Hanekonma

Hanekonma
Also known as	はね駒 or Rin (English language title)
Genre	Asadora drama
Starring	Yuki Saito Kirin Kiki Ken Watanabe Nenji Kobayashi Guts Ishimatsu Shingo Yanagisawa Shigeru Yazaki Jun Miho Eiko Nagashima Hitomi Takahashi Yurie Nitani Tokue Hanasawa Takeo Chii Yumi Shirakawa Yatsuko Tan'ami Akira Yamanouchi Kenji Sawada
Narrated by	Toshiyuki Hosokawa
Theme music composer	Shigeaki Saegusa
Country of origin	Japan
Original language	Japanese
No. of episodes	156
Production
Running time	15 minutes (per episode)
Production company	NHK
Original release
Network	NHK
Release	April 7 (1986-04-07) – October 4, 1986 (1986-10-04)

Hanekonma (はね駒) is a 1986 Japanese television serial, the 36th NHK asadora drama. Written by Koharu Terauchi, it was inspired by the life of Haruko Isomura (1877-1918), a pioneer female newspaper reporter of the Meiji and Taishō eras.

Like its predecessor, Oshin, an English-subtitled version of the serial, described as a "high-class soapie", was broadcast in Australia on SBS, under the title Rin, in 1988.

Plot

Tachibana Rin, nicknamed "Hanekonma" (filly), grows up in Sōma, Fukushima. Together she and her mother scrape up enough money for her to attend a Christian girls' school in Sendai, Miyagi. Though disowned by her father, she studies English and, after some early struggles, becomes a teacher. Later she marries and moves to Tokyo. After her husband's business fails, and while juggling raising a family, she succeeds in becoming Japan's first female newspaper reporter.

Development

Like a previous asadora early morning drama Oshin (1983), and a subsequent taiga evening drama Inochi (1988), Hanekonma reflected women’s history and was developed by NHK to appeal to female audiences.

Cast

• Yuki Saito as Tachibana Rin
• Kirin Kiki as Tachibana Yae (Rin's mother)
• Nenji Kobayashi as Tachibana Kojirō (Rin's father)
• Ken Watanabe as Onodera Genzō (Rin's husband)