Scenes
A female cook from Osaka in Edo ...
TV-Drama on TV Asahi with Keiko Kitagawa.
Miwotsukushi RYŌRICHŌ
みをつくし料理帖
Mio's Cookbook
Movie Data
Original title: Miwotsukushi Ryoricho
International title: Mio's Cookbook
Original language: Japanese
Published: 2012
Length: 119 minutes
Staff
Director: Osamu Katayama
Script: Noriko Yoshida after novels of Iku Takada
Music: Kyosuke Kamisaka
Cooking: Eriko Fukasawa
Sword: Toshio Sugawara
Cast
Mio (cook): Keiko Kitagawa (child: Seiran Kobayashi)
Yoshi (ex owner of "Tenma Ichichoan"): Mieko Harada
Asahi Tayu (Oiran/Tayo in Yoshiwara): Kanjiya Shihori (child: Kanon Tani)
Gensei Nagata (doctor): Yuta Hiraoka
Mataji (cook in Yoshiwara): Issei Takahashi
Taneichi (owner of "Tsuruya"): Ren Osugi
Komatsubara (Samurai): Masahiro Matsuoka
Mizuhara Tozai (fortune teller): Naomasa Rokuhira
Souma Uname (owner of "Toryuro"): Takayuki Takuma
Isazo (carpenter): Manabu Hamada
Merchant for Bonito flocks: Toru Nomaguchi
Haru (lives near Mio und Yoshi): Shoko Ikezu
Toryurou-servant: Kisuke Iida
Narrator: Mitsuru Fukikoshi
The books
Miwo Tsukushi Ryoricho is a series of historical novels by Iku Takada. There are a total of 10 volumes that were published from 2009 to 2014. In 2012 and 2014 it became a TV drama with Keiko Kitagawa on TV Asahi and in 2017 and 2019 it became a series drama with Haru Kuroki on NHK. This was followed in 2020 by a film directed by Haruki Kadokawa and starring Honoka Matsumoto.
The story is about Mio, a female cook from Osaka who relocated to Edo and struggles with the taste preferences and water differences between East (Edo) and West (Osaka), but gradually makes her way and makes people happy through cooking. The story describes the food scene of the Edo period. The author, who grew up in western Japan and came to Tokyo to study, personally experienced the difference in the type of food and this is how his stories came about.
In 2012, the series' cumulative circulation exceeded 1.9 million copies, with the primary readership being women aged 30 to 60. A rewritten paperback edition became a TV drama on TV Asahi in 2012, starring Keiko Kitagawa who is known from "Hana no ato".
The TV Drama 2012
The film begins in Mio's childhood, when she is playing with her friend Noe. Then there is a time jump of 10 years and Mio works at Tsuruya, a restaurant in Edo. She has a hard time meeting the tastes of her guests with her dishes. She lives with her former boss Yoshi, in whose restaurant in Osaka she learned to cook. She also receives advice from doctor Gensei Nagata and a somewhat mysterious samurai named Komatsubara. Her cooking style "from the Kyoto region", i.e. from Osaka, attracts the attention of a Tayo (courtesan of the first rank) from Yoshiwara to Mio. It turns out that she is the childhood friend Noe. After many ups and downs, the film ends on a reconciliatory note.
The story in this TV drama is shortened. Some plot threads that remain open will be continued in the second part of 2014. The combination of several episodes into one film is called an "omnibus film" in Japan. (オムニバス映画, むにばす･えいが)