# Reach Beyond the Blue Sky

Reach Beyond the Blue Sky (青天を衝け, Seiten o Tsuke) is a Japanese historical drama television series starring Ryo Yoshizawa as Shibusawa Eiichi, a Japanese industrialist widely known today as the "father of Japanese capitalism". The series is the 60th NHK taiga drama, premiered on February 14, 2021.

## Cast
### People of Chiaraijima village
#### Shibusawa family

* Ryo Yoshizawa as Shibusawa Eiichi (also known as Eijirō, Eiichirō, Tokudayū, Tokutarō)
** Masahito Kobayashi as young Eiichi
* Kaoru Kobayashi as Shibusawa Ichirōemon, Eiichi's father
* Emi Wakui as Shibusawa Ei, Eiichi's mother
* Eri Murakawa as Shibusawa Naka, Eiichi's older sister
** Nanoha Oda as young Naka
* Ryōko Fujino as Shibusawa Tei, Eiichi's younger sister
** Honoka Yoshida as young Tei
* Kengo Kora as Shibusawa Kisaku (later known as Shibusawa Seiichirō), Eiichi's cousin
** Shūto Ishikawa as young Kisaku
* Riko Narumi as Shibusawa Yoshi, Kisaku's wife
* Sei Hiraizumi as Shibusawa Sōsuke, Eiichi's uncle
* Mayumi Asaka as Shibusawa Masa, Eiichi's aunt
* Rina Ono as Shibusawa Uta, Eiichi's daughter
** Chisato Yamasaki as young Uta
* Sawa Nimura as Ōuchi Kuni
* Yūki Izumisawa as Shibusawa Tokuji
* Shō Kasamatsu as Shibusawa Keizo
* Kentarō Tamura as Hozumi Nobushige
* Kenta Uchino as Sakatani Yoshirō
* Akana Ikeda as Shibusawa Kotoko
* Yuko Oshima as Itō Kaneko, Eiichi's second wife
* Yūki Yagi as Shibusawa Fumiko

#### Odaka family

* Seiichi Tanabe as Odaka Junchū, Chiyo's older brother
* Shinnosuke Mitsushima as Odaka Chōshichirō
** Kōsei Sutō as young Chōshichirō
* Ai Hashimoto as Odaka Chiyo, Eiichi's first wife
** Aiko Iwasaki as young Chiyo
* Kenshi Okada as Odaka Heikurō (later known as Shibusawa Heikurō), Eiichi's cousin
** Haru Takagi as young Heikurō
* Satomi Tezuka as Odaka Yahe, Odaka family's mother
* Mai Tezuka as Odaka Kise, Junchū's wife
* Mei Hata as Odaka Yū, Junchū's daughter

### Mito Domain

* Naoto Takenaka as Tokugawa Nariaki, Yoshinobu's father and the 9th Lord of Mito
* Hideko Hara as Yoshiko, Yoshinobu's mother
* Ayumu Nakajima as Tokugawa Yoshiatsu, Nariaki's eldest son and the 10th Lord of Mito
* Rihito Itagaki as Tokugawa Akitake, Yoshiatsu and Yoshinobu's half-brother
* Ikkei Watanabe as Fujita Tōko, Nariaki's confidant
* Kanji Tsuda as Takeda Kōunsai, Nariaki's confidant
* Kisetsu Fujiwara as Fujita Koshirō, Tōko's son

### Hitotsubashi House

* Tsuyoshi Kusanagi as Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last shogun
** Motoi Kasamatsu as Shichirōmaro (young Yoshinobu)
* Shinichi Tsutsumi as Hiraoka Enshirō, Yoshinobu's confidant
* Yoshino Kimura as Hiraoka Yasu, Enshirō's wife
* Rie Mimura as Tokushin-in, Yoshinobu's grandmother
* Rina Kawaei as Mika-gimi (Ichijō Mikako), Yoshinobu's wife
* Toshiya Tōyama as Ikai Katsusaburō, Hitotsubashi House's side servant
* Kazuki Namioka as Kawamura Ejūrō, Enshirō's subordinate
* Kimihiko Hasegawa as Nakane Chōjūrō
* Minosuke as Kurokawa Kahei
* Hiroyuki Onoue as Hara Ichinoshin

