is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 program on the TV Asahi

TV Asahi

, also known as EX and , is a Japanese television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company writes its name in lower-case letters, tv asahi, in its logo and public-image materials. The company also owns All-Nippon News Network....

 network. Set in the eighteenth century, it showed fictitious events in the life of Yoshimune

Tokugawa Yoshimune

was the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.-Lineage:...

, the eighth Tokugawa

Tokugawa clan

The was a powerful daimyo family of Japan. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa and were a branch of the Minamoto clan by the Nitta clan. However, the early history of this clan remains a mystery.-History:...

 shogun

Shogun

A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...

. The program started in 1978 under the title Yoshimune Hyōbanki: Abarenbō Shōgun (Chronicle in Praise of Yoshimune: The Bold Shogun). After a few seasons, it lost the first two words and ran for two decades under the shorter title until the series ended in 2003; a two-hour special aired in 2004, and more might follow. The earliest scripts occasionally wove stories around historic events such as the establishment of firefighting companies

Firefighter

Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...

 of commoner

Commoner

In British law, a commoner is someone who is neither the Sovereign nor a peer. Therefore, any member of the Royal Family who is not a peer, such as Prince Harry of Wales or Anne, Princess Royal, is a commoner, as is any member of a peer's family, including someone who holds only a courtesy title,...

s in Edo

Edo

, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

, but eventually the series adopted a routine of strictly fiction.

Along with Zenigata Heiji

Zenigata Heiji

is Japanese fictional character, the hero of a series of Japanese novels, films and TV programmes set in the Edo period of Japanese history. He is a policeman who catches criminals by throwing coins, the zeni of the title, thus Zenigata Heiji. The hero was created by novelist Kodō Nomura in 1937...

 and Mito Kōmon

Mito Kōmon

is a Japanese jidaigeki or period drama that has been on prime-time television since 1969. The title character is the historic Tokugawa Mitsukuni, former vice-shogun and retired second daimyo of the Mito domain...

, it ranks among the longest-running series in the jidaigeki

Jidaigeki

is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...

 genre

Genre

Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...

. Like so many other jidaigeki, it falls in the category of kanzen-chōaku, loosely, "rewarding good and punishing evil."

Regulars

Tokugawa Yoshimune

Tokugawa Yoshimune

was the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.-Lineage:...

Disguised as Tokuda Shinnosuke—Shin-san to his friends—the third son of a hatamoto

Hatamoto

A was a samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as gokenin. However, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa...

, the shogun roams freely about his capital, using the Megumi fire company as his base. The captain

Fire captain

Captain is a rank in various fire services.In most American and Canadian fire services, a captain ranks above a lieutenant and below a Battalion Chief. This varies, though, between departments – in the Boston Fire Department, the captain is the officer in overall charge of a fire company...

 of the company knows his identity, but others are unaware that he is the shogun. Yoshimune-as-Shinnosuke is portrayed as the nearly invincible samurai warrior who seldom loses a fight no matter how many enemies opposing him there are.

Actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 Ken Matsudaira

Ken Matsudaira

is a Japanese actor from Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan. His real name is Sueshichi Suzuki .- Career :Active both in television and on stage, he also sings. Matsudaira is most widely known for jidaigeki roles, having made his debut with Shintaro Katsu in an episode of the television series Zatoichi...

 originated the role and played it for 25 years. He also sang some of the songs in the middle of episodes.

Ōoka Echizen-no-Kami Tadasuke

Ooka Tadasuke

was a Japanese samurai in the service of the Tokugawa shogunate. During the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune, as a magistrate of Edo, his roles included chief of police, judge and jury, and Yamada Magistrate prior to his tenure as South Magistrate of Edo...

Like Yoshimune, Tadasuke was a historical personage. Yoshimune appointed him to the position of Minami Machi Bugyō

Machi-bugyo

were officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were usually fudai daimyō, but this was amongst the senior administrative posts open to those who were not daimyō...

, one of the two chief administrators of Edo. In this office, he was mayor, police chief, judge and jury. He instituted and oversaw the operations of the commoners' fire companies. He also oversaw "City Hospital" (Koishikawa Yōjōsho, another Yoshimune innovation).

