It was announced on September 15th that comedian Kukkie of the comedy duo Yasei Bakudan will be appearing in the NHK Taiga drama " UNBOUND (Berabou) " (General TV, Sunday 8pm and other times), starring actor Ryusei Yokohama . He will play Katsukawa Shunro (later known as Katsushika Hokusai). This will be Kukkie's first time appearing in a Taiga drama, and he commented that it is "an honor beyond words."
Katsukawa Shunro (later known as Katsushika Hokusai), played by Cookie, became fascinated with painting at a young age and became a disciple of the Katsukawa school, studying ukiyo-e. He is taken by his teacher, Katsukawa Shunsho ( Tomoya Maeno), to visit Tsutaju's (Yokohama) Koshodo. In real life, even after Tsutaju's death, he continued to pursue his own unique style, changing his artist name several times. He also wrote introductory books on painting, and was highly praised for going beyond the traditional boundaries of ukiyo-e.
"The Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, a genius painter still loved all over the world."
Kukkie! commented, "I'm right in the heart of the story. It's an honor just to be able to appear, but I'll be playing Katsushika Hokusai in his younger days. I'll be completely possessed by Shunro and will be in top form both physically and mentally. I'm happy...I'm so happy."
It was also announced that Tsuda Kenjiro will play Kenjiro Tsuda(later known as Kyokutei Bakin) and Inoue Yoshio will play Yoshio Inoue Teiichi (later known as Jippensha Ikku).
"UNBOUND (Berabou)" is the 64th taiga drama and depicts the life of Tsutaya Juzaburo(or "Tsutajyu" for short), who is said to have laid the foundations for Japan's media industry and pop culture. The script was written by Yoshiko Morishita, who is known for her work on the highly talked-about "Drama 10: Ooku," which aired on NHK two years ago.
