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earth_colors) wrote2023-03-26 05:07 pm
earth_colors) wrote2023-03-26 05:07 pm
SP Notes: Taiga Dorama ga Umareta Hi
Here are the notes for the SP "Taiga Dorama ga Umareta Hi":
Toma Ikuta's character, assistant director Yamaoka Shinpei, was based on two people who worked at NHK, and were instrumental in making the first Taiga drama into a reality.
First was NHK's producer Aikawa Akira. At that time, there was a so-called "five-company agreement" for movie actors, which was a mutual agreement that exclusive actors of each movie company would not appear on television. Aikawa was ordered by Head Chief Nagasawa to negotiate with movie actor Sada Keiji himself to appear. It is said that NHK's aim was that if Sada decided to appear, movie actress Awashima Chikage would also appear (the author of "Hana no Shogai" requested that she play "Taka"). Aikawa visited Sada's home under the instruction to let Sada appear at any cost, but Sada showed reluctance. Anyway, he entrusted the original script and proposal to Sada, and after that, continued to visit the Sada family home. He became friends with his daughter Nakai Kie and his son Nakai Kiichi (who both later on became actors as well), teaching them their homework and playing cards. He also accompanied Sada to a high-class bar, and was allowed to drink high-class sake that he could not normally drink. However, no matter how many times they meet, Sada never gave him a good answer. Aikawa finally became desperate and said, "If you don't want to appear, I will bring the original work and the proposal home with me." At first, Sada said, "I can't appear,'' but for the meantime, he consulted with his friend, the acclaimed director Ozu Yasujiro. Ozu then asked a friend living in Los Angeles, and was informed of the promising future of American television broadcasting, which was advanced at the time. As a result, Sada agreed to join the cast. Due to Sada's appearance, the "five company agreement" collapsed, and the appearance of movie actors including Awashima Chikage was decided one after the other.
Second was was assistant director Ohara Makoto. NHK was unable to create a set of the size befitting the "Sakuradamon-gai Incident" scene, so director Inoue Hiroshi suggested using Toei Castle, an open set at the Toei Kyoto Studio, now the Toei Kyoto Studio Park. The negotiations at this time were handled by assistant director Ohara, who later became the ace of Taiga production. It is said that the roof of Toei Castle Gate was painted white to reproduce the snow pattern on the day of the incident, and that the snow on the ground was spread with white cloth transported by four trucks, sprinkled with white sand, while styrofoam were used as falling snow blown off by a fan. Negotiations with Toei were difficult, and Ohara finally got permission after a week of daily visits.
New recording methods were developed as shown in this SP. Until then, it had been common practice to record the scenes in the order of the story progression, but since many major actors had to take time out of their busy schedules to appear in this production, the method of recording all scenes with similar setting in one day (i.e., similar scenes put together) was adopted for the first time in this drama. At first, the actors were reluctant to use this method, which increased the number of lines to be memorized and also broke up the storyline, but in the end, they were persuaded by NHK to accept the method.
Also, in order to shorten the time required for scene changes, a set called a "rotating set" was also introduced, in which multiple parts of a house and garden on a cart were prepared behind the set and replaced when needed.
You can read more about the NHK crews who worked and created NHK's historical dramas thru this article:
https://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/english/reports/pdf/report_16061001.pdf
Onoe Shoroku II as Ii Naosuke. Onoe Shoroku II was the stage name for Fujima Yutaka, a Japanese kabuki actor who specialized in male roles. "During his life he was designated a Living National Treasure of Japan and one of the country's four official leading actors" (source: wikipedia). He agreed to appear in "Hana no Shogai" as Ii Naosuke, on the condition that there would be no absences in the Kabuki stage, from the first day of shooting. He'd enter the studio at 10 pm because he had Kabuki performance during the day. By the time his costume and make-up for the Taiga were done, the shooting would start at around 12 midnight. and then, would return home at 5:00 in the morning after shooting. His wife was worried about his health and wanted him to quit the role. It is said that he pressed on with it but with the condition that the filming ends at 3:00 am.
Awashima Chikage as Murayama Taka (also Takajo). She was a member of the Takarazuka Revue, who entered the Shochiku film studios and made her film debut in 1950. She appeared in films of numerous prominent directors like Ozu Yasujiro and Mikio Naruse and have received acting awards. She retired from acting in 2009, and died on 16 February 2012, aged 87, from cancer.
