, "Cloud over the slope," is a popular Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 historical novel by Shiba Ryōtarō originally published serially from 1968 to 1972 in eight volumes. A three year NHK

NHK

NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....

 television special drama

Taiga drama

is the name NHK gives to the annual, year-long historical fiction television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white Hana no Shōgai, starring kabuki actor Onoe Shōroku and Takarazuka star Awashima Chikage, the network has hired a producer, director, writer, music...

 series based on the novel and also entitled Saka no ue no kumo

Saka no ue no kumo

, "Cloud over the slope," is a popular Japanese historical novel by Shiba Ryōtarō originally published serially from 1968 to 1972 in eight volumes...

is being shown in thirteen episodes from 2009 to 2011.

The novel is set in the Meiji period

Meiji period

The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...

 and focuses on three characters from the city of Matsuyama: Akiyama Yoshifuru

Akiyama Yoshifuru

was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, and was considered the father of the modern Japanese cavalry. Akiyama Yoshifuru was Vice Admiral Akiyama Saneyuki's older brother.-Early life:...

, his brother Akiyama Saneyuki

Akiyama Saneyuki

was a Meiji-period career officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy. He was famous as a planner of Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War. The Japanese general Akiyama Yoshifuru was his elder brother.-Early life and career:...

, and their friend, Masaoka Tsunenori, better known as Masaoka Shiki

Masaoka Shiki

, pen-name of Masaoka Noboru , was a Japanese poet, author, and literary critic in Meiji period Japan. Shiki is regarded as a major figure in the development of modern haiku poetry...

. The novel follows their lives from childhood through the Sino-Japanese War

Sino-Japanese War

There were two wars known as the Sino-Japanese War :* The First Sino-Japanese War between China and Japan , primarily over control of Korea....

, culminating in the Russo-Japanese War

Russo-Japanese War

The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...

 of 1904-5.

The city of Matsuyama has a Saka no ue no kumo Museum

Saka no ue no kumo Museum

Saka no Ue no Kumo Museum is a museum located in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, Japan, and inspired by the novel Saka no ue no kumo, written by Ryotaro Shiba....

 dedicated to the novel and associated TV series.

English translation

On October 17, 2009, at a Japan Writers Conference, Juliet Winters Carpenter

Juliet Winters Carpenter

Juliet Winters Carpenter is an American translator of modern Japanese literature. Born in the American Midwest, she studied Japanese literature at the University of Michigan and the Inter-University Centre for Japanese Language Studies in Tokyo...

, who previously translated Shiba's Saigo no shogun as The Last Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1998), spoke on "Translating Historical Fiction: Shiba Ryotaro’s Saka no ue no kumo (Clouds Above the Hill)." In her abstract, she wrote, "Currently a team of three translators (myself, Paul McCarthy, and Andrew Cobbing), one editor (Phyllis Birnbaum), an advisor (Mr. Takechi) and publisher (Sumio Saito) are working to translate all eight volumes of Saka no ue no kumo (Working title: Clouds above the Hill) in the next three years."