Details
Title: 風林火山
Title (romaji): Fuurin Kazan / Furin Kazan / Fūrin Kazan
Also known as: Samurai Banners
Episodes: 50
Genre: Taiga drama, period drama
Viewership ratings: ep1=21.0 high=22.9 avg=18.7 (all Kanto #s)
Air time: Sunday, 20:00
Broadcast network: NHK
Broadcast period: 2007-Jan-7 to 2007-Dec-16
Synopsis
The 46th Historical Drama is a life story of Yamamoto Kansuke, a lonely genius of strategy at the Age of the Civil War in the 16th century. Kansuke works under Takeda Shingen and pursues his dream of unifying the whole country through aiding the warlord of Kai. At the same time, Kansuke supports Shingen’s concubine Yu from his selfless affection for the woman who hates but eventually loves the warlord who killed her father and family. With the aid of Kansuke’s strategies, Shingen expands his power northward, where he is destined to fight with Kenshin Uesugi, the warlord of Echigo. The drama portrays how those who fight for their dreams face their destinies in the turbulent age.
Cast
Yamamoto Family
Uchino Masaaki as Gensuke (源助)→Obayashi Kansuke→Yamamoto Kansuke (Haruyuki)
Yamauchi Hayate (山内颯) as Gensuke
Ito Takashi (伊藤高) as Yamamoto Sadayuki (father of Kansuke)
Ameku Michiko as Yasu (mother of Kansuke)
Mitsuishi Ken as Toushichi→Yamamoto Sadahisa
Obayashi Family
Sasano Takashi as Obayashi Kanzaemon (foster father of Kansuke)
Mizusawa Aki as Kikuyo (Wife of Kanzaemon)
Kadono Sho (門野翔) as Obayashi Kanbee (Kanzaemon's child)
Takeda Family
Family Members
Ichikawa Kamejiro as Takeda Harunobu → Takeda Shingen
Shibamoto Yuki as Yuu Hime (由布姫)
Ikewaki Chizuru as Sanjo Fujin (三条夫人)
Nakadai Tatsuya as Takeda Nobutora (武田信虎)
Fubuki Jun as Ooi Fujin
Sakurai Sachiko as Nene (禰々)
Kashima Noritoshi (嘉島典俊) as Takeda Nobushige (武田信繁)
Tsuji Kazunaga (辻萬長) as Katsunuma Nobutomo (Nobutora's younger brother)
Fukuda Mayuko as Ume Hime (梅姫)
Hirata Kaoru as Aya Hime (嶺松院)
Kato Seishiro as Takeda Yoshinobu (武田義信)
Takeda Vassal
Chiba Shinichi as Itagaki Nobukata
Asada Miyoko as Hagino
Kaneda Akio as Obu Toramasa
Ryu Raita as Amari Torayasu
Sasaki Kuranosuke as Sanada Yukitaka
Shimizu Misa as Shinome (Yukitaka's wife)
Takahashi Kazuya as Baba Nobuharu (馬場信春)
Tanabe Seiichi as Oyamada Nobuari (小山田信有)
Shishido Kai (宍戸開) as Hara Toratane
Kato Takeshi as Murozumi Torasada
Tanaka Kotaro (田中幸太朗) as Kosaka Masanobu
Terajima Susumu as Akabe Shimomori
Kanno Rio → Maki Yoko as Miru Hime
Warring States Generals
Nagao and the Uesugi Family
Gackt as Uesugi Kenshin
Ichikawa Sadanji as Uesugi Norimasa (上杉憲政)
Nishida Naomi as Sentoin
Imagawa Family
Tanihara Shosuke as Baigaku Shouhou →Imagawa Yoshimoto
Fujimura Shiho as Jukeini (寿桂尼)
Ibu Masato as Taigen Sessai
Ishibashi Renji as Ihara Tadatane (庵原忠胤) (Sessai's older brother), (Kansuke's granduncle)
Segawa Ryo as Ihara Yukimasa (庵原之政) (Sessai's son)
Igawa Tetsuya (井川哲也) as Genko Etan
Terry Ito (テリー伊藤) as Kushima Echizen no Kami
Sakimoto Hiromi as Kushima Hikojuurou (Kushima's son)
Osuga Yuko (大須賀裕子) as Hikojuurou's mother
Hojo House
Matsui Makoto (松井誠) as Hojo Ujiyasu (北条氏康)
Shinagawa Toru as Hojo Ujitsuna
Yokouchi Tadashi (横内正) as Shimizu Yoshimasa
Sakaki Hideo (榊英雄) as Matsuda Shichirozaemon (Makoto's martial arts instructor)
Shinano Clan
Kohinata Fumiyo as Suwa Yorishige
Okamori Akira (岡本諦) as Yazaki Jugoro (Suwa Vassal)
Mizukawa Asami as Hisa (Jugoro's daugther)
Others
Poet
Kameyama Sukekiyo (亀山助清) as Asukai Miyabikyo
Shoji Eiken (庄司永建) as 大井入道宗芸 (Ooi Fujin's father)
Kuzukasa Village
Kanjiya Shihori as Mitsu (Kansuke's girlfriend)
Arizono Yoshiki (有薗芳記) as Densuke → 河原村伝兵衛 (Mitsu's older brother・板垣家臣)
Arima Jiyu (有馬自由) as Takichi → 葛笠太吉
Sato Ryuta as Heizo
Miscellaneous
Takahashi Issei as Komai Masatake
Omori Akemi
Shionoya Masayuki (塩野谷正幸)
Shihodo Wataru (四方堂亘) as Aoki Daizen
Hashimoto Jun as Tokita Takanaga
Maeda Aki as Ritsu (Hara Toratane's daughter)
Yagi Yuki
Shibuya Takeru (ep25)
Taiga (ep37)
Production Credits
Original writing: Inoue Yasushi (井上靖), written in 1955
Screenwriter: Omori Sumio (大森壽美男)
Producer: Wakaizumi Hisaaki
Director: Shimizu Kazuhiko (清水一彦)
Music: Senju Akira
Epigraph: Kakinuma Koji (柿沼康二)
Notes
風林火山 (fuu-rin-ka-zan, where fuu=wind, rin=woods, ka=fire, zan=mountain): The original line of this four-character-idiom comes from a battle strategy from centuries ago and goes as follows: as swift as the wind, as quiet as the woods, as fierce as the fire, as strong as the mountain. The sentence goes on as an action agenda for victory in war/battles, basically telling that the key to victory is to rightly judge the situation and take appropriate action at the right time. Four kanji symbolizing the phrase are taken out and combined for this idiom. -- jmode.com
