The first episode, "Two Monkeys," of the 2026 NHK Taiga drama "Toyotomi Brothers!" (General TV, Sundays at 8:00 PM and other times), starring actor Nakano Taiga, will be broadcast on January 4th with an extended 15-minute run. The story centers on Toyotomi Hidenaga, and depicts the miracle of the Toyotomi brothers, who, together with his older brother Hideyoshi, achieve the great feat of unifying Japan through their strong bond. There are only two days left until the start of the series. Here, we introduce Maeda Toshiie, played by Daito Shunsuke.
Maeda Toshiie was "Hideyoshi's lifelong friend and rival in the race for promotion."
He was a hot-blooded, flashy "kabuki actor," but he also achieved many military feats as a master of the spear, and was a friendly rival of Hideyoshi's generation, competing for promotion. He eventually became a part of the Hokuriku Army as a retainer of Shibata Katsuie, but after Nobunaga's death, Katsuie and Hideyoshi came into conflict. He later supported the Toyotomi government as one of the Five Elders, and built the foundations for the Kaga Domain, known as the Kaga Domain with a million koku of rice.
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.
