NHK announced today that young actress Kutsuna Shiori will be portraying the role of 'Sen' in the ongoing taiga drama "Gou ~Himetachi no Sengoku~".

Sen is the first child of 'Gou' (played by Ueno Juri) and 'Tokugawa Hidetada' (played by Mukai Osamu). Last month, the staff revealed that child actress Ashida Mana would portray Sen's early childhood, including her political wedding with 'Toyotomi Hideyori' (Takeda Katsuto) at the age of seven. Kutsuna will then take the baton from Ashida to portray Sen's teenage days, and show viewers the image of a caring wife living in the Osaka Castle.

The relatively happy break in her otherwise dramatic life lasts only for a few years, until her grandfather seizes the castle, which led to the suicide of Hideyori and his mother, and the end of the final major uprising against the Tokugawa shogunate. Having her relatives wipe out her new family caused her to grow some complicated feelings towards Gou and Hidetada.



Kutsuna began filming the first scenes for her first historical drama on August 4th.

She commented, "It's a huge project and I'm feeling very nervous. I was very happy but also anxious when I received the offer. There are many values from the Warring States period that I find difficult to sympathize with, but I thought a lot about how to approach the life of Sen and I will work hard in order to accurately portray her story."

The young actress was also left speechless by the scale of the taiga drama set. She said, "It's incredible! Having such a spacious studio and such a huge set, it feels like we are actually filming in a real castle."

Kutsuna will appear on "Gou ~Himetachi no Sengoku~" from the 40th episode (October 16th) until the end of the drama on November 27th.

Source + Images: Oricon