Tadashi Yokouchi

Tadashi Yokouchi

is a Japanese actor. Born in Dalian, Manchuria, he graduated from high school in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. A member of the 13th group of actors and actresses trained at the Haiyū-za, he counts Tetsuo Ishidate, Toshiyuki Hosokawa, Tomomi Satō, and Gō Katō as classmates. His older...

 played Tadasuke for nearly twenty years; Ryō Tamura

Ryo Tamura

is a Japanese actor from Kyoto. His father was silent-film star Tsumasaburo Bando. With his elder brothers, the late Takahiro and Masakazu, he is one of the Three Tamura Brothers. Another elder brother, Toshimaro, is active in show business as a manager....

 replaced him in the closing seasons.

Goyō toritsugi

The goyō toritsugi (御用取次) or soba yōnin (側用人) was the person who scheduled appointments for the Shogun. He is generally a man of advanced years. In the first two casts, the character's name was Kanō Gorozaemon (played by the late comic Ichirō Arishima

Ichiro Arishima

was a Japanese comedian and actor. Nicknamed "The Japanese Chaplin," he is best known outside Japan for his appearance as Tako, the promoter of King Kong in King Kong vs. Godzilla ....

). Next came Tanokura Magobei (Eiji Funakoshi

Eiji Funakoshi

was a Japanese actor. He received the Kinema Junpo Awards for Best Actor and the Mainichi Film Concours for Best Actor for his performance in Fires on the Plain.-Biography:...

), and a few followed in the cast changes of the last years of the show.

Fire captain

Tatsugoro was the founder of the Megumi fire company and thus reported directly to Tadasuke. Enka

Enka

is a popular Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern enka, however, is a relatively recent musical form which arose in the context of such postwar expressions of modern Japanese nonmaterial nationalism as nihonjinron, while adopting a more...

 singer Saburō Kitajima

Saburo Kitajima

is a well-known Japanese enka singer, lyricist and composer.He was born Minoru Ōno , in a little town in Hokkaidō to a fisherman. He was very poor because of the effects of World War II, and he was forced to work while he studied....

 played in the series from beginning to end. Never one to shun a brawl for a righteous cause, this short, stocky character was altruistic to a fault, stubborn, and fiercely loyal to Yoshimune.

Kitajima also sang the closing theme songs for several years.

Later, Tatsugorō retired from the Megumi and assumed a different occupation; the writers of the series brought in Jōji Yamamoto, another singer (and a disciple of Kitajima) to play Chōjirō, the successor to Tatsugorō. In all, there were three captains during the series.

Women of Megumi

Three actresses played Osai, the feisty wife of Tatsugoro. Later, when Tatsugorō left the fire company, the new captain Chōjirō married Obun, the young fishmonger/beat cop. The third captain was unmarried; his widowed sister Okyō was the lady of the Megumi.

Firemen

The cast always included half a dozen firefighters (火消 Hikeshi). While the roles were minor, together they were a prominent presence in the series. Character actors and comics played these parts.

The fire companies were named with a single kana

Kana

Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...

 such as め followed by the word -gumi. The show featured the Me-gumi, whose auspicious name could also mean "blessing."

In the first several years, a retired sumo wrestler named Ryūko

Ryuko Seiho

is a former sumo wrestler with the Hanakago beya and an actor and celebrity in Japan. He was born in Ōta, Tokyo. His highest rank in sumo was komusubi.-Sumo:...

 was a member of the cast. He played a retired sumo wrestler named Ryūko

Ryuko Seiho

is a former sumo wrestler with the Hanakago beya and an actor and celebrity in Japan. He was born in Ōta, Tokyo. His highest rank in sumo was komusubi.-Sumo:...

, who was initially a guest of the captain. He later became a bone-setting doctor, and finally joined the crew of the fire company. Long after leaving the series, he made an appearance as a guest star.

Oniwabanshū

Oniwabanshu

The was a group of onmitsu government-employed undercover agents established by the 8th Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune . They are sometimes described as "ninja".- History :...

