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Reach Beyond the Blue Sky
Promotional poster
Written by	Mika Ōmori
Directed by	Hiroshi Kurosaki and others
Starring	Ryo Yoshizawa Kengo Kora Ai Hashimoto Tsuyoshi Kusanagi Seiichi Tanabe Shinnosuke Mitsushima Shō Kasamatsu Yuko Oshima Yūki Izumisawa Dean Fujioka Ikusaburo Yamazaki Hayato Isomura Hanamaru Hakata Kanji Ishimaru Kōji Ōkura Naoto Takenaka Yoshino Kimura Emi Wakui Issey Ogata Shinichi Tsutsumi Kin'ya Kitaōji Nakamura Shikan VIII Kaoru Kobayashi
Narrated by	Nami Morimoto
Theme music composer	Naoki Satō
Country of origin	Japan
Original language	Japanese
No. of episodes	41
Production
Producer	Maiko Itagaki
Running time	45 minutes
Original release
Network	NHK
Release	February 14, 2021 (2021-02-14)

Reach Beyond the Blue Sky (青天を衝け, Seiten o Tsuke) is a Japanese historical drama television series starring Ryo Yoshizawa as Shibusawa Eiichi, a Japanese industrialist widely known today as the "father of Japanese capitalism". The series is the 60th NHK taiga drama, premiered on February 14, 2021.

Cast

People of Chiaraijima village

Shibusawa family

• Ryo Yoshizawa as Shibusawa Eiichi (also known as Eijirō, Eiichirō, Tokudayū, Tokutarō)
  • Masahito Kobayashi as young Eiichi
• Kaoru Kobayashi as Shibusawa Ichirōemon, Eiichi's father
• Emi Wakui as Shibusawa Ei, Eiichi's mother
• Eri Murakawa as Shibusawa Naka, Eiichi's older sister
  • Nanoha Oda as young Naka
• Ryōko Fujino as Shibusawa Tei, Eiichi's younger sister
  • Honoka Yoshida as young Tei
• Kengo Kora as Shibusawa Kisaku (later known as Shibusawa Seiichirō), Eiichi's cousin
  • Shūto Ishikawa as young Kisaku
• Riko Narumi as Shibusawa Yoshi, Kisaku's wife
• Sei Hiraizumi as Shibusawa Sōsuke, Eiichi's uncle
• Mayumi Asaka as Shibusawa Masa, Eiichi's aunt
• Rina Ono as Shibusawa Uta, Eiichi's daughter
  • Chisato Yamasaki as young Uta
• Sawa Nimura as Ōuchi Kuni
• Yūki Izumisawa as Shibusawa Tokuji
• Shō Kasamatsu as Shibusawa Keizo
• Kentarō Tamura as Hozumi Nobushige
• Kenta Uchino as Sakatani Yoshirō
• Akana Ikeda as Shibusawa Kotoko
• Yuko Oshima as Itō Kaneko, Eiichi's second wife
• Yūki Yagi as Shibusawa Fumiko

Odaka family

• Seiichi Tanabe as Odaka Junchū, Chiyo's older brother
• Shinnosuke Mitsushima as Odaka Chōshichirō
  • Kōsei Sutō as young Chōshichirō
• Ai Hashimoto as Odaka Chiyo, Eiichi's first wife
  • Aiko Iwasaki as young Chiyo
• Kenshi Okada as Odaka Heikurō (later known as Shibusawa Heikurō), Eiichi's cousin
  • Haru Takagi as young Heikurō
• Satomi Tezuka as Odaka Yahe, Odaka family's mother
• Mai Tezuka as Odaka Kise, Junchū's wife
• Mei Hata as Odaka Yū, Junchū's daughter

Mito Domain

• Naoto Takenaka as Tokugawa Nariaki, Yoshinobu's father and the 9th Lord of Mito
• Hideko Hara as Yoshiko, Yoshinobu's mother
• Ayumu Nakajima as Tokugawa Yoshiatsu, Nariaki's eldest son and the 10th Lord of Mito
• Rihito Itagaki as Tokugawa Akitake, Yoshiatsu and Yoshinobu's half-brother
• Ikkei Watanabe as Fujita Tōko, Nariaki's confidant
• Kanji Tsuda as Takeda Kōunsai, Nariaki's confidant
• Kisetsu Fujiwara as Fujita Koshirō, Tōko's son

