Distributor Toei has announced that Jiro Nitta's novel "Tsurugidake: Ten no Ki" is being turned into a movie. It will be the first film directed by well-known cinematographer Daisaku Kimura.

The story, set in the Meiji era, focuses on a team looking to explore the last empty space on Japan's maps: the peak of Tsurugidake in the Hida Mountains. The main cast includes Tadanobu Asano, Teruyuki Kagawa, Ryuhei Matsuda, and Toru Nakamura.

Principal photography, which began on location in April, is scheduled to continue until July of next year, though the cast will not participate until this September.