Yae's Sakura

Yae's Sakura (八重の桜) is a 2013 Japanese historical drama television series and the 52nd NHK taiga drama. Written by Mutsumi Yamamoto, the drama focuses on Niijima Yae, who is portrayed by Haruka Ayase. Yae is a strong believer in women's rights and the story follows her journey in Japan, during the time it is opened up to Western ideas.

Yae, who came from the Aizu Domain (now within Fukushima Prefecture), was chosen for the taiga drama as her story of loss and hope was felt to be timely in the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The drama was nominated for the International Emmy Award for Best Drama Series, losing to Utopia.

Production

 * Kunishirō Hayashi - Sword fight arranger

Cast

 * Haruka Ayase as Niijima Yae
 * Rio Suzuki as childhood Yae


 * Her family
 * Hidetoshi Nishijima as Yamamoto Kakuma, Yae's brother
 * Hiroki Hasegawa as Kawasaki Shonosuke, Yae's first husband
 * Joe Odagiri as Joseph Hardy Neesima, Yae's second husband
 * Jun Fubuki as Yamamoto Saku, Yae's mother
 * Yutaka Matsushige as Yamamoto Gonpachi, Yae's father
 * Kyōko Hasegawa as Higuchi Ura, Kakuma's first wife
 * Mitsuki Tanimura as Yamamoto Tokie, Kakuma's second wife
 * Masahiro Toda as Tokuzō, manservant of the Yamamoto family


 * Aizu Domain
 * Gō Ayano as Matsudaira Katamori, 9th daimyō of the Aizu Domain
 * Toshiyuki Nishida as Saigō Tanomo, chief senior counselor of the Aizu clan
 * Izumi Inamori as Matsudaira Teru, adoptive sister of Katamori
 * Ayame Goriki as Hinata Yuki, childhood friend of Yae
 * Meisa Kuroki as Nakano Takeko, a female swordmaster for the Aizu Domain
 * Takumi Saito as Jinbo Shuri, chief retainer of the Aizu domain and son of Kuranosuke
 * Masane Tsukayama as Jinbo Kuranosuke, chief retainer of the Aizu domain
 * Tetsuji Tamayama as Yamakawa Hiroshi, major general of the Imperial Japanese Army and childhood friend of Yae
 * Mikako Ichikawa as Yamakawa Futaba
 * Ryo Katsuji as Yamakawa Kenjirō
 * Kumiko Akiyoshi as Yamakawa En
 * Kiko Mizuhara as Ōyama Sutematsu
 * Morio Kazama as Hayashi Yasusada
 * Hiroyuki Ikeuchi as Kajiwara Heima
 * Shido Nakamura as Sagawa Kanbei
 * Shingo Yanagisawa as Kayano Gonbei
 * Shihori Kanjiya as Fujita Tokio, childhood friend of Yae
 * Junko Miyashita as Takagi Sumie


 * Tokugawa shogunate
 * Kotaro Koizumi as Tokugawa Yoshinobu
 * Takaaki Enoki as Ii Naosuke


 * Shinsengumi
 * Yū Kamio as Kondō Isami
 * Jun Murakami as Hijikata Toshizō
 * Kenji "KJ" Furuya as Saitō Hajime
 * Tadashi Mizuno as Nagakura Shinpachi
 * Shinji Suzuki as Okita Sōji


 * Government of Meiji
 * Katsuhisa Namase as Katsu Kaishū
 * Mitsuhiro Oikawa as Kido Takayoshi
 * Kazuki Kosakai as Iwakura Tomomi
 * Satoshi Tokushige as Ōkubo Toshimichi
 * Masaya Kato as Itagaki Taisuke
 * Takashi Sorimachi as Ōyama Iwao
 * Eisuke Sasai as Sanjō Sanetomi
 * Toranosuke Katō as Itō Hirobumi
 * Manabu Ino as Yamagata Aritomo


 * Chōshū Domain
 * Shun Oguri as Yoshida Shōin
 * Takamasa Suga as Kusaka Genzui
 * Hitoshi Ozawa as Sera Shūzō


 * Satsuma Domain
 * Koji Kikkawa as Saigō Takamori
 * Yoichi Hayashi as Shimazu Nariakira


 * Others
 * Hiroaki Murakami as Matsudaira Yoshinaga
 * Eiji Okuda as Sakuma Shōzan
 * Goro Ibuki as Tokugawa Nariaki
 * Kyūsaku Shimada as Maki Yasuomi
 * Mitsuki Tanimura as Oda Tokie (Kakuma’s second wife)
 * Hiroki Matsukata as Ōgakiya Seihachi
 * Eric Bossick as Carl Wilhelm Heinrich Lehmann
 * Mayuko Kawakita as Tsuda Umeko
 * Ichikawa Somegorō VII as Emperor Kōmei
 * Kenji Masaki as Sakamoto Ryōma
 * Masahiro Takashima as Makimura Masanao

Production
On June 22, 2011, NHK announced that its 52nd taiga drama is titled Yae's Sakura and will be about the life of Niijima Yae, the "Jeanne d'Arc of Bakumatsu", with Mutsumi Yamamoto as writer and Katu Takō as director. The historical figure of Niijima was chosen for her story of loss and hope, along with her coming from the Aizu domain (now within the Fukushima Prefecture), to help inspire Japan after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which seriously affected Fukushima more than the other prefectures.

Music
Ryuichi Sakamoto was announced as the series' theme music composer on April 10, 2012. This is Sakamoto's first time composing music for a taiga drama.

Reception
In 2014, the series was nominated for the International Emmy Award for Best Drama Series.

Home media
The first 15 episodes of Yae's Sakura were released on Blu-ray on October 23, 2013. The next 16 episodes received a Blu-ray release on January 22, 2014, which includes two behind-the-scenes featurettes and the textless series intro among others. The last 19 episodes of the series were released on Blu-ray on March 19, 2014, with the release featuring cast interviews and a behind-the-scenes featurette among others. All of the Blu-ray releases are region free.

Soundtracks

 * NHK Taiga Drama "Yae no Sakura" Original Soundtrack I (January 30, 2013)
 * NHK Taiga Drama "Yae no Sakura" Original Soundtrack II (July 31, 2013)
 * NHK Taiga Drama "Yae no Sakura" Original Soundtrack III (November 13, 2013)
 * NHK Taiga Drama "Yae no Sakura" Original Soundtrack Complete Edition (January 1, 2014)