KEIKO KITAGAWA OFFICIAL WEBSITE Fan Translation

Thank you very much for watching the Taiga drama "What now, Ieyasu?" through the year.
From hearing about it to the last broadcast took two years, with me having Oichi and Chacha on my mind all that time,
so even though it's all over I can't yet forget it, which is a strange sensation.

When I first heard about the dual role, with either being a big role,
so both given me a huge responsibility, and those who'd watch would surely be confused, so I remembered flinching over whether either would be too much for me.
However, after I asked scriptwriter Kosawa's opinion I understood the effectiveness and significance of letting mother and daughter be played by the same actor, so I decided to deal with it with all my strength.

So before filming started I visited places connected to Oichi and Chacha like Odani Castle, Jōgen Temple, Osaka Castle, Kōdai Temple
to learn about their lives, visited their graves, read all the reference literature, doing all I could do.
For me who dreaded history in my student days it was as if I had to relearn it from zero.

When Oichi ended there was a month before I turned into Chacha, so I visited Kodai Temple once more.
Both Oichi and Chacha's lives ended early, so they didn't leave all that much historical data,
so this time I strongly felt the difficulty of playing characters that actually existed,
but I anyway wanted to act the lines Kosawa-sensei wrote in the script with care.
Although it was lonesome to have to act from my imagination what wasn't in the historical record and not depicted in the drama it was still fun work.
It made me really happy that with these two roles I could live up to my ardent wish that historical dramas do not die out,
and that I could show things like the conduct and costumes of that era, the beauty of form passed down from our ancestors.

After all this I want to finish off with some pictures.

This is when I practised for Oichi's horse-riding scenes.
The horse-riding that I had been wishing for.

Oichi.

Acting her as a teenager was awkward, but even I pretended not to be bothered by that. That's Taiga for you.

Later years.

Can still be called young though.... (Death at 37.)

I love this costume with Okada Jun'ichi's Nobunaga vest and the pride of Nobunaga's younger sister.

End of filming. (First time)

Chacha.

Acting her as a teenager was awkward, but (rest abbreviated) I acted it to how Shiratori Tamaki, who played her in early childhood, used her eyes and her appearance.
The pressure of going on stage with a bang.

Later years.
Can still be called young though.... (Death at 46.)

For both roles the later years were close to my true age, so I felt at ease.

This costume was inspired by Okada Jun'ichi's Nobunaga cloak.
I kept Okada-san, Shiratori-san, and Ogawa Mayumi within me all through.
My lips gradually turned red, my eyebrows kept growing and turning up to match those urban legends, and also the magnificent wig and wonderful kimono.
How much did that costume aid me?
I have nothing but gratitude to the staff.

Chacha was often depicted as a villainous woman, but not wanting to stereotype her like that,
I wanted to make her a flesh and blood human in this work who lived as a daughter, mother, wife and someone who put her life on the line in the civil war.

End of filming. (Second time)

Started and ended filming twice, had three castles fall, died twice. An unusual experience.

These are acrylics made by the staff.

The white paper behind Oichi was damaged by my daughter. They were red and white originally.

A mask. It was also made for me, so in my size.
I'll use it for next year's Halloween.

I wrote this sloppily, but I'm really grateful to you who supported this work.
And I'm really grateful to all of you who were involved with this work.

The end-of-year compilation, and the till January 21 photo exhibition of our lord made lingering memories well up in me.
Truly great work lord....
You must be exhausted by now.

And for last, the documentary I appear in, "Kyoto: Beauty Loved by Rulers - Kitagawa seeks hidden treasures", is broadcast by BS NTV on December 27 (Tue).

For like Van Gogh or Setouchi, I've been with this team many times over, and now it was Kyoto.
That I got this plan before the Taiga was accidental, but as if fated it was a trip to artworks, fusuma drawings, lacquerware, and gardens related to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Nene-sama and the Tokugawa clan.
I visited many famous treasures like Daigo Temple, Nijō Castle, and Hasegawa Tōhaku.
That I could also say thanks at a temple there right after filming the Taiga ended made it an emotionally strong and valuable program to me.

This also makes lingering memories well up in me, so please favour it.