Matsumoto Kōshirō
The novel has been adapted into three different television dramas. The first is a 10-episode series starring Goro Inagaki that was broadcast by NHK in 2001. The second is a TV movie starring Matsumoto Kōshirō X (then Ichikawa Somegorō VII) that was broadcast by TV Asahi in 2015. The third is another TV movie, starring Kuranosuke Sasaki, that was also broadcast on TV Asahi, on March 29, 2020.