Hitotsubashi House

• Tsuyoshi Kusanagi as Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last shogun
  • Motoi Kasamatsu as Shichirōmaro (young Yoshinobu)
• Shinichi Tsutsumi as Hiraoka Enshirō, Yoshinobu's confidant
• Yoshino Kimura as Hiraoka Yasu, Enshirō's wife
• Rie Mimura as Tokushin-in, Yoshinobu's grandmother
• Rina Kawaei as Mika-gimi (Ichijō Mikako), Yoshinobu's wife
• Toshiya Tōyama as Ikai Katsusaburō, Hitotsubashi House's side servant
• Kazuki Namioka as Kawamura Ejūrō, Enshirō's subordinate
• Kimihiko Hasegawa as Nakane Chōjūrō
• Minosuke as Kurokawa Kahei
• Hiroyuki Onoue as Hara Ichinoshin

Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa family

• Yoshi Ikuzō as Tokugawa Ieyoshi, the 12th shogun
• Daichi Watanabe (Kuroneko Chelsea) as Tokugawa Iesada, the 13th shogun
• Mone Kamishiraishi as Tenshō-in Atsuhime, Iesada's wife
• Rie Minemura as Utahashi, Iesada's nanny
• Hayato Isomura as Tokugawa Iemochi, the 14th shogun
• Mai Fukagawa as Princess Kazu, Iemochi's wife and Emperor Kōmei's younger half-sister

Rōjū

• Gorō Kishitani as Ii Naosuke, the tairō
• Ryohei Otani as Abe Masahiro, member of Shogun's Council of Elders
• Kenta Satoi as Hotta Masayoshi, member of Shogun's Council of Elders
• Hiroyuki Sase as Kuze Hirochika
• Ryūnosuke Karasawa as Naitō Nobuchika
• Rikiya Koyama as Sakai Tadashige
• Takeshi Matsumura as Mizuno Tadakiyo

Hatamoto

• Mitsuru Hirata as Kawaji Toshiakira, Chief Financial Official
• Yasuhi Nakamura as Nagai Naoyuki, Coastal Defense
• Satoru Kawaguchi as Iwase Tadanari

Shinsengumi

• Keita Machida as Hijikata Toshizō

Others

• Jun Shison as Sugiura Aizō
• Mansaku Ikeuchi as Kurimoto Joun
• Sō Yamanaka as Tanabe Taichi
• Akira Okamori as Mukōyama Kazufumi
• Yoshihiko Hosoda as Dr. Takamatsu Ryōun
• Atsuhiro Inukai as Fukuchi Gen'ichirō
• Shinji Takeda as Oguri Kozukenosuke (Tadamasa)
• Miou Tanaka as Tanuma Okitaka
• Hiroshi Yamamoto as Yamataka Nobuakira

Aizu and Kuwana Domains

• Seiichi Kohinata as Matsudaira Katamori
• Shunpei Kohinata as Matsudaira Sadaaki

Fukui Domain

• Jun Kaname as Matsudaira Yoshinaga, a.k.a. Matsudaira Shungaku, Fukui feudal lord
• Teppei Koike as Hashimoto Sanai, Fukui feudal warrior

Satsuma Domain

• Shin'ya Niiro as Shimazu Nariakira, 28th Head of the Shimazu clan
• Narushi Ikeda as Shimazu Hisamitsu, Lord of Satsuma Domain and the guardian of Shigehisa
• Hanamaru Hakata as Saigō Takamori
• Kanji Ishimaru as Ōkubo Toshimichi, Hisamitsu's confidant
• Yu Tokui as Orita Yōzō
• Dean Fujioka as Godai Tomoatsu
• Ryūnosuke Matsumura as Mishima Michitsune
• Joe Hyūga as Kawamura Sumiyoshi

The imperial court

• Onoe Ukon II as Emperor Kōmei, 121st Emperor of Japan
• Naoki Inukai as Emperor Meiji, 122nd Emperor of Japan
  • Suzuri Shibasaki as Prince Sachi
• Takaya Yamauchi as Iwakura Tomomi
• Yōhei Okuda as Prince Kuni Asahiko
• Yuta Kanai as Sanjō Sanetomi
• Keiichirō Mori as Nijō Nariyuki
• Mizuki Tsujimoto as Empress Eishō
• Ryōtarō Okiayu as Ōgimachisanjō Sanenaru
• Masami Horiuchi as Nakayama Tadayasu

Foreigners

• Morley Robertson as Matthew C. Perry, a commodore of the U.S. Navy
• Blake Crawford as Henry A. Adams
• Charles Glover as Townsend Harris
• Kyle Card as Ernest Mason Satow
• Ian Moore as Harry Parkes
• Alexandre Sagar as Alexander von Siebold
• Greg Dale as Paul Flury-Hérard
• Didier Carelock as Léon Roches
• Jeffrey Rowe as Charles de Montblanc
• Julien Jaulin as Napoleon III
• Marie Moilliet as Eugénie de Montijo
• Nozomi de Lencquesaing as Mermet de Cachon
• Arno Le Gall as Leopold II of Belgium
• Massimo Biondi as Paul Brunat
• Riccardo Balzarini as Alexander Allan Shand
• Frederic Benoliel as Ulysses S. Grant
• Michelle Take as Julia Grant
• Brent Olian as Jesse Grant
• Gaetano Totaro as Theodore Roosevelt
• Neil Garrison as William Howard Taft
• Dong Hao as Sun Yat-sen
• Ricky Anderson as Frank A. Vanderlip
• Jamie Schyy as George Eastman
• Don Johnson as Lyman J. Gage

