sakamoto Ryōma (坂本龍馬)
 * Tatsuomi Hamada as young Ryōma

Sakamoto family
 * Shinobu Terajima as Sakamoto Otome (坂本乙女) – older sister of Ryōma - later Okaue Otome (岡上乙女)
 * Tao Tsuchiya as young Otome
 * Kiyoshi Kodama as Sakamoto Hachihei (坂本八平) – father of Ryōma
 * Tetta Sugimoto as Sakamoto Gonpei (坂本権平) – oldest brother of Ryōma
 * Wakako Shimazaki as Sakamoto Chino (坂本千野) – Gonpei's wife
 * Atsuko Maeda as Sakamoto Harui (坂本春猪) – Gonpei's daughter
 * Tamaki Matsumoto as young Harui
 * Rei Ōtori as Sakamoto Chizu (坂本千鶴) – oldest sister of Ryōma – later Takamatsu Chizu (高松千鶴)
 * Chieko Matsubara as Sakamoto Iyo (坂本伊與) – stepmother of Ryōma
 * Tamiyo Kusakari as Sakamoto Kō (坂本幸) – mother of Ryōma
 * Yōko Maki as Narasaki Ryō (aka Oryō) (楢崎龍) – Ryōma's wife

Iwasaki family
 * Teruyuki Kagawa as Iwasaki Yatarō (岩崎弥太郎) – the founder of Mitsubishi, born in Tosa
 * Keizō Kanie as Iwasaki Yajirō (岩崎弥次郎) – Yatarō's father
 * Mitsuko Baisho as Iwasaki Miwa (岩崎美和) – Yatarō's mother
 * Maiko as Iwasaki Kise (岩崎喜勢) – Yatarō's wife

Tosa clan
 * Masaomi Kondō as Yamauchi Yōdō (山内容堂) - the 15th head of the Tosa Domain
 * Munetaka Aoki as Gotō Shōjirō (後藤象二郎) – nephew of Yoshida Tōyō
 * Min Tanaka as Yoshida Tōyō (吉田東洋)
 * Nao Ōmori as Takechi Hanpeita (武市半平太) – leader of the
 * Ryōko Hirosue as Hirai Kao (平井加尾) – first crush of Ryōma
 * Hiroyuki Miyasako as Hirai Shūjirō (平井収二郎) – older brother of Kao
 * Takeru Satoh as Okada Izō (岡田以蔵) – assassin of the Bakumatsu period
 * Takaya Kamikawa as Nakaoka Shintarō (中岡慎太郎) – brethren of Ryōma, born in Tosa Domain
 * Pierre Taki as Mizobuchi Hironojō (溝渕広之丞)

Chōshū clan
 * Katsuhisa Namase as Yoshida Shōin (吉田松陰) – master of Katsura Kogorō
 * Shōsuke Tanihara as Katsura Kogorō (桂小五郎) – disciple of Yoshida Shōin
 * Yūsuke Iseya as Takasugi Shinsaku (高杉晋作)
 * Toshio Kakei as Miyoshi Shinzō (三吉慎蔵)
 * Kyōsuke Yabe as Kusaka Genzui (久坂玄瑞)
 * Hiroyuki Onoue as Itō Shunsuke (伊藤俊輔)

Satsuma clan
 * Katsumi Takahashi as Saigō Kichinosuke (西郷吉之助)
 * Mitsuhiro Oikawa as Ōkubo Toshimichi (大久保利通)
 * Kenichi Takitō as Komatsu Tatewaki (小松帯刀)

Chiba Dojo
 * Shihori Kanjiya as Chiba Sana (千葉佐那) – daughter of Chiba Sadakichi
 * Kōtarō Satomi as Chiba Sadakichi (千葉定吉) – management of sword school Chiba Dōjō
 * Ikkei Watanabe as Chiba Jūtarō (千葉重太郎) – older brother of Chiba Sanako


