Otose

Zatoichi monogatari

January 2025 •English

Blind masseur Zatôichi travels from town to town gambling, drinking, and fighting off the local gangs.

Unified Shadows

January 2025 •Japanese

During the Tenpo period, the three samurai under the command of the Nanba magistrate were responsible for handling exceptional cases. However, their true identities as shadow assassins were hidden because they were secretly sent to eliminate villains who had escaped punishment by the law.

Kurama Tengu

January 2025 •Japanese

A story about a masked samurai who takes sides with the good and wipes out the evil. In the late Edo period in Kyoto, samurai are killing each other because of the differences of their beliefs in the Tokugawa shogunate, and commoners are struck with terror. Kurama Tengu, a masked samurai, appears on the scene and helps innocent people from trouble.

Kumokiri Nizaemon

January 2025 •Japanese

During the Kyoho period in the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune, there is a gang of thieves active not just in Edo but also the Tokaido and the Nakasendo, and all across the Kansai region, stealing large sums of money with skillful techniques. They only target the very wealthy and never kill or injure people. They appear with the clouds and disappear like the mist. On the night that the beautiful Ochiyo is to become the bride of a dry goods dealer, a large amount of money hidden inside the shop is stolen. The gang disappears without injuring anyone. It was a two-year plan to marry Ochiyo off so that she could bring them in. The leader of this gang is Kumokiri Nizaemon, the greatest bandit of all time. He keeps a rein on his highly-skilled and notorious followers Nanabake no Ochiyo, Kinezumi no Kichigoro, Subashiri no Kumagoro, Ingakozo Rokunosuke and others.

Father and Son Hawk

January 2025 •Japanese

The life of Katsu Kaishū and his father.

Toshiie and Matsu

January 2025 •Japanese

The 41st NHK Taiga Drama is Toshiie to Matsu. During the turbulent Warring States Era, one man's life and career intertwined with the three great generals of Japanese history-Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu. With political savvy and the support of his fiercely loyal wife, Maeda Toshiie rose to second in power in the shogunate and built up a fiefdom that encompassed Echizen, Noto and Kaga.

Tokugawa no Onnatachi

January 2025 •Japanese

A drama about three different women living in the inner palace of Edo castle during the Tokugawa era.

Ooku: The Beginning

January 2025 •Japanese

During the reign of the shogun, Iemitsu, an epidemic causes the population of men to greatly drop, leading to an ooku where the role of men and women are reversed. Thus, “the women become the shogun, served by 3000 handsome men”

Taikoki: Hideyoshi Chronicle

January 2025 •Japanese

The dynamic achievements of Fuyukirosuke, who, with the help of his wife Nene and his comrades, overcomes the challenges posed by Nobunaga.

Ooku

January 2025 •Japanese

The mini-series revolves around the harem of a shogun in the Edo Period in Japan. The women jostle and compete with one another and with their lord and on occasion even wield more power than their master.

Ooku ~ Hana no Ran ~

January 2025 •Japanese

Tells the story of the women surrounding Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the fifth shogun.

Hideyoshi

January 2025 •Japanese

A dramatized biography of the second of Japan's three legendary leaders. Rising from obscurity, Hideyoshi served under the command of Oda Nobunaga. With an extraordinary combination of intelligence, bravery and military skill, Hideyoshi rose to near-absolute power and greatly expanded upon Nobunaga's unification of Japan's warlords. This series also focused on Hideyoshi's personal life, particularly his relationships with his mother and his wife, and the pair's rivalry for influence over him.

Mouri Motonari

January 2025 •Japanese

The 36th NHK Taiga Drama is Mori Motonari. This series chronicles the life of Mori Motonari, a warlord of the early 1500s who stood at the vanguard of the Warring States era. All Japanese school textbooks contain the Mitsuya no kyokun, Mori's famous lesson to his three sons that teaches that while one arrow is easily broken, three arrows together cannot be broken. In 1997, 500 years after his birth, NHK dramatizes Motonari's rise from a chief of the region of Aki (now Hiroshima) to a daimyo who rules over ten provinces of the Chugoku region. Motonari was 64 years old and already the patriarch of a powerful dynasty about the time Oda Nobunaga and Takeda Shingen appeared on the scene. And even after his death, the Mori family figured prominently in Japanese history. His grandson Terumoto became a loyal Toyotomi vassal. Defeated at the Battle of Sekigahara, Ieyasu confiscated most of his lands, leaving him only with Suwo and Nagato, later known as Choshu. But 260 years later, the Mori got their ultimate revenge, leading the imperial forces against the Tokugawa in the Meiji Restoration.

Musashi

January 2025 •Japanese

Orphaned when he was not yet ten, Musashi grows up skilled in the martial arts. During the Battle of Sekigahara, he fights on the side of the losing Toyotomi forces, but eludes the enemy as they hunt down the vanquished soldiers. He then spends years wandering the countryside mastering the sword. As his fame spreads throughout the nation, men seek him out to test their skills against him--most notably Sasaki Kojiro who faces Musashi in the ultimate duel at Ganryujima.

Genroku Ryoran

January 2025 •Japanese

The 38th NHK Taiga Drama is Genroku Ryoran. The "Forty-seven Loyal Samurai" is one of the most enduring and best loved stories of Japan's history. Generations have grown up hearing the stirring tale of Oishi Kuranosuke, chief councillor of the Ako clan who leads his men through suffering and hardship to ultimately avenge their lord after he is unjustly forced to commit harakiri. NHK's 38th Taiga Drama "Genroku Ryoran" is the ambitious remake of this classic epic and boasts a cast that reads like a Who's Who in Japanese entertainment.

Ooku Dai-isho

January 2025 •Japanese

Tokugawa Ieyasu

January 2025 •Japanese

The story chronicles the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Sanada Yukimura: The Man Shogun Ieyasu Feared Most

January 2025 •Japanese

An entertaining historical drama depicting Sanada Yukimura, a hero who has gone through the era from the incident at Honnōji Temple to the summer siege of Osaka Castle, as "a man of men".

Sanada Taiheiki

January 2025 •Japanese

The drama tells the story of the Sanada family. Originally serving the Takeda Clan they ruled the northern district of Shinano. The story begins right after the death of Takeda Shingen, continues through the rise of Tokugawa Ieyasu who founded the Tokugawa shogunate and covers roughly the period 1580-1610.

Onna: Sono Ai no Series

January 2025 •Japanese

Collection of short stories about women in various periods of Japanese history. Based on famous Japanese novels.