"Ooku Dai-ishou"

“Ooku Dai-ishou”, “The Inner Palace—Episode One”, is a Japanese TV drama about the wars among the queen and the concubines of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third Shogun of Tokugawa Shogunate.

The so-called “Ooku”, the harem of the Shogun, is a palace where the General’s mother, wife, concubines and their waitresses reside at. The manager of Ooku has the ultimate power at the inner palace, ruling all the other females at Ooku.

Therefore, as the moneys fight over the throne, the women at Ooku have their battles for the very place, using more “civilized” strategies though: sarcasm, circumvention, denigration, poisoning and etc…

While I watched the TV series, the plots were so “complicated” that I experiecned a severe stomach ache. I guess I am too naive for distasteful politics. Still, I would say this is a well-organized program, pretty addictive. Plus, the supporting actresses are surprisingly beautiful and elegant. The soundtrack is also quite interesting, a combination of traditional and modern music. It’s totally different from typical Japanese songs.