Nepedia
Back to Discover
Fluent Reader
🎨

Oshin

arts Maturity 11-13 Next article →

Oshin is a famous Japanese television drama known as an asadora, or morning serial.

It first aired on NHK from March 4, 1983, until March 31, 1984. The show tells the long life story of a woman named Oshin. Her journey begins in the Meiji period and continues until the early 1980s. This series was one of the most watched shows in Japan ever. It even traveled to 68 other countries with many different subtitles.

The story works like a long journey through time. It begins in 1983 with Oshin's grandson, Kei. He goes on a trip to find Oshin in Yamagata. As they travel, the show takes us back into the past. We see the many difficult times Oshin faced as she grew up.

The story follows her from a young girl to a grown woman. It shows her working in many different places across Japan. Each part of her life teaches her something new about the world.

This drama was created by a writer named Sugako Hashida.

She used a collection of anonymous letters to build the story. These letters were written by a woman on her deathbed about her past. Hashida wanted to honor the hardships people faced during the Meiji period. At first, many television networks rejected the idea. They thought the themes were too dark or harsh. Even the station NHK was not sure about it at first. Eventually, a station director gave his approval to make it.

Oshin's life is based on a real person named Katsu Wada.

Katsu Wada helped start a large supermarket chain called Yaohan with her husband. The show has 297 episodes that are each 15 minutes long. In 1984, a movie was made by Sanrio about Oshin's early years. This animated movie used the same scripts written by Hashida. The actress who played young Oshin, Ayako Kobayashi, also provided the voice. These details help show how much people cared about her story.

Oshin's story connects to the ideas of hard work and family.

As a child, she worked as a babysitter to help her poor family. Later, she moved to Tokyo to learn traditional Japanese hairdressing. She even learned how to use an abacus for math. When her marriage faced hard times, she helped run a business. She and her husband, Ryūzō, sold cloth at a night market. They used that money to start making clothes for children. Her life shows how one person can overcome many struggles.

413 words

Where will your curiosity go next?

Keep exploring at your chosen reading level.

More to explore

🔬 Go deeper

More advanced topics to explore

🪜 Step back

Simpler topics to build understanding

What is Nepedia?

A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.