Kasumi Yamaya plays Dashi, the wife of Murashige Araki (Tortoise Matsumoto) and a stunning beauty known as the "modern Yang Guifei," in the NHK Taiga drama "BROTHERS IN ARMS （Toyotomi Brothers!）" (NHK General, Sundays at 8 PM, etc.), starring actor Taiga Nakano. This is her second appearance in a Taiga drama, the first being as Setsu, a concubine of Yoriie Minamoto (Daichi Kaneko) in "The 13 Lords of the Shogun" (2022), four years ago. Having made her acting debut in 2008, Yamaya is now in her 19th year in show business. Let's take a look at her "profile."
◇His acting debut was as one of the students in a Getsuku drama starring Takuya Kimura .
Yamaya was born on December 26, 1996, and is 29 years old and from Miyagi Prefecture. His acting debut was in the Fuji TV Getsuku drama "CHANGE," starring Takuya Kimura . In that drama, he played one of the students of the elementary school teacher played by Kimura.
After appearing in NHK's morning drama series "Ohisama" (first Asadora of 2011) and "Amachan" (first half of 2013), she played the role of Momoiro Ninja/Momochi Kasumi in the Super Sentai series "Shuriken Sentai Ninninger" (2015-2016). In the position of a so-called "sentai heroine," and partly due to the length of the broadcast period, the series has become one of Yamaya's representative works. When Yamaya made her first appearance in the 21st episode of "BROTHERS IN ARMS （Toyotomi Brothers!）", "Takeda Castle in Turmoil" (aired on May 31), comments such as "Momoiro Ninja has appeared!", "Murashige's wife is Momoiro Ninja from Ninninger!", "Oh, Momoiro Ninja!", and "Momoiro Ninja has grown up so much..." flooded social media, showing that she still enjoys strong support from her devoted fans.
In addition, in the movie "Code Blue: The Movie - Emergency Medical Helicopter" (2018), she played Michi Tomizawa, who is suffering from terminal stomach cancer, and her shaved head made headlines. In an interview in early 2019, she revealed that she was 20 years old when the movie was filmed, and reflected, "It was a role I encountered at a time when I hated being in a 'floating' state where I wasn't grounded. I wanted to have something strong with this role. The trigger for that was cutting my hair. I think it was fate."
Furthermore, her performance in the starring film "Fake Plastic Planet" (2020) was highly praised, and she won the Best Actress in a Foreign Language Film award at the Madrid International Film Festival, steadily solidifying her position. As mentioned earlier, she made her debut in a Taiga drama series in "The 13 Lords of the Shogun." At the time, she expressed her joy, saying, "Appearing in a Taiga drama series has been a dream I've pursued for 14 years, ever since I started working in the sixth grade of elementary school. When I heard that I had been chosen, I was so happy that I cried. I was able to do something to make my parents proud again."
◇ "With a determination that there's no turning back now that we've come this far!"
In recent years, she has appeared in Asadora in 10 years, as well as "Unmet: A Neurosurgeon's Diary" (Kansai TV/Fuji TV) and "The Beginning of the Sea" (Fuji TV). However, in September 2025, she made headlines when she confessed on a talk variety show that she was still working part-time at an izakaya (Japanese pub) at the time of her appearance.
The reason why Yamaya decided to enter the entertainment industry is somewhat surprising: "I wanted to learn how television works." Since her debut, she has experienced ups and downs, and there were times when she thought, "I'm not suited for this job, I want to quit," but she continued because of "a determination that I couldn't turn back now that I'd come this far!"
Yamaya also said, "Thankfully, just when I thought I would quit if this didn't come true, I was able to appear in a historical drama, in a beauty magazine I'd always wanted to be in, and I started getting more roles in prime-time shows, so I was able to fulfill my dreams and there was no turning back. I think I'll probably continue on, asking myself, 'Is this really right for me?'"
This year marks 10 years since the end of "Ninninger," in which she played the heroine of a sentai series, and 8 years since her "shaved head" look in the movie "Code Blue." We can look forward to her taking another step forward after "BROTHERS IN ARMS （Toyotomi Brothers!）".