This wasn't the first time Chikage portrayed Murayama Taka. She had played the same role in the Shochiku film adaptation in 1958. The author of the original story, Funahashi Seiichi, was the one who wanted her to be cast in the same role, this time for TV.
Sada Keiji as Nagano Shume. He was a Japanese actor who was active from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. He was 173.2 cm tall. His director and co-stars called him "Kan-chan" after his real name "Nakai Kanichi". He got into movies because he lodged at the house of a popular actor from Shokichu Studios at that time, Sano Shuji, who took him to his work. He got his breakthrough with a series of movies starting 1956, and won several acting awards as well. On February 28, 1957, he married after years of dating Sugito Masuko, the daughter of the proprietor of the restaurant "Tsukigase" in front of the Shochiku Studios, and they were blessed with two children (Kie and Kiichi).
From August 13, 1964, he had been visiting a summer house in Tateshina Kogen, Shinshu, with his wife and two young children for a summer vacation. However, on his way back to Tokyo, leaving his family at the villa to participate in the recording of NHK drama "Niji no Sekkei," at around 6:30 am on August 17, the driver of the car he was riding in overtook the car in front of them on the left curve in front of the Shiokawa Bridge in Nirasaki Town, Nirasaki City, Yamanashi Prefecture. Immediately thereafter, the car skidded and struck a bridge pillar from the right side on which Sada was riding, causing a serious accident. Sada, whose skull and right arm were fractured in the accident, was immediately rushed to Nirasaki City Hospital, where he died around 11:00 am at the age of 37. His eldest daughter, Kie, was 7 years old and his son, Kiichi, was 2.5 years old back then.
There were three other people in the car: the driver, a sports reporter (Sada's friend) and Sada's brother-in-law who all sustained injuries but survived. His funeral was held on August 22, and was attended by nearly 1,000 people, including people in the entertainment industry and ordinary fans.
Nakai Kiichi's Thoughts on his Dad Portrayed in this SP. Nakai Kiichi who portrayed the NHK Head of Entertainment Bureau, is actually the son of actor Sada Keiji. Nakai was only two years old when Sada died in 1964, a year after the Taiga was shown.
According to an interview, he said, "When I saw Nakamura Shichinosuke, who is dressed up as my father, Sada Keiji, I thought, He looks a lot like my father whom I saw in his movies. In fact, when I was a child, I was once told that I looked like Shichinosuke's father, (kabuki master) Kanzaburo. I was also deeply moved by the fact that I and Shichinosuke had appeared together as father and son in the 1988 historical drama "Takeda Shingen" (Shinosuke portrayed Takeda's eldest son Yoshinobu in his childhood version).
During the filming of this special, Nakai entrusted to Shichinosuke, a wristwatch that used to belong to his late father. Nakai said, "This watch is one of the watches my mother gave me when I entered the workforce. I thought at the time that the watch that had marked the time of my father's life, whom I did not know at all, would now mark the time of my life on my own wrist... It was a 'gift of time'. So I handed the watch to Shichinosuke with the hope that he would wear it and feel something as he played the role. I sometimes think that the reason I am doing this job now is to let people know the name Sada Keiji through me, even if only a little. I think my father would probably be happy to see me in this drama."
Finally, who is this young actor shown in Ep 37 of "Hana no Shogai"?
It was a young Masakazu Tamura, who portayed the role of Tada Tatewaki, the son of Murayama Taka. You can see him in the clip of "Hana no Shogai" shown in the bonus special.
SP subtitles link (HERE)
Hana no Shogai (The Life of a Flower) is the first Taiga drama (called "large-scale historical drama" at the time of broadcast) that was shown on NHK from April 7, 1963 to December 29 of the same year. Based on the historical novel "Hana no Shogai" by Funahashi Seiichi, which was serialized in the newspaper Mainichi Shimbun from 1952 to 1953, it depicted the life of Ii Naosuke, a great elder of the Tokugawa shogunate at the end of the Edo period. Like most Japanese television programs of the time, the picture was in black and white and the sound was in mono. It had 39 episodes, and garnered an average audience rating of 20.2% for all episodes and a maximum of 32.3%.
Unfortunately, only the entire first episode and parts of the 37th episode, which was the scene of the "Incident Outside the Sakuradamon", have survived. Recordings of other episodes no longer exist.