 * Tokugawa Bakufu
 * Tetsushi Tanaka as Tokugawa Yoshinobu (徳川慶喜) – the 15th and last shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate
 * Nakamura Hayato as Tokugawa Iemochi (徳川家茂) – the 14th shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate
 * Tetsuya Takeda as Katsu Rintarō (勝麟太郎) – a Japanese naval officer and statesman
 * Tortoise Matsumoto as John Manjirō (ジョン万次郎) – one of the first Japanese people to visit the United States
 * Tomoharu Hasegawa as Matsudaira Katamori

Shinsengumi
 * Taizō Harada as Kondō Isami (近藤勇) – the commander of the Shinsengumi
 * Satoshi Matsuda as Hijikata Toshizō (土方歳三) – the vice-commander of Shinsengumi
 * Rakuto Tochihara as Okita Sōji (沖田総司) – the captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi

Kyoto Mimawarigumi
 * Ichikawa Kamejirō II as Imai Nobuo (今井信郎)
 * Tatsuya Nakamura as Sasaki Tadasaburō (佐々木只三郎)
 * SION as Watanabe Atsushi (渡辺篤)

Kaientai
 * Yō Ōizumi as Kondō Chōjirō (近藤長次郎) – son of a bun store owner in Kōchi
 * Jun Kaname as Sawamura Sōnojō (沢村惣之丞)
 * Yūta Hiraoka as Mutsu Munemitsu (陸奥陽之助) – a statesman and diplomat in Meiji period, born in Wakayama domain
 * Kenta Kiritani as Ike Kurata (池内蔵太)
 * Daijirō Kawaoka as Takamatsu Tarō (高松太郎) – Ryōma's adopted child
 * Atsushi Korechika as Chiya Toranosuke (千屋寅之助)

People in Nagasaki
 * Yū Aoi as Moto (元) – geisha girl of restaurant in Maruyama
 * Hirotarō Honda as Kozone Kendō (小曽根乾堂) – business tycoon in Nagasaki
 * Kimiko Yo as Ōura Kei (大浦慶) – business tycoon
 * Terry Itō as Ueno Hikoma (上野彦馬) – 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)

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 ISBN 978-4-14-923353-6 (December 8, 2009)
 * NHK Taiga Drama Story Ryōmaden Latter Part ISBN 978-4-14-923354-3 (June 30, 2010)
 * NHK Taiga Drama Story Ryōmaden Last Part ISBN 978-4-14-923355-0 (October 22, 2010)
 * NHK Taiga Drama, Historical Handbook, Ryōmaden ISBN 978-4-14-910730-1 (November 19, 2009)

Novel
 * Ryōmaden I SEASON1 RYOMA THE DREAMER ISBN 978-4-14-005572-4 (November 28, 2009)
 * Ryōmaden II SEASON2 RYOMA THE ADVENTURER ISBN 978-4-14-005573-1 (March 25, 2010)
 * Ryōmaden III SEASON3 RYOMA THE NAVIGATOR ISBN 978-4-14-005574-8 (July 17, 2010)
 * Ryōmaden IV SEASON4 RYOMA THE HOPE ISBN 978-4-14-005575-5 (October 9, 2010)

Photo album
 * Masaharu Fukuyama - Sakamoto Ryōma Photo Album ISBN 978-4-06-216230-2 (July 1, 2010)
 * Oryō - Yōko Maki Photo Album ISBN 978-4-14-081435-2 (September 22, 2010)
 * 2010 Years, the Journey with Masaharu Fukuyama and Ryōma Sakamoto ISBN 978-4-06-216734-5 (December 9, 2010)

Comics and other
 * Ryōmaden, Comic Version, First Volume ISBN 978-4-7767-2881-8 (January 25, 2010)
 * Ryōmaden, Comic Version, Second Volume ISBN 978-4-7767-2919-8 (April 19, 2010)
 * Ryōma Design. ISBN 978-4-344-01906-5 (November 2010)

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 ja:橋田賞 - 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