### Tokugawa shogunate
#### Tokugawa family

* Yoshi Ikuzō as Tokugawa Ieyoshi, the 12th shogun
* Daichi Watanabe (Kuroneko Chelsea) as Tokugawa Iesada, the 13th shogun
* Mone Kamishiraishi as Tenshō-in Atsuhime, Iesada's wife
* Rie Minemura as Utahashi, Iesada's nanny
* Hayato Isomura as Tokugawa Iemochi, the 14th shogun
* Mai Fukagawa as Princess Kazu, Iemochi's wife and Emperor Kōmei's younger half-sister

#### Rōjū

* Gorō Kishitani as Ii Naosuke, the tairō
* Ryohei Otani as Abe Masahiro, member of Shogun's Council of Elders
* Kenta Satoi as Hotta Masayoshi, member of Shogun's Council of Elders
* Hiroyuki Sase as Kuze Hirochika
* Ryūnosuke Karasawa as Naitō Nobuchika
* Rikiya Koyama as Sakai Tadashige
* Takeshi Matsumura as Mizuno Tadakiyo

#### Hatamoto

* Mitsuru Hirata as Kawaji Toshiakira, Chief Financial Official
* Yasuhi Nakamura as Nagai Naoyuki, Coastal Defense
* Satoru Kawaguchi as Iwase Tadanari

#### Shinsengumi

* Keita Machida as Hijikata Toshizō

#### Others

* Jun Shison as Sugiura Aizō
* Mansaku Ikeuchi as Kurimoto Joun
* Sō Yamanaka as Tanabe Taichi
* Akira Okamori as Mukōyama Kazufumi
* Yoshihiko Hosoda as Dr. Takamatsu Ryōun
* Atsuhiro Inukai as Fukuchi Gen'ichirō
* Shinji Takeda as Oguri Kozukenosuke (Tadamasa)
* Miou Tanaka as Tanuma Okitaka
* Hiroshi Yamamoto as Yamataka Nobuakira

### Aizu and Kuwana Domains

* Seiichi Kohinata as Matsudaira Katamori
* Shunpei Kohinata as Matsudaira Sadaaki

### Fukui Domain

* Jun Kaname as Matsudaira Yoshinaga, a.k.a. Matsudaira Shungaku, Fukui feudal lord
* Teppei Koike as Hashimoto Sanai, Fukui feudal warrior

### Satsuma Domain

* Shin'ya Niiro as Shimazu Nariakira, 28th Head of the Shimazu clan
* Narushi Ikeda as Shimazu Hisamitsu, Lord of Satsuma Domain and the guardian of Shigehisa
* Hanamaru Hakata as Saigō Takamori
* Kanji Ishimaru as Ōkubo Toshimichi, Hisamitsu's confidant
* Yu Tokui as Orita Yōzō
* Dean Fujioka as Godai Tomoatsu
* Ryūnosuke Matsumura as Mishima Michitsune
* Joe Hyūga as Kawamura Sumiyoshi

### The imperial court

* Onoe Ukon II as Emperor Kōmei, 121st Emperor of Japan
* Naoki Inukai as Emperor Meiji, 122nd Emperor of Japan
** Suzuri Shibasaki as Prince Sachi
* Takaya Yamauchi as Iwakura Tomomi
* Yōhei Okuda as Prince Kuni Asahiko
* Yuta Kanai as Sanjō Sanetomi
* Keiichirō Mori as Nijō Nariyuki
* Mizuki Tsujimoto as Empress Eishō
* Ryōtarō Okiayu as Ōgimachisanjō Sanenaru
* Masami Horiuchi as Nakayama Tadayasu

