The NHK Taiga drama " UNBOUND (Berabou) " (General TV, Sundays at 8 PM and other times), starring actor Ryusei Yokohama , is currently airing. Episode 45, "His Name is Sharaku" (broadcast November 23rd), depicts the birth of Sharaku, with Tsutaju (played by Yokohama) gathering playwrights, artists, and kyoka poets. Furthermore, in episode 46, "The Soga Festival Incident" (broadcast November 30th), Utamaro (played by Shota Sometani) joins the team, and Sharaku is introduced to the world under the name "Toshusai Sharaku." Screenwriter Yoshiko Morishita explained why she chose the "multiple person theory" this time.
Produced by Tsutaju, Sharaku made a sensational debut with the unprecedented simultaneous publication of 28 works, but he was a "mysterious artist" who suddenly disappeared after only 10 months of activity. The leading theory about his true identity is that he was Saito Jurobei, a Noh actor employed by the lord of Tokushima, and the "multiple person theory" in "UNBOUND" received a variety of reactions.
Morishita revealed, "I had decided from the very beginning to adopt the 'multiple artist' theory of Sharaku."
"Of course, I was aware that in the world of art history, the identity of Saito Jurobei has now been settled. But when I looked at Sharaku's paintings lined up, I thought the theory that there were multiple artists made more sense. He produced an incredible number of works in a very short period of time, and if he had produced them all at once, he would have had to prepare them in an incredibly short amount of time. I was quite skeptical about whether he had done it all by himself. The paintings of Sharaku in the second season are full-length portraits, but it looks like he just copied and pasted the face he had drawn in the first season. That made me think, 'Maybe it was several people working on this.' I decided from the start that I would go with the theory that there were multiple artists."
Morishita says that placing Utamaro at the center of the "multiple people theory" about Sharaku was "something he had thought about from the beginning." This is because, although it's not often said now, the theory that Sharaku = Utamaro has existed for a long time. Morishita also says that Sharaku in "UNBOUND" is "the culmination of what Tsutaju, Utamaro, and Sankyoden have done."
"Nishiki-e prints originally began with Suzuki Harunobu, and at first the pictures looked like dolls, and it was hard to tell whether they were male or female. But then various artists came on the scene and the style changed. Within that context, Utama's sketches were quite groundbreaking. Utama's beautiful women, while still retaining a single form, are drawn in great detail and are becoming increasingly realistic. Meanwhile, Kyoden's text in "The 48 Techniques of Buying a Courtesan," which depicts the inner workings of Yoshiwara, is different from the previous yellow-covered books and sharebon, in that the descriptions of the characters and their conversations lean towards realism. I thought that Sharaku might be at the end of that flow. I wrote it with that interpretation in mind, thinking that Sharaku is the "symbol of the festival" that Tsutae and her friends launch at the end."