 (ninja)

The show always had a male and a female oniwaban who acted as both spies and bodyguards for Yoshimune. A few of the actors and actresses have gone on to starring roles in other series. The original female, Osono, was played by Yoko Natsuki

Yoko Natsuki

is an actress, born 24 October 1952 in Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan. She began to start her career on the movie, it was Karate for Life at 1977. One of her television roles was Osono, a ninja in the jidaigeki series Yoshimune Hyōbanki: Abarenbō Shōgun. She was also a regular star in Abare Hasshū Goyō...

. Her successor, Asaka Mayumi

Asaka Mayumi

is a Japanese actress. One of her television roles was as the ninja Sagiri in the jidaigeki Abarenbo Shogun.As of 2005, she is still active in television commercials....

, is currently active. In the third series, Reiko Sugano played Hayate; then Takashima Reiko, who has gone on to star in television and film, succeeded her, with the name Kozue. Mayuko Irie (Akane), Akiko Andō (Koyuki), Hitoe Ōtake (Ayame), Chika Kochihira (Satsuki), Kaori Yamaguchi (Nagisa), and Kaori Matsunaga (Azami) followed, with Miki Murai appearing in the final special as Kaede. The men include Sukehachi (portrayed by Hiroshi Miyauchi

Hiroshi Miyauchi

is a prolific Japanese actor from Chiba Prefecture. He is best known for playing some of the most memorable roles in Tokusatsu history, such as Kazami Shiro in Kamen Rider V3 and Ken Hayakawa in Kaiketsu Zubat...

) and Ōtsuki Hanzō (Shun'ya Wazaki, opposite Osono), the first Saizō (Shigeru Araki, paired with Hayate), Sagenta (Kiyotaka Mitsugi

Kiyotaka Mitsugi

is a Japanese actor. His career has centered on television tokusatsu and jidaigeki. He starred in the 1967–68 television series Kōsoku Esper and the 1973 series Shirojishi Kamen, and played a supporting role as the ninja Saizō in Series III, Episodes 1–57, of Abarenbō Shōgun. In NHK's eleventh...

) and the second Saizō (played by Takayuki Godai

Takayuki Godai

is a Japanese actor. He was born on July 1, 1956 and is famous as the shogun's ninja Saizō in the long-running prime-time television jidaigeki Abarenbō Shōgun...

). Hayami Saheiji (Toshihide Wakamatsu

Toshihide Wakamatsu

Toshihide Wakamatsu is a Japanese actor born in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki, Japan.- Profile :* He originally came to Tokyo to be a painter, but soon became interested acting in movies and plays....

), Jūmonji Hayato, and finally Gorōta followed.

Narrator

Genzō Wakayama

Genzo Wakayama

is a Japanese seiyū and disc jockey from Ōdomari, Karafuto Prefecture. He moved to Sapporo, Hokkaido as a youth and graduated from Sapporo South High School. He is currently freelance....

 narrated the show from the first episode to the last.

Semi-regulars

Tokugawa Muneharu

Tokugawa Muneharu

was a daimyo in Japan during the Edo period. He was the seventh Tokugawa lord of the Owari Domain, and one of the gosanke.- Biography :Muneharu was the 20th son of Tokugawa Tsunanari by a concubine, and a great-great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu...

(徳川宗春)

The historical Yoshimune came to power when the main line of succession to the Tokugawa shogunate came to an end. He was chosen from the second of the three cadet branches of the Tokugawa clan, and the head of the senior branch, Muneharu, was passed over. The television series frequently presented Muneharu as a rival who tried to assassinate Yoshimune and take over the shogunate. Even when he did not appear, many villains acted in his name, or planned to receive their reward from Muneharu when he became shogun. First played by Akira Nakao

Akira Nakao

is a Japanese actor and personality from Kisarazu, Chiba, Japan. He graduated from Chiba Prefectural Kisarazu High School and attended Musashino Art University. Nakao is a member of the Furutachi Project agency....

 and later by Tokuma Nishioka.

Yamada Asaemon

Samurai Executioner

Samurai Executioner, known in Japan as , is a 10-volume manga created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima, the same team that created the popular Lone Wolf and Cub series. The series was first serialized in Japan, from 1972–1976, arriving two years after Lone Wolf and Cubs start.The...

