The NHK Taiga drama " UNBOUND (Berabou) " (NHK General TV, Sundays at 8:00 PM and other times), starring actor Ryusei Yokohama , aired on November 23rd. In the 45th episode, "His Name is Sharaku," it was revealed that Katsukawa Shunsho, played by Tomoya Maeno, had passed away.
"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.
In episode 45, Tsutae is summoned by Sadanobu (Inoue Yuki) and others and asked to help them take revenge on a puppet-loving daimyo.
Tsutaju is ordered to spread the rumor that Hiraga Gennai (played by Ken Yasuda Ken) is still alive and cause a stir. While visiting the theater town, he learns that this year's Soga Festival will be held, where actors dance together in the streets. He comes up with the idea of displaying actor portraits showing the actors' real faces.
To make it seem like the actor portraits were painted by Gennai, they ask the artist to paint them in the style of Gennai's Western paintings, and ask comic novelists and kyoka poets to come up with a name for the fictional artist. Kisanji (Omi Toshinorisa) then suggests, "How about 'Sharakusai'?" Everyone gets excited, saying it sounds like something Gennai would say, and they decide on the name "Sharaku," meaning "to portray the joys of this world" or "to enjoy capturing things as they are." And so the story unfolds.
Katsukawa Shunsho was the leading actor painter of his time, who painted Tsutaju's "Blue Chamber Beauty Mirror" together with Kitao Shigemasa (played by Jun Hashimoto). He later had many disciples, including Katsushika Hokusai, and became the representative of the Katsukawa school, which specialized in actor portraits. He was a character who would go on to have a major influence on Kitagawa Utamaro's (played by Shota Sometani) "beautiful women paintings" and Sharaku's "large head paintings."
In the previous week's episode, episode 44, Tsutae commented, "I didn't realize theater art had become so lonely," to which Shigemasa responded, "Ah... it was much more glamorous when Shunsho sensei was in his prime," treating him as if he were "a person of the past." In episode 45, in a scene where artists, playwrights, and kyoka poets were gathered, Torai Sanwa (Yamaguchi Morihiro) blurted out, "Theater art is in a decline now, and I hear that actor art has also become terrible since Shunsho sensei passed away," and viewers responded immediately.
On social media, comments such as "When did Shunsho-sensei pass away...", "A casual announcement of Shunsho-sensei's departure", "How can you call this more than a narrator's death? It was casually mentioned in the middle of an explanatory line...", and "It's a bit sad to see Shunsho-sensei leave the show" were posted.
In the same episode, Tei (AI Hashimoto) also mentioned the name "Shunsho Sensei," and Maeno, who played Shunsho, wrote on her account (@maenotomo18) "I wanted to be there in this week's episode of ' UNBOUND' when everyone said 'Sharaku!' But the name 'Shunsho Sensei' came up three times, and I felt like we were together somehow, so I was happy! Also, it was the first time I saw Shigemasa lose his temper."