### Foreigners

* Morley Robertson as Matthew C. Perry, a commodore of the U.S. Navy
* Blake Crawford as Henry A. Adams
* Charles Glover as Townsend Harris
* Kyle Card as Ernest Mason Satow
* Ian Moore as Harry Parkes
* Alexandre Sagar as Alexander von Siebold
* Greg Dale as Paul Flury-Hérard
* Didier Carelock as Léon Roches
* Jeffrey Rowe as Charles de Montblanc
* Julien Jaulin as Napoleon III
* Marie Moilliet as Eugénie de Montijo
* Nozomi de Lencquesaing as Mermet de Cachon
* Arno Le Gall as Leopold II of Belgium
* Massimo Biondi as Paul Brunat
* Riccardo Balzarini as Alexander Allan Shand
* Frederic Benoliel as Ulysses S. Grant
* Michelle Take as Julia Grant
* Brent Olian as Jesse Grant
* Gaetano Totaro as Theodore Roosevelt
* Neil Garrison as William Howard Taft
* Dong Hao as Sun Yat-sen
* Ricky Anderson as Frank A. Vanderlip
* Jamie Schyy as George Eastman
* Don Johnson as Lyman J. Gage

### The new government

* Ikusaburo Yamazaki as Itō Hirobumi
* Kōji Ōkura as Ōkuma Shigenobu
* Aki Asakura as Ōkuma Ayako, Shigenobu's wife
* Shūichirō Masuda as Etō Shinpei
* Masaki Miura as Maejima Hisoka
* Wataru Takagi as Tamano Yofumi
* Kaisei Kamimura as Akamatsu Noriyoshi
* Seiji Fukushi as Inoue Kaoru
* Reika Manaki as Inoue Takeko
* Ren Komai as Inoue Sueko
* Kazuaki Hankai as Komura Jutarō
* Reki Amada as Katō Takaaki
* Kenjirō Ishimaru as Hara Takashi
* Yoshimasa Kondo as Shidehara Kijūrō
* Yoshiyuki Ōmori as Katō Tomosaburō
* Masato Mitani as Tokugawa Iesato
* Tōsei Ishida as Kaneko Kentarō
* Kazunari Uryū as Soeda Juichi

### Mitsubishi Group

* Nakamura Shikan VIII as Iwasaki Yatarō
* Shugo Oshinari as Iwasaki Yanosuke

### Others

* Kin'ya Kitaōji as Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate, and the host of the series.
* Tōru Watanabe as Umeda Shinnosuke, Armor dealer in Edo
* Hiroshi Tamaki as Takashima Shūhan, Western-style gunner
* Yoshi Sakō as Tone Yoshiharu, Okabe Domain magistrate
* Shunya Itabashi as Sanada Hannosuke, swordsman
* Ginnojō Yamazaki as Ōhashi Totsuan, Edo Confucian scholar
* Tetsu Watanabe as Kakubei
* Tomori Abe as Suma
* Shōdai Fukuyama as Kōno Kenzō
* Masataka Matsubara as Inokichi
* Hajime Yamazaki as Rōro Sakatani
* Daikichi Sugawara as Date Munenari, 8th Head of the Uwajima Domain
* Ryūshi Mizukami as Yamauchi Yōdō, 15th Head of the Tosa Domain
* Takuo Inari as Tokugawa Yoshikatsu, 14th Head of the Owari Domain
* Nakamura Mantarō as Fukuzawa Yukichi
* Issey Ogata as Minomura Rizaemon
* Junpei Yasui as Masuda Takashi
* Hisahiro Ogura as Ono Zen'emon
* Katsumi Kiba as Ōkubo Ichiō
* Yōji Tanaka as Hagiwara Shirobei
* Tadashi Ōtake as Hiraoka Junzō
* Ryūji Kasahara as Kijima Matabei
* Kumi Kureshiro as Masuda Eiko
* Takashi Okabe as Ōkura Kihachirō
* Rio Kanno as Ōkura Tokuko
* Kōki Osamura as Sasaki Yūnosuke
* Kanda Hakuzan VI as Kanda Hakuzan II
* Jiro Okamoto as Kijūrō
* Kōzō Haginoya as Kodama Gentarō
* Kazu Murakami as Dr. Takaki
* Hiro Ueno as Yasoda Meitarō
* Yūichi Yasoda as Kitasato Shibasaburō