An Idea was Born. The concept of the Taiga drama was first thought of by NHK executive Nagasawa Taiji in 1961, when he became head of NHK's Entertainment Bureau. Aiming to make television broadcasting, which was in its infancy due to poor technology at the time, surpass that of movies, he wanted to produce a major drama that would be as high quality as a movie and gain public support. In the SP, the character of Narushima Teiichiro (played by Nakai Kiichi) was based on him.
Unfortunately, only the entire first episode and parts of the 37th episode, which was the scene of the "Incident Outside the Sakuradamon", have survived. Recordings of other episodes no longer exist.
An Idea was Born. The concept of the Taiga drama was first thought of by NHK executive Nagasawa Taiji in 1961, when he became head of NHK's Entertainment Bureau. Aiming to make television broadcasting, which was in its infancy due to poor technology at the time, surpass that of movies, he wanted to produce a major drama that would be as high quality as a movie and gain public support. In the SP, the character of Narushima Teiichiro (played by Nakai Kiichi) was based on him.
Toma Ikuta's character, assistant director Yamaoka Shinpei, was based on two people who worked at NHK, and were instrumental in making the first Taiga drama into a reality.
First was NHK's producer Aikawa Akira. At that time, there was a so-called "five-company agreement" for movie actors, which was a mutual agreement that exclusive actors of each movie company would not appear on television. Aikawa was ordered by Head Chief Nagasawa to negotiate with movie actor Sada Keiji himself to appear. It is said that NHK's aim was that if Sada decided to appear, movie actress Awashima Chikage would also appear (the author of "Hana no Shogai" requested that she play "Taka"). Aikawa visited Sada's home under the instruction to let Sada appear at any cost, but Sada showed reluctance. Anyway, he entrusted the original script and proposal to Sada, and after that, continued to visit the Sada family home. He became friends with his daughter Nakai Kie and his son Nakai Kiichi (who both later on became actors as well), teaching them their homework and playing cards. He also accompanied Sada to a high-class bar, and was allowed to drink high-class sake that he could not normally drink. However, no matter how many times they meet, Sada never gave him a good answer. Aikawa finally became desperate and said, "If you don't want to appear, I will bring the original work and the proposal home with me." At first, Sada said, "I can't appear,'' but for the meantime, he consulted with his friend, the acclaimed director Ozu Yasujiro. Ozu then asked a friend living in Los Angeles, and was informed of the promising future of American television broadcasting, which was advanced at the time. As a result, Sada agreed to join the cast. Due to Sada's appearance, the "five company agreement" collapsed, and the appearance of movie actors including Awashima Chikage was decided one after the other.
Second was was assistant director Ohara Makoto. NHK was unable to create a set of the size befitting the "Sakuradamon-gai Incident" scene, so director Inoue Hiroshi suggested using Toei Castle, an open set at the Toei Kyoto Studio, now the Toei Kyoto Studio Park. The negotiations at this time were handled by assistant director Ohara, who later became the ace of Taiga production. It is said that the roof of Toei Castle Gate was painted white to reproduce the snow pattern on the day of the incident, and that the snow on the ground was spread with white cloth transported by four trucks, sprinkled with white sand, while styrofoam were used as falling snow blown off by a fan. Negotiations with Toei were difficult, and Ohara finally got permission after a week of daily visits.
New recording methods were developed as shown in this SP. Until then, it had been common practice to record the scenes in the order of the story progression, but since many major actors had to take time out of their busy schedules to appear in this production, the method of recording all scenes with similar setting in one day (i.e., similar scenes put together) was adopted for the first time in this drama. At first, the actors were reluctant to use this method, which increased the number of lines to be memorized and also broke up the storyline, but in the end, they were persuaded by NHK to accept the method.
Also, in order to shorten the time required for scene changes, a set called a "rotating set" was also introduced, in which multiple parts of a house and garden on a cart were prepared behind the set and replaced when needed.
You can read more about the NHK crews who worked and created NHK's historical dramas thru this article:
https://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/english/reports/pdf/report_16061001.pdf
Onoe Shoroku II as Ii Naosuke. Onoe Shoroku II was the stage name for Fujima Yutaka, a Japanese kabuki actor who specialized in male roles. "During his life he was designated a Living National Treasure of Japan and one of the country's four official leading actors" (source: wikipedia). He agreed to appear in "Hana no Shogai" as Ii Naosuke, on the condition that there would be no absences in the Kabuki stage, from the first day of shooting. He'd enter the studio at 10 pm because he had Kabuki performance during the day. By the time his costume and make-up for the Taiga were done, the shooting would start at around 12 midnight. and then, would return home at 5:00 in the morning after shooting. His wife was worried about his health and wanted him to quit the role. It is said that he pressed on with it but with the condition that the filming ends at 3:00 am.
