The 44th NHK Taiga Drama is about the life of Minamoto no Yoshitsune (源 義経) (1159 - May_17, 1189) was a late Heian and early Kamakura general of the Minamoto clan of Japan. Yoshitsune was the ninth son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo. His older brother Minamoto no Yoritomo founded the Kamakura shogunate.

This is the second of two times NHK covered this story. The first time was in the Taiga drama Minamoto no Yoshitsune (NHK, 1966).


Cast
* Takizawa Hideaki as Minamoto Yoshitsune / Kuro / Shanao
o Kamiki Ryunosuke as Ushikawa (young Shanao)
* Matsudaira Ken as Musashibo Benkei
* Nanbara Kiyotaka as Ise Saburo
* Ujiki Tsuyoshi as Suruga Jiro
* Ito Atsushi as Kisanta
* Kaito Ken as Sato Tadanobu
* Miyauchi Atsushi as Sato Tsugunobu
* Ishihara Yoshizumi as Minamoto Noriyori
* Oguri Shun as Kajiwara Kagesue
* Ueto Aya as Utsubo
* Uehara Misa as Tekona
* Tsurumi Shingo as Taira Munemori
* Abe Hiroshi as Taira Tomomori
* Kato Kazuko as Muneko
* Hosokawa Shigeki as Taira Shigehira
* Kashu Toshiki as Taira Koremori
* Ozawa Yukiyoshi as Kiso Yoshinaka
* Koike Eiko as Tomoe
* Zaizen Naomi as Hojo Masako
* Ohsugi Ren as Minamoto Yukiie
* Nakao Akira as Kajiwara Kagetoki
* Kobayashi Nenji as Hojo Tokimasa
* Matsuzaka Keiko as Tokiko
* Nakai Kiichi as Minamoto Yoritomo
* Hira Mikijiro as Ex-Emperor Go-Shirakawa
* Natsuki Mari as Tango
* Kusakari Masao as Taira Tomoyasu
* Nakashima Tomoko as Chidori
* Shiraishi Kayoko as Otoku (Narrator)
* Inamori Izumi as Tokiwa
* Natsukawa Yui as Akirakeiko
* Moriguchi Yoko as Tsuneko
* Toda Naho as Sukeko
* Manda Hisako as Akane
* Himeno Keiji
* Watari Tetsuya as Taira Kiyomori
* Ishihara Satomi as Shizuka
* Matsushita Naomi as Kamenomae
* Koizumi Kotaro as Taira Sukemori
* Ichikawa Sadanji as Kichiji
* Hirano Tadahiko as Taira Morikuni
* Watanabe Ikkei as Fujiwara Yasuhira
* Nagashima Kazushige as Fujiwara Kunihira
* Goto Maki as Yoshiko
* Takahashi Hideki as Fujiwara Hidehira
* Tanba Tetsuro as Minamoto Yorimasa
* Umezu Sakae as Old Man Suzaku
* Nakagoshi Noriko as Tokuko
* Ohashi Goro as Taira Tokitada
* Katsumura Masanobu as Taira Shigemori
* Tanaka Minako as Maki
* Shiomi Sansei as Kakunichi Risshi
* Kawahara Sabu as Kumasaka Chohan
* Nakae Yuri as Shigeko
* Kitamura Yukiya as Gotari
* Niki Terumi as Nun Hikino
* Miura Koichi as Taira Yorimori
* Minakaze Yoko as Ikenozenni Muneko
* Osugi Ren as Shingu Juro Yoshimori
* Miwa Akihiro as Kiichi Hogen
* Ebisu Yoshikazu as Ichijo Naganari
* Kato Masaya as Minamoto Yoshitomo
* Ito Takahiro
* Kimura Akira
* Imai Tsubasa as Nasu no Yoichi
* Tokoshima Yoshiko
* Musaka Naomasa
* Tomioka Ryo
* Takasugi Ko