## TV schedule

| Episode | Title | Directed by | Original airdate | Rating |
| 1 | "Eiichi, Mezameru" (栄一、目覚める) | Hiroshi Kurosaki | February 14, 2021 (2021-02-14) | 20.0% |
| 2 | "Eiichi, Odoru" (栄一、踊る) | Hiroshi Kurosaki | February 21, 2021 (2021-02-21) | 16.9% |
| 3 | "Eiichi, Shigoto-hajime" (栄一、仕事はじめ) | Hiroshi Kurosaki | February 28, 2021 (2021-02-28) | 16.7% |
| 4 | "Eiichi, Okoru" (栄一、怒る) | Naoki Murahashi | March 7, 2021 (2021-03-07) | 15.5% |
| 5 | "Eiichi, Yureru" (栄一、揺れる) | Naoki Murahashi | March 14, 2021 (2021-03-14) | 16.2% |
| 6 | "Eiichi, Munasawagi" (栄一、胸騒ぎ) | Hiroshi Kurosaki | March 21, 2021 (2021-03-21) | 15.5% |
| 7 | "Seiten no Eiichi" (青天の栄一) | Naoki Murahashi | March 28, 2021 (2021-03-28) | 14.2% |
| 8 | "Eiichi no Shūgen" (栄一の祝言) | Kensuke Matsuki | April 4, 2021 (2021-04-04) | 15.3% |
| 9 | "Eiichi to Sakuradamon-gai no Hen" (栄一と桜田門外の変) | Naoki Murahashi | April 11, 2021 (2021-04-11) | 14.5% |
| 10 | "Eiichi, Shishi ni Naru" (栄一、志士になる) | Kensuke Matsuki | April 18, 2021 (2021-04-18) | 13.9% |
| 11 | "Yokohama Yakiuchi Keikaku" (横濱焼き討ち計画) | Hiroshi Kurosaki | April 25, 2021 (2021-04-25) | 14.1% |
| 12 | "Eiichi no Tabidachi" (栄一の旅立ち) | Hiroshi Kurosaki | May 2, 2021 (2021-05-02) | 13.4% |
| 13 | "Eiichi, Kyō no Miyako e" (栄一、京の都へ) | Kenji Tanaka | May 9, 2021 (2021-05-09) | 13.9% |
| 14 | "Eiichi to Unmei no Shukun" (栄一と運命の主君) | Kenji Tanaka | May 16, 2021 (2021-05-16) | 15.5% |
| 15 | "Tokudayū, Satsuma Sennyū" (篤太夫、薩摩潜入) | Hideaki Kawano | May 23, 2021 (2021-05-23) | 15.3% |
| 16 | "Onjin Ansatsu" (恩人暗殺) | Naoki Murahashi | May 30, 2021 (2021-05-30) | 14.6% |
| 17 | "Tokudayū, Namida no Kikyō" (篤太夫、涙の帰京) | Kenji Tanaka | June 6, 2021 (2021-06-06) | 14.2% |
| 18 | "Hitotsubashi no Futokoro" (一橋の懐) | Hideaki Kawano | June 13, 2021 (2021-06-13) | 14.2% |
| 19 | "Kanjōkumigashira Shibusawa Tokudayū" (勘定組頭 渋沢篤太夫) | Yūto Osaki | June 20, 2021 (2021-06-20) | 13.6% |
| 20 | "Tokudayū, Seiten no Hekireki" (篤太夫、青天の霹靂) | Naoki Murahashi | June 27, 2021 (2021-06-27) | 14.6% |
| 21 | "Tokudayū, Tōki Michi e" (篤太夫、遠き道へ) | Hideaki Kawano | July 4, 2021 (2021-07-04) | 16.5% |
| 22 | "Tokudayū, Paris e" (篤太夫、パリへ) | Kenji Tanaka | July 11, 2021 (2021-07-11) | 14.7% |
| 23 | "Tokudayū to Saigo no Shōgun" (篤太夫と最後の将軍) | Kenji Tanaka | July 18, 2021 (2021-07-18) | 14.1% |
