There’s a Bit of Nerve-Wracking Excitement — Taiga Nakano Spotted in Costume on Set of Next Year’s Taiga Drama Hideyoshi Brothers!

The reason behind his slightly tense expression

In early June, a man wearing round sunglasses and pulling a large suitcase made his way through Tokyo Station. That man was actor Taiga Nakano (32).

On this day, Nakano boarded the Yamagata Shinkansen with his female manager, who was also pulling a suitcase. Their destination appeared to be Sagae City in Yamagata Prefecture. The following day, NHK announced that filming for the 2026 Taiga drama The Hideyoshi Brothers! had officially begun at Ji-onji Temple on Mount Zuihō in Sagae.

Although dressed casually, Nakano’s expression seemed focused—unsurprising given that this marks the beginning of a shoot lasting over a year.

“On the first day of filming, a scene was reportedly shot in which Tōkichirō Kinoshita (later Toyotomi Hideyoshi), played by Sōsuke Ikematsu (34), returns home after being missing for eight years and invites his younger brother Koichirō Kinoshita (later Toyotomi Hidenaga), played by Nakano, to join him in Kiyosu to become samurai under Oda Nobunaga,” says a reporter from a sports newspaper.

The two actors are no strangers—having co-starred in the Disney+ drama A Town Without Seasons, which aired on TV Tokyo’s Drama 25 slot starting April 2024. Their established rapport is evident. On June 6, NHK published a comment from Nakano on its website:

“I felt a real sense of excitement—like, ‘It’s finally starting.’”

Regarding working with Ikematsu, Nakano said:

“Ikematsu-san is someone I deeply respect both personally and professionally—he’s truly like an older brother to me. Performing with him as brothers for the first time today gave me the feeling that we were stepping into new territory, into aspects I hadn’t known before. It made me even more excited for the year and a half of filming ahead.”

It’s widely known that Nakano was given the name “Taiga” by his father, actor Hideo Nakano (60), in the hope that one day he would appear in a Taiga drama. That hope is now being fulfilled.

“With that backstory in mind, and having spent months preparing, Nakano will likely dedicate himself completely to this Taiga project through the end of next year,” the reporter adds.

The broadcast may still be more than half a year away, but expectations are already running high.

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