The first episode of the 2026 NHK Taiga drama "Toyotomi Brothers!" (General TV, Sunday 8:00 PM and other channels), starring actor Nakano Taiga, titled "Two Monkeys," will be broadcast on January 4th with an extended 15 minutes. The story centers on Toyotomi Hidenaga, and depicts the miracle of the Toyotomi brothers, who, together with their older brother Hideyoshi, achieve the great feat of unifying the country through their strong bond. There are only three days until the start of the series. Here, we introduce Nene, played by Hamabe Minami.
Nene "climbed the ladder to becoming the most powerful man in Japan together with her husband Hideyoshi"
She was Toyotomi Hideyoshi's legal wife. After Hideyoshi became the regent, she was nicknamed Kita no Mandokoro (Kita no Mandokoro) for her competitive nature, and she rose through the ranks alongside her husband. Eventually, she rose from a commoner's daughter to become the "First Lady of the Warring States Period."
In the first episode, "Two Monkeys," Koichiro (Nakano), born into a poor farming family in Nakamura, Owari, lives a contented life tilling the fields and living with the soil. One day, a group of bandits attacks the village, and his childhood friend, Nao (Shiraishi Sei), is about to be kidnapped. His brother, Tokichiro (Ikematsu Sosuke), returns to the village after an eight-year absence and saves him from peril.
The story goes that Tokichiro, who dreams of becoming a great success in the service of the young Sengoku warlord Oda Nobunaga (Shun Oguri Shun), asks Koichiro to become his retainer.