| Three weeks off due to the Olympic Games broadcast. |||||
| 24 | "Paris no Goisshin" (パリの御一新) | Kenji Tanaka | August 15, 2021 (2021-08-15) | 14.3% |
| 25 | "Tokudayū, Kikoku suru" (篤太夫、帰国する) | Hiroshi Kurosaki | August 22, 2021 (2021-08-22) | 12.0% |
| Two weeks off due to the Paralympic Games broadcast. |||||
| 26 | "Tokudayū, Saikai suru" (篤太夫、再会する) | Hiroshi Kurosaki | September 12, 2021 (2021-09-12) | 12.7% |
| 27 | "Tokudayū, Sunpu de Hagemu" (篤太夫、駿府で励む) | Naoki Murahashi | September 19, 2021 (2021-09-19) | 12.6% |
| 28 | "Tokudayū to Yaoyorozu no Kami" (篤太夫と八百万の神) | Hiroshi Kurosaki | September 26, 2021 (2021-09-26) | 13.8% |
| 29 | "Eiichi, Kaisei suru" (栄一、改正する) | Akihiro Tajima | October 3, 2021 (2021-10-03) | 13.1% |
| 30 | "Shibusawa Eiichi no Chichi" (渋沢栄一の父) | Hiroshi Kurosaki | October 10, 2021 (2021-10-10) | 13.0% |
| 31 | "Eiichi, Saigo no Henshin" (栄一、最後の変身) | Wataru Suzuki | October 17, 2021 (2021-10-17) | 14.0% |
| 32 | "Eiichi, Ginkō wo Tsukuru" (栄一、銀行を作る) | Naoki Murahashi | October 24, 2021 (2021-10-24) | 12.9% |
| 33 | "Rongo to Soroban" (論語と算盤) | Kenji Tanaka | October 31, 2021 (2021-10-31) | 11.9% |
| 34 | "Eiichi to Densetsu no Shōnin" (栄一と伝説の商人) | Hideaki Kawano | November 7, 2021 (2021-11-07) | 14.4% |
| 35 | "Eiichi, Motenasu" (栄一、もてなす) | Kenji Tanaka | November 14, 2021 (2021-11-14) | 12.9% |
| 36 | "Eiichi to Chiyo" (栄一と千代) | Hiroshi Kurosaki | November 21, 2021 (2021-11-21) | 12.2% |
| 37 | "Eiichi, Agaku" (栄一、あがく) | Wataru Suzuki | November 28, 2021 (2021-11-28) | 12.0% |
| 38 | "Eiichi no Chakunan" (栄一の嫡男) | Tetsuya Watanabe | December 5, 2021 (2021-12-05) | 12.6% |
| 39 | "Eiichi to Sensō" (栄一と戦争) | Naoki Murahashi | December 12, 2021 (2021-12-12) | 11.9% |
| 40 | "Eiichi, Umi wo Koete" (栄一、海を越えて) | Hiroshi Kurosaki | December 19, 2021 (2021-12-19) | 12.1% |
| 41 | "Seishun wa Tsuzuku" (青春はつづく) | Hiroshi Kurosaki | December 26, 2021 (2021-12-26) | 11.2% |
| Average rating 14.1% - Rating is based on Japanese Video Research (Kantō region). |||||

### Omnibus

| Episode | Original airdate | Original airtime |
| 1 | January 3, 2022 | 8:15 - 9:10 |
| 2 | January 3, 2022 | 9:10 - 10:00 |
| 3 | January 3, 2022 | 10:05 - 10:59 |
| 4 | January 3, 2022 | 10:59 - 11:49 |