Awashima Chikage as Murayama Taka (also Takajo). She was a member of the Takarazuka Revue, who entered the Shochiku film studios and made her film debut in 1950. She appeared in films of numerous prominent directors like Ozu Yasujiro and Mikio Naruse and have received acting awards. She retired from acting in 2009, and died on 16 February 2012, aged 87, from cancer.
This wasn't the first time Chikage portrayed Murayama Taka. She had played the same role in the Shochiku film adaptation in 1958. The author of the original story, Funahashi Seiichi, was the one who wanted her to be cast in the same role, this time for TV.
Sada Keiji as Nagano Shume. He was a Japanese actor who was active from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. He was 173.2 cm tall. His director and co-stars called him "Kan-chan" after his real name "Nakai Kanichi". He got into movies because he lodged at the house of a popular actor from Shokichu Studios at that time, Sano Shuji, who took him to his work. He got his breakthrough with a series of movies starting 1956, and won several acting awards as well. On February 28, 1957, he married after years of dating Sugito Masuko, the daughter of the proprietor of the restaurant "Tsukigase" in front of the Shochiku Studios, and they were blessed with two children (Kie and Kiichi).
From August 13, 1964, he had been visiting a summer house in Tateshina Kogen, Shinshu, with his wife and two young children for a summer vacation. However, on his way back to Tokyo, leaving his family at the villa to participate in the recording of NHK drama "Niji no Sekkei," at around 6:30 am on August 17, the driver of the car he was riding in overtook the car in front of them on the left curve in front of the Shiokawa Bridge in Nirasaki Town, Nirasaki City, Yamanashi Prefecture. Immediately thereafter, the car skidded and struck a bridge pillar from the right side on which Sada was riding, causing a serious accident. Sada, whose skull and right arm were fractured in the accident, was immediately rushed to Nirasaki City Hospital, where he died around 11:00 am at the age of 37. His eldest daughter, Kie, was 7 years old and his son, Kiichi, was 2.5 years old back then.
There were three other people in the car: the driver, a sports reporter (Sada's friend) and Sada's brother-in-law who all sustained injuries but survived. His funeral was held on August 22, and was attended by nearly 1,000 people, including people in the entertainment industry and ordinary fans.
Nakai Kiichi's Thoughts on his Dad Portrayed in this SP. Nakai Kiichi who portrayed the NHK Head of Entertainment Bureau, is actually the son of actor Sada Keiji. Nakai was only two years old when Sada died in 1964, a year after the Taiga was shown.
According to an interview, he said, "When I saw Nakamura Shichinosuke, who is dressed up as my father, Sada Keiji, I thought, He looks a lot like my father whom I saw in his movies. In fact, when I was a child, I was once told that I looked like Shichinosuke's father, (kabuki master) Kanzaburo. I was also deeply moved by the fact that I and Shichinosuke had appeared together as father and son in the 1988 historical drama "Takeda Shingen" (Shinosuke portrayed Takeda's eldest son Yoshinobu in his childhood version).
During the filming of this special, Nakai entrusted to Shichinosuke, a wristwatch that used to belong to his late father. Nakai said, "This watch is one of the watches my mother gave me when I entered the workforce. I thought at the time that the watch that had marked the time of my father's life, whom I did not know at all, would now mark the time of my life on my own wrist... It was a 'gift of time'. So I handed the watch to Shichinosuke with the hope that he would wear it and feel something as he played the role. I sometimes think that the reason I am doing this job now is to let people know the name Sada Keiji through me, even if only a little. I think my father would probably be happy to see me in this drama."
Nakamura Shichinosuke as Sada Keiji. "I felt a renewed sense of pride wearing Sada Keiji's wristwatch in this drama. I felt that this watch was filled with the thoughts of Sada Keiji-san, (his son) Nakai Kiichi, (his daughter) Nakai Kie, and the fans who loved Sada-san, and it gave me power. When there is something real at the filming site, it gives a lot of strength to the actors who play them."
Finally, who is this young actor shown in Ep 37 of "Hana no Shogai"?
It was a young Masakazu Tamura, who portayed the role of Tada Tatewaki, the son of Murayama Taka. You can see him in the clip of "Hana no Shogai" shown in the bonus special.
SP subtitles link (HERE)
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