(山田朝右衛門)

Nicknamed Kubikiri Asa. An executioner for the shogunate, he quits and becomes a ronin

Ronin

A or rounin was a Bushi with no lord or master during the feudal period of Japan. A samurai became masterless from the death or fall of his master, or after the loss of his master's favor or privilege....

 and ally of Yoshimune. Asahi Kurizuka

Asahi Kurizuka

Asahi Kurizuka is a Japanese actor. He specializes in jidaigeki. His most notable appearances include the following:* Shinsengumi Keppū-roku * Moeyo Ken * Ore wa Yōjinbō * Kaze, co-starring Sanae Tsuchida...

 played the role in many episodes.

O-Yuri no Kata (お由利の方)

Also known as Jōen'in (浄円院). Yoshimune's mother. Sons of samurai overlords were often separated from their mothers at an early age to develop sternness in them, and Yoshimune was no different. Although Yoshimune offered Oyuri room and board in Edo Castle, she refused, living instead an austere life in a house often seen nearly falling apart. They love each other as an ordinary mother and son, but they conceal their relationship to others as this is part of the Shinnosuke myth used by the Shogun. Played by Tamao Nakamura

Tamao Nakamura

is a Japanese actress. She was married to Shintaro Katsu.-Filmography:* Zenigata Heiji: Ghost Lord * Flowery Brothers...

.

Guest stars

Over the course of a quarter of a century, the show featured a parade of celebrities. Singers, actors, and athletes of all ages played various roles, in some cases including themselves: Ryūko appeared as a guest several years after leaving the regular cast. Hibari Misora

Hibari Misora

was an award-winning Japanese enka singer and actress. and was the first woman in Japan to receive the People's Honour Award, which was awarded posthumously for her notable contributions to the music industry. Misora recorded 1,200 songs, and sold 68 million records. After she died, consumer demand...

, the famous singer, also appeared in the series. Former and future regular characters occasionally made guest appearances.

Among the guest stars were the following:

• Yoshio Inaba
• Hiroyuki Sanada
  Hiroyuki Sanada
  is a Japanese actor.-Life and career:Sanada was born in Tokyo. Originally aiming to be an action star, starting with shorinji kempo, he eventually took up Kyokushin kaikan Sanada began training at age 11 with actor and martial arts star Sonny Chiba's Japan Action Club where he developed good...
  
  
• Tetsuro Tamba
  Tetsuro Tamba
  was a Japanese actor.-Biography:Tamba is perhaps best known by Western audiences for his role as Tiger Tanaka in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice . By then, he had among other roles appeared in two films by director Masaki Kobayashi: Harakiri and Kwaidan...
  
  
• Rika Miura
  Rika Miura
  is a Japanese actress. She was born in Iwaizumi, Iwate and moved to Saitama Prefecture as a child. She graduated from Tokyo Metropolitan Yoyogi High School....
  
  
• Nobuo Yana

Stories

The show was frequently topical, and touched on many themes of present-day life, the most common subject being political corruption. Many shows covered include topics of current interest such as drugs, unequal power relationships, poverty, urbanization, the generation gap, yakuza

Yakuza

, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...

, prostitution, inflation, and the tension between Japanese and foreign knowledge.

At the end of about eight hundred episodes, Yoshimune confronts the corrupt official in their safehaven. The official calls his men, but then looking at Yoshimune's face has a flashback leading him to recognize Yoshimune as Shogun and kneel down in obeisance. However, on hearing Yoshimune's demand that he commit harakiri, he declares Yoshimune to be an impostor and orders his men to kill him. Always outnumbered, Yoshimune ends up easily defeating his attackers with the help of his male and female oniwaban. Using the unsharpened back side of his sword so as to injure without killing the corrupt official, he orders his oniwaban to execute him with the words, sei bai.

Cast

• Ken Matsudaira
  Ken Matsudaira
  is a Japanese actor from Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan. His real name is Sueshichi Suzuki .- Career :Active both in television and on stage, he also sings. Matsudaira is most widely known for jidaigeki roles, having made his debut with Shintaro Katsu in an episode of the television series Zatoichi...
  
   as Tokugawa Yoshimune
  Tokugawa Yoshimune
  was the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1716 until his abdication in 1745. He was the son of Tokugawa Mitsusada, the grandson of Tokugawa Yorinobu, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.-Lineage:...
  
