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 Maya 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 |
| Ending theme | Stand Alone by Sarah Brightman |
| Composers | Joe Hisaishi Yuzō Toyama (Theme Music Conductor) |
| Country of origin |  Japan |
| Original language | Japanese |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Yoshiki Nishimura |
| Producers | Yasuhiro Suga Koichi Fujisawa |
| Running time | approx. 90 min. |
| Original release | |
| Network | NHK |
| Release | November 29, 2009 – December 2011 |
Saka no Ue no Kumo (坂の上の雲) (lit. “Clouds Above The Slope”) 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 season two was shot in Latvia. The TV series is based on the novel of the same name by Ryōtarō Shiba and adapted 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
- Shōta Sometani as young 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
- 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
- Hidekazu Akai as Kantarō Suzuki
Army officials and their family
- Kōji Matoba as Gaishi Nagaoka
- 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
- Shinya Owada as Inoue Kaoru
- Toshiki Ayata as Katsura Tarō
- Kanta Ogata as Kaneko Kentarō
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
- Timofei Fyodorov as Nicholas II of Russia
- Norbert Gort as Jakob Meckel
- Tim Wellard as Prince George of Greece and Denmark
- Gennadi Vengerov as Yevgeni Ivanovich Alekseyev
Others
- Onoe Kikunosuke V as Emperor Meiji
Series overview
| Season | Originally aired | DVD release dates | Discs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 2009 | March 15, 2010 | 5 |
| Season 2 | 2010 | Spring, 2011 | 4 |
| Season 3 | 2011 | Spring, 2012 | 4 |
Season 1 : 1868 - 1900
| Season # | Episode # | Title | Directed by | Rating | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Shōnen no Kuni" (少年の国) | Takeshi Shibata | 17.7% | November 29, 2009 |
| 2 | 2 | "Seiun" (青雲) | Takeshi Shibata | 19.6% | December 6, 2009 |
| 3 | 3 | "Kokka Meidō" (国家鳴動) | Takeshi Shibata | 19.5% | December 13, 2009 |
| 4 | 4 | "Nisshin Kaisen" (日清開戦) | Takeshi Shibata | 17.8% | December 20, 2009 |
| 5 | 5 | "Ryūgaku Sei" (留学生) | Ryūji Isshiki | 12.9% | December 27, 2009 |
Season 2 : 1900 - 1904
| Season # | Episode # | Title | Directed by | Rating | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | "Nichiei Dōmei" (日英同盟) | Mikio Satō | 14.7% | December 5, 2010 |
| 2 | 7 | "Shiki, Yuku" (子規、逝く) | Mikio Satō | 15.0% | December 12, 2010 |
| 3 | 8 | "Nichiro Kaisen" (日露開戦) | Takafumi Kimura | 14.7% | December 19, 2010 |
| 4 | 9 | "Hirose, Shisu" (広瀬、死す) | Takafumi Kimura | 9.7% | December 26, 2010 |
Season 3 : Russo-Japanese War
| Season # | Episode # | Title | Directed by | Rating | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | "Ryojun Sō Kōgeki" (旅順総攻撃) | Taku Kato | 12.7% | December 2011 |
| 2 | 11 | "203 Kōchi" (二〇三高地) | Taku Kato | 11.0% | December 2011 |
| 3 | 12 | "Tekikan Miyu" (敵艦見ゆ) | Takafumi Kimura | 11.1% | December 2011 |
| 4 | 13 | "Nihon Kai Kaisen" (日本海海戦) | Taku Kato | 11.4% | December 2011 |
- Rating is based on Japanese video research(Kantō region).
Awards and nominations
The series was nominated in the 38th (2010) and 39th (2011) International Emmy Awards for ‘Best Drama‘.
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
| Year | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | International Emmy Award for Best Drama Series | Nominated |
| 2011 | Nominated |