The new government

• Ikusaburo Yamazaki as Itō Hirobumi
• Kōji Ōkura as Ōkuma Shigenobu
• Aki Asakura as Ōkuma Ayako, Shigenobu's wife
• Shūichirō Masuda as Etō Shinpei
• Masaki Miura as Maejima Hisoka
• Wataru Takagi as Tamano Yofumi
• Kaisei Kamimura as Akamatsu Noriyoshi
• Seiji Fukushi as Inoue Kaoru
• Reika Manaki as Inoue Takeko
• Ren Komai as Inoue Sueko
• Kazuaki Hankai as Komura Jutarō
• Reki Amada as Katō Takaaki
• Kenjirō Ishimaru as Hara Takashi
• Yoshimasa Kondo as Shidehara Kijūrō
• Yoshiyuki Ōmori as Katō Tomosaburō
• Masato Mitani as Tokugawa Iesato
• Tōsei Ishida as Kaneko Kentarō
• Kazunari Uryū as Soeda Juichi

Mitsubishi Group

• Nakamura Shikan VIII as Iwasaki Yatarō
• Shugo Oshinari as Iwasaki Yanosuke

Others

• Kin'ya Kitaōji as Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate, and the host of the series.
• Tōru Watanabe as Umeda Shinnosuke, Armor dealer in Edo
• Hiroshi Tamaki as Takashima Shūhan, Western-style gunner
• Yoshi Sakō as Tone Yoshiharu, Okabe Domain magistrate
• Shunya Itabashi as Sanada Hannosuke, swordsman
• Ginnojō Yamazaki as Ōhashi Totsuan, Edo Confucian scholar
• Tetsu Watanabe as Kakubei
• Tomori Abe as Suma
• Shōdai Fukuyama as Kōno Kenzō
• Masataka Matsubara as Inokichi
• Hajime Yamazaki as Rōro Sakatani
• Daikichi Sugawara as Date Munenari, 8th Head of the Uwajima Domain
• Ryūshi Mizukami as Yamauchi Yōdō, 15th Head of the Tosa Domain
• Takuo Inari as Tokugawa Yoshikatsu, 14th Head of the Owari Domain
• Nakamura Mantarō as Fukuzawa Yukichi
• Issey Ogata as Minomura Rizaemon
• Junpei Yasui as Masuda Takashi
• Hisahiro Ogura as Ono Zen'emon
• Katsumi Kiba as Ōkubo Ichiō
• Yōji Tanaka as Hagiwara Shirobei
• Tadashi Ōtake as Hiraoka Junzō
• Ryūji Kasahara as Kijima Matabei
• Kumi Kureshiro as Masuda Eiko
• Takashi Okabe as Ōkura Kihachirō
• Rio Kanno as Ōkura Tokuko
• Kōki Osamura as Sasaki Yūnosuke
• Kanda Hakuzan VI as Kanda Hakuzan II
• Jiro Okamoto as Kijūrō
• Kōzō Haginoya as Kodama Gentarō
• Kazu Murakami as Dr. Takaki
• Hiro Ueno as Yasoda Meitarō
• Yūichi Yasoda as Kitasato Shibasaburō

TV schedule

Omnibus

References

1. "吉沢亮『青天を衝け』ワンショット写真公開 出演者20人発表". Oricon. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
2. "Ex-SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi to play Japan's last shogun in NHK's upcoming drama series". The Mainichi Newspapers. 10 July 2020. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
3. "【青天を衝け】北大路欣也、徳川家康役で出演「まったく経験したことのない挑戦」". Oricon. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
4. "吉沢亮「青天を衝け」平均視聴率は14.1％ 最終回は11.2％". Model Press. 26 December 2021. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
5. "青天を衝け:明日、3時間半の総集編 幕末から振り返り！ お正月も「栄一とともにぐるぐる」". Mantan-web. 2 January 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2023.

External links

• Reach Beyond the Blue Sky at IMDb

• 2021 Japanese television series debuts
• Taiga drama
• Cultural depictions of economists
• Cultural depictions of Tokugawa Ieyasu
• Cultural depictions of Tokugawa Yoshinobu
• Television series set in the 19th century
• Television series set in the 20th century
• Works about economic history