Tenten-kun manga creator announces his ancestor is the lead of the 2027 taiga drama

Kazumata Oguri, author of Hanasaka Tenshi Tenten-kun, revealed that the lead of the taiga drama NHK will air in 2027 is his direct ancestor. The announcement came on June 4 and confirms that the author's new manga will deal with the life of his great-great-grandfather, Oguri Kōzukenosuke Tadamasa, who will be played by Tōri Matsuzaka in Gyakuzoku no Bakushin.

The series is titled Oguri Tadamasa Monogatari ~Boku no Hīhī Ojīchan~ and starts on July 3 in the August issue of Saikyō Jump. It runs for five chapters with historical supervision by Yasuyoshi Murakami, a specialist on Oguri Tadamasa, and Manabu Ōishi, an expert on the Bakumatsu period. Oguri himself said on X: "It is probably the first time in the world that a manga artist has drawn the biography of his own illustrious ancestor."

The author describes the work as a gateway to the character before the drama premieres. There are gags and a tone that is accessible to children, but also serious research behind it. It is not the first time a historical manga has relied on academic advisors, although here the personal connection changes how it reads: it is not an editorial commission, it is his family's story.

Who was Oguri Tadamasa

Oguri Kōzukenosuke Tadamasa was born in 1827 and was a high-ranking official of the Tokugawa shogunate. He was part of the first Japanese embassy to the United States and applied what he saw there to modernize the country: he promoted the Yokosuka arsenal, reorganized the bakufu's economy, and designed a vision of Japan different from the one that ended up prevailing after the Meiji Restoration.

The taiga drama presents him as a rival of Katsu Kaishū. The new government treated him as a traitor and his figure remained buried for decades. NHK promises entertainment that rescues the loser of history, a line that has already worked before in the franchise with characters like Sanada Yukimura or Ishikawa Goemon.

The publisher of Saikyō Jump confirmed the project with a preview of the protagonist's design. The manga is published just as the drama's promotional machine starts moving, so the crossover of audiences is guaranteed: children who come for the comedic tone and adults who want context before 2027.

Readers' reaction

On social media, the announcement generated surprise at the coincidence of timing. Some readers are asking for the series to move to Jump+ or be collected in a tankōbon, because five chapters in a children's magazine feel short for material with this potential. Others remember Tenten-kun fondly, the manga that made Oguri known.

The case brings to mind other authors who have explored their family trees, but none with an ancestor of this historical caliber. If the manga works, the publisher has a clear opportunity to expand it. A character like this is not exhausted in five installments.

The first chapter comes out on July 3. The preview is already in the July issue of Saikyō Jump, on sale today.