| Saka no Ue no Kumo | |
|---|---|
&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Saka_no_ue_no_kumo_screenshot01.png) Titling by Ryōtarō Shiba | |
| Written by | Hisashi Nozawa Takeshi Shibata Mikio Satō |
| Directed by | Takeshi Shibata Mikio Satō Taku Katō |
| Starring | Masahiro Motoki Hiroshi Abe Teruyuki Kagawa Miho Kanno Satomi Ishihara Takako Matsu Mieko Harada Yukiyoshi Ozawa Takahiro Fujimoto Kōji Matoba Masaya Kato Shinya Owada Onoe Kikunosuke V Tsurutaro Kataoka Shirō Sano Takaaki Enoki Akira Takarada Jun Kunimura Ren Osugi Masao Kusakari Kyōko Maya Masakane Yonekura Akira Emoto Keiko Takeshita Naoto Takenaka Hiroshi Tachi Tōru Emori Kōji Ishizaka Toshiyuki Nishida Shirō Itō Go Kato Hideki Takahashi Tetsuya Watari |
| Narrated by | Ken Watanabe |
| Ending theme | "Stand Alone" by Sarah Brightman |
| Composer | Joe Hisaishi |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Original language | Japanese |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Yoshiki Nishimura |
| Producers | Yasuhiro Suga Koichi Fujisawa |
| Running time | approx. 90 min. |
| Original release | |
| Network | NHK |
| Release | November 29, 2009 – December 2011 |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Saka no Ue no Kumo (坂の上の雲) (lit. “Clouds Above the Slope”) is a Japanese war drama television series which was aired on NHK over three years, from November 29, 2009 to December 2011, as a special taiga drama.[1] The series runs 13 episodes at 90 minutes each. The first season, with 5 episodes, was broadcast in 2009, while seasons two and three, each with 4 episodes, were broadcast in late 2010 and 2011. While most episodes were shot in Japan, one of the episodes in season two was shot in Latvia. The TV series is based on the 1968 novel of the same name by Ryōtarō Shiba and adapted by Hisashi Nozawa.[2]
Executive producer Yoshiko Nishimura acquired the rights to the novel from Shiba's widow Midori Fukuda in 2001, after decades of the author refusing to let anyone adapt his controversial work for the screen. The NHK officially announced their intention to adapt the novel in 2003, though shooting would only begin in 2008. The series is the first taiga drama to be mainly set during the Meiji era, thus its production encountered more difficulties than usual in achieving an accurate depiction of its setting. It is now the most expensive taiga drama ever produced.
The theme song of the drama series is titled "Stand Alone". It was composed by Joe Hisaishi, written by Kundō Koyama, and performed by British soprano singer Sarah Brightman.