NHK 드라마에 서사된 격동기 일본과 여성의 역할 연구 ― 「야에의 벚꽃(八重の桜)」과 「꽃 타오르다(花燃ゆ)」를 중심으로 ―

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to investigate the characteristics in the NHK historical dramas, Yae no Sakura(八重の桜) (2013), and Hana Moyu (花燃ゆ) (2015) that put women in front, and the narrated roles of women in the turbulent era, the early period of Meiji Restoration and Bakumatsu. In addition, the study intends to illuminate the ideal figure of the new era that the public demands from the dramas through historical perspective as well. Both of these dramas emphasize women's education by showing that women overcame hardship and opened up a new era through their power in the course of the establishment of Japan in the turbulent era. Those also use narrative techniques not to close up the life of the males, the main characters of history, but to close up the females'. In 2013, NHK has given the Japanese people the keyword, "frustration and regeneration" through the life of Yae in the drama, after the Great East Japan Earthquake. In addition, in 2015, the drama emphasizes the importance of overcoming the pain of losing family in the spiral of history and also developing the power to live through education in a new era from the viewpoint of Yoshida Shoin's sister, Yoshida Humi. The two dramas emphasized the importance of female power to plant seeds that became the foundation of the country, and especially likened them to cherry blossoms and flowers. In order to harmonize and stabilize the family and the environment, the role models of wise women are suggested as emphasizing women's education and illuminated as human images of a new era.