Saka no Ue no Kumo (TV series)

Saka no Ue no Kumo
Titling by Ryōtarō Shiba
Written by	Hisashi Nozawa Takeshi Shibata Mikio Satō
Directed by	Takeshi Shibata Mikio Satō Taku Katō
Starring	Masahiro Motoki Hiroshi Abe Teruyuki Kagawa Miho Kanno Satomi Ishihara Takako Matsu Mieko Harada Yukiyoshi Ozawa Takahiro Fujimoto Kōji Matoba Masaya Kato Shinya Owada Onoe Kikunosuke V Tsurutaro Kataoka Shirō Sano Takaaki Enoki Akira Takarada Jun Kunimura Ren Osugi Masao Kusakari Kyōko Mano Masakane Yonekura Akira Emoto Hiroshi Tachi Keiko Takeshita Naoto Takenaka Tōru Emori Shirō Itō Kōji Ishizaka Toshiyuki Nishida Go Kato Hideki Takahashi Tetsuya Watari
Narrated by	Ken Watanabe
Theme music composer	Yuzō Toyama
Ending theme	Stand Alone by Sarah Brightman
Composer(s)	Joe Hisaishi
Country of origin	Japan
Original language(s)	Japanese
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producer(s)	Yoshiki Nishimura
Producer(s)	Yasuhiro Suga Koichi Fujisawa
Running time	approx. 90 min.
Release
Original network	NHK
Picture format	NTSC 480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Audio format	Dolby Digital with 5.1 channels (BS-hi) Two-channel stereo (sub channel: Note channel, General TV, BS-2)
Original release	November 29, 2009 – December 2011

Saka no Ue no Kumo (坂の上の雲) is an NHK 21st Century special drama which was aired over three years starting from November 29, 2009. The series runs 13 episodes at 90 minutes each. The first series, with 5 episodes, was broadcast in 2009, while series two and three, each with 4 episodes, were broadcast in late 2010 and 2011. While most episodes were shot in Japan, one of the episodes in series two was shot in Latvia. The TV series is based on the novel Saka no ue no kumo by Ryōtarō Shiba and adopted by Hisashi Nozawa.^[1]

The theme song of the drama series is titled "Stand Alone". It was composed by Joe Hisaishi, written by Kundō Koyama and performed by British soprano singer Sarah Brightman.

Staff

• Original: Ryōtarō Shiba
• Script: Hisashi Nozawa
• Music: Joe Hisaishi
• Titling: Ryōtarō Shiba
• Historical research: Yasushi Toriumi
• Narrator: Ken Watanabe
• Production coordinator: Yasuhiro Kan
• Casting: Mineyo Satō

Cast

Akiyama family

• Masahiro Motoki as Akiyama Saneyuki
• Hiroshi Abe as Akiyama Yoshifuru
• Shirō Itō as Akiyama Hisataka
• Keiko Takeshita as Akiyama Sada
• Takako Matsu as Akiyama Tami

Masaoka family

• Teruyuki Kagawa as Masaoka Shiki
• Miho Kanno as Masaoka Ritsu
• Mieko Harada as Masaoka Yae
• Ichiro Shinjitsu as Ōhara Kanzan
• Yūto Uemura as Katō Tsunetada

Navy officials and their family

• Takahiro Fujimoto as Takeo　Hirose
• Tsurutarō Kataoka as Yashiro Rokurō
• Tetsuya Watari as Tōgō Heihachirō
• Kōji Ishizaka as Yamamoto Gonbei
• Masao Kusakari as Katō Tomosaburō
• Hiroshi Tachi as Shimamura Hayao
• Masaya Kato as Arima Ryokitsu
• Akira Nakao as Hidaka Sōnojō
• Kisuke Iida as Takarabe Takeshi

Army officials and their family

• Kōji Matoba as Nagaoka Gaishi
• Hideki Takahashi as Kodama Gentarō
• Tōru Emori as Yamagata Aritomo
• Masakane Yonekura as Ōyama Iwao
• Akira Emoto as Nogi Maresuke
• Kyōko Maya as Nogi Shizuko
• Shinya Tsukamoto as Akashi Motojiro
• Jun Kunimura as Kawakami Soroku
• Takehiro Murata as Ijichi Kōsuke
• Takaaki Enoki as Mori Rintarō
• Daijirō Tsutsumi as Iguchi Shōgo
• Atsushi Miyauchi as Fujii Shigeta

Politicians and their family

• Gō Katō as Itō Hirobumi
• Toshiyuki Nishida as Takahashi Korekiyo
• Naoto Takenaka as Komura Jutarō
• Ren Ōsugi as Mutsu Munemitsu
• Shin'ya Ōwada as Inoue Kaoru
• Toshiki Ayata as Katsura Tarō

Ordinary people

• Shirō Sano as Kuga Katsunan
• Kenzō as Kojima Ichinen
• Yukiyoshi Ozawa as Natsume Sōseki

Foreigners

• Julian Glover as Alfred Thayer Mahan
• Marina Aleksandrova as Ariadna

Series overview

Season 1 : 1868 - 1900

Season 2 : 1900 - 1904

Season 3 : Russo-Japanese War

• Rating is based on Japanese video research(Kantō region).

Awards and nominations

Saka no Ue no Kumo” (“Cloud Above the Slope”) series were nominated for 38th(2010) and 39th(2011) International Emmy Awards for ‘Best Drama‘ in two consecutive years.

Soundtrack and books

Soundtrack

• Saka no ue no kumo Original Soundtrack (December 18, 2009) EMI Music Japan

Books

• NHK Special Drama, Historical handbook, Saka no ue no kumo(October 30, 2009) ISBN 978-4-14-910729-5
• NHK Special Drama guide, Saka no ue no kumo Part1(October 30, 2009) ISBN 978-4-14-407160-7
• NHK Special Drama guide, Saka no ue no kumo Part2(October 25, 2010) ISBN 978-4-14-407173-7

Accolades

External links

• NHK website
• Saka no Ue no Kumo at the Internet Movie Database

References