  
• Tadashi Yokouchi
  Tadashi Yokouchi
  is a Japanese actor. Born in Dalian, Manchuria, he graduated from high school in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. A member of the 13th group of actors and actresses trained at the Haiyū-za, he counts Tetsuo Ishidate, Toshiyuki Hosokawa, Tomomi Satō, and Gō Katō as classmates. His older...
  
   (first), Ryō Tamura (second) as Ōoka Tadasuke
  Ooka Tadasuke
  was a Japanese samurai in the service of the Tokugawa shogunate. During the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune, as a magistrate of Edo, his roles included chief of police, judge and jury, and Yamada Magistrate prior to his tenure as South Magistrate of Edo...
  
  
• Megumi
  • Saburō Kitajima
    Saburo Kitajima
    is a well-known Japanese enka singer, lyricist and composer.He was born Minoru Ōno , in a little town in Hokkaidō to a fisherman. He was very poor because of the effects of World War II, and he was forced to work while he studied....
    
     as Tatsugorō, the first captain
  • Masumi Harukawa (first), Yōko Asaji
    Yoko Asaji
    is a Japanese actress from Shimizu , Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.Yōko starred in the NHK morning drama Kumo no Jūtan, achieving widespread popularity. Since then she has appeared in various television, film, and stage productions.In addition to contemporary roles, Yōko has taken parts in jidaigeki...
    
     (second), Ryōko Sakaguchi (third) as Osai, wife of Tatsugorō
  • Jōji Yamamoto as Chōjirō, the second captain
  • Akiko Ikuina
    Akiko Ikuina
    is a Japanese entertainer. She was born on April 28, 1968 in Koganei, Tokyo, Japan. She is a left hander but she writes with her right hand. She joined the group Onyanko Club in 1986.-TV programs:* 1996-2003 Obun in Abarenbō Shōgun...
    
     as Obun, wife of Chōjirō
  • Yūki Matsumura as Eigorō, third captain
  • Yōko Ishino
    Yōko Ishino
    is a Japanese actress and tarento. She was born in Ashiya, Hyōgo.Ishino debuted in 1985 as a pop singer, and first appeared on television in 1986. Her older sister is Mako Ishino. Ishino has also attended in Horikoshi High School with the idol singer Yukiko Okada.-Filmography:*1987 – Godzilla vs....
    
     as Okyō, sister of Eigorō
• Advisors to Yoshimune
  • Ichirō Arishima
    Ichiro Arishima
    was a Japanese comedian and actor. Nicknamed "The Japanese Chaplin," he is best known outside Japan for his appearance as Tako, the promoter of King Kong in King Kong vs. Godzilla ....
    
     as Kanō Gorozaemon
  • Eiji Funakoshi
    Eiji Funakoshi
    was a Japanese actor. He received the Kinema Junpo Awards for Best Actor and the Mainichi Film Concours for Best Actor for his performance in Fires on the Plain.-Biography:...
    
     as Tanokura Magobei
  • Tadao Takashima as Shishido Kanbei
  • Shigeru Kōyama as Yokokawa Kanjūrō
• Oniwaban (ninja)
  • Hiroshi Miyauchi
    Hiroshi Miyauchi
    is a prolific Japanese actor from Chiba Prefecture. He is best known for playing some of the most memorable roles in Tokusatsu history, such as Kazami Shiro in Kamen Rider V3 and Ken Hayakawa in Kaiketsu Zubat...
    
     as Yabuta Sukehachi
  • Yoko Natsuki
    Yoko Natsuki
    is an actress, born 24 October 1952 in Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan. She began to start her career on the movie, it was Karate for Life at 1977. One of her television roles was Osono, a ninja in the jidaigeki series Yoshimune Hyōbanki: Abarenbō Shōgun. She was also a regular star in Abare Hasshū Goyō...
    
     as Osono
  • Shigeru Araki as Koba Saizō
  • Asaka Mayumi
    Asaka