It was recently announced that actor Tori Matsuzaka will star in the 2027 NHK Taiga drama "Gyakuzoku no Bakushin." The protagonist is Oguri Tadamasa, who was active during the late Edo period. Matsuzaka himself said, "I'm ashamed to say that I didn't know much about Oguri Tadamasa," and he is not a very well-known figure in the general public. We will look into the reasons and achievements of why he was chosen to play the lead role in the Taiga drama.
◇ He called for a fight to the death against the government forces…and met a tragic end
Tadanori was born in 1827 in Kanda Surugadai, Edo. He was a brilliant elite bureaucrat and a member of a prestigious samurai family with a stipend of 2,500 koku. Even at cherry blossom viewing parties on the Sumida River, he didn't pay any attention to the flowers or the alcohol, and instead continued to talk about flood control. He also had an "otaku" side to him.
In 1860, he was sent to America as a Japanese envoy and witnessed Western civilization. After returning to Japan, he held a succession of important posts and promoted various reforms, including military reform, the construction of modern factories, and the establishment of Japan's first joint-stock company. Although he was a samurai, Tadanori was knowledgeable about economics, making him an invaluable asset to the shogunate, and he served as finance magistrate on multiple occasions. He was unaware of the atmosphere, spoke his mind to his superiors, and resigned...and there is a legend that he was repeatedly called back from his position 70 times.
After the Meiji Restoration, he called for a fight to the death against the government forces, but was dismissed from his post. He then hid in what is now Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture, but was captured by the new government forces, who feared his abilities, and was beheaded, resulting in a tragic death.
It is still fresh in our memory that Shinji Takeda played him in the historical drama "Seiten wo Tsuke" (2021). In addition, it is said that Shigenobu Okuma of the Meiji period said, "Most of the modernization policies of the Meiji government were imitations of Oguri," and his name also appears in the "Tokugawa buried treasure legend" as the treasurer magistrate at the end of the Edo Shogunate.
◇ "No" to foreigners: The story of his trip to America is also worth watching
He was also said to be a rival of Katsu Kaishu, and Ryotaro Shiba called Katsu and Tadatsugu the "Father of Meiji." Natsuko Katsuta, the production manager, was surprised that such a great figure was not well known, and her interest in Tadatsugu began to grow, saying, "Now is the time for more people to know about him!"
"The more I get to know Oguri, the more I think he is someone who believes that what we have at hand, the system that has maintained the peace of the Tokugawa for 200 years, should not be destroyed as 'outdated', but should be rebuilt. Rather than 'destroying' it, he made the world a better place little by little, while connecting it to the future. That is what I saw as someone who did this, so I thought he was suitable to be the main character."
Katsuta cited an episode from when he went to the United States as a Japanese envoy as one of the highlights of the drama.
"When it comes to the currency exchange rate, I think there will be many scenes where he takes out his abacus in front of the Americans and, using precise logic, says 'this currency exchange rate isn't fair,' and is able to say 'no' to the foreigners. The rest will be about where his fate lies with Katsu, and I think that will be interesting to watch."
Regarding Matsuzaka, who will play the role, he said, "He has the same nobility and dignity as Oguri, and the sense of security that he is definitely not a bad person. I have high expectations for his acting ability." Anticipation is building for how the story of Tadayori, an indispensable figure in modern Japan, will be told.
