Kindaichi returns to the village of the deadly song: Akuma no Temariuta comes back to NHK

A hot-spring inn, a singer returning to her home village and a children’s song that begins to sound unnervingly like a catalogue of murders. This is the world of Akuma no Temariuta, the Kōsuke Kindaichi mystery that NHK first broadcast in two parts on March 14 and 21, 2026, on BS Premium 4K. Now the detective created by Seishi Yokomizo is returning to television: NHK BS will air the adaptation on November 28 and December 5 at 9 p.m. Japan time.

The complete story, comprising two 89-minute episodes, has therefore already had its first 4K broadcast. NHK’s October 27 announcement sets the dates for its arrival on BS and builds a short Kindaichi retrospective around it: on the three preceding Sundays, the channel will revisit Akuma ga Kitarite Fue o Fuku and the two parts of Inugamike no Ichizoku. The schedule offers a route through different stages of the collection before entering the village of the deadly song.

The Japanese title, 悪魔の手毬唄, can be rendered roughly as “The Devil’s Nursery Rhyme”—an explanatory translation. Temariuta are songs traditionally sung while playing with a ball. Here, that seemingly innocent childhood memory becomes a threat: the murders follow its verses.

A homecoming stirs up the past

Kindaichi arrives in Onikobe, a village in Okayama, and stays at Kame no Yu. The memory of a murder committed 23 years earlier still lingers there. The return of Chieko Bessho, a singer born in the village, seems a cause for celebration; her former classmates arrange a reunion. Then young women in their circle begin to die.

The official synopsis places the mystery amid old grievances, hidden blood ties and a desire for revenge. The song supplies a pattern the detective must decipher. The past is more than background: it holds relationships that continue to shape life in the village.

Daiken Okudaira plays Kanao Aoike, the innkeeper’s eldest son and a central figure among the village’s young people. Mizuki Yoshida plays Chieko, whose return sets the story in motion. Their agencies confirmed the roles and described an adaptation intended both for Kindaichi followers and for viewers discovering this world for the first time.

Hidetaka Yoshioka returns as the investigator. Rie Miyazawa plays Rika Aoike, the innkeeper, and Natsuki Deguchi plays Satoko Aoike. The cast also includes Toshihiro Wada, Megumi Okina, Misa Shimizu, Naomi Nishida, Kazuyuki Asano, Takashi Sasano, Tokuma Nishioka, Kayoko Shiraishi and Mantaro Koichi.

The detective endures; the actors make him new

This fifth title belongs to the collection of Kindaichi adaptations NHK began in 2016. It follows Gokumontō in 2016, Akuma ga Kitarite Fue o Fuku in 2018, Yatsuhakamura in 2019 and Inugamike no Ichizoku in 2023. Each tells a separate case involving the same detective, so viewers can watch Akuma no Temariuta without having seen the four earlier productions.

Hiroki Hasegawa played Kindaichi in Gokumontō. Yoshioka took over in the 2018 adaptation and has continued in the role: Akuma no Temariuta is his fourth appearance as the investigator in this collection. The detective and Yokomizo’s fiction provide continuity, while each story introduces different families, settings and suspects.

In comments released by NHK, Yoshioka describes the daunting experience of facing such formidable fellow actors in one production after another. Miyazawa recalls that Kindaichi has been part of her imaginative world since childhood and welcomes the chance to work with Yoshioka again. Their remarks point to the project’s twin demands: bringing new characters to life within a tradition audiences already recognise.

The screenplay is by Yasuko Kobayashi, whose credits include Kishibe Rohan wa Ugokanai and the anime Shingeki no Kyojin. Teruyuki Yoshida, who also directed the previous adaptation of Inugamike no Ichizoku, directs. The reunion of writer, director and lead actor carries forward the core team behind that 2023 production.

A following that predates this adaptation

Kindaichi’s history spans generations of readers and viewers. Publisher Pushkin Press notes that the detective appears in more than 70 of Yokomizo’s stories, many adapted for the stage or television. The novel Akuma no Temariuta is available in English as The Little Sparrow Murders. The new broadcast adds to the long life of a character whose cases have lent themselves to successive actors and interpretations.

The 2023 adaptation of Inugamike no Ichizoku offers one concrete example of that public interest: Sponichi reported that its hashtag reached the top of Japan’s Twitter trends after the first part aired. That reflects the conversation around the earlier production; it is not an audience figure for the 2026 adaptation.

Those roots also have a geography. The Okayama Film Commission lists Akuma no Temariuta filming locations in Okayama, Kurashiki, Takahashi, Mimasaka, Ibara, Yakage and Misaki. They include the former Fukiya school, the Hirokane residence and historic streets in Saidaiji. The fictional village is assembled from real places in a region closely connected to Yokomizo’s fictional world.

When to watch—and where to find the earlier cases

Following the March 14 and 21 broadcasts on BS Premium 4K, NHK has announced the following schedule for November and December 2026. All times are Japan Standard Time, and all five broadcasts will be on NHK BS:

• November 8, 1–2:59 p.m.: a rerun of Akuma ga Kitarite Fue o Fuku.
• November 15, 1–2:29 p.m.: a rerun of the first part of Inugamike no Ichizoku.
• November 22, 1–2:29 p.m.: a rerun of the second part of Inugamike no Ichizoku.
• November 28, 9–10:29 p.m.: the first part of Akuma no Temariuta.
• December 5, 9–10:29 p.m.: the second part of Akuma no Temariuta.

Satellite television remains the confirmed way to watch this adaptation of Akuma no Temariuta. NHK’s announcement does not give a streaming release date.

For the four earlier titles, NHK On Demand’s official listings and U-NEXT’s Kindaichi collection bring together Gokumontō, Akuma ga Kitarite Fue o Fuku, Yatsuhakamura and Inugamike no Ichizoku. NHK On Demand is a paid service restricted to Japan, rather than an international viewing option. Check each title’s listing for availability and terms before subscribing.

Searching by year and lead actor helps. Films and television productions from other periods share these titles: finding Akuma no Temariuta in a catalogue does not necessarily mean finding this NHK adaptation with Yoshioka and Miyazawa. The new broadcast offers another encounter with a familiar mystery; locating it means distinguishing it from the story’s many other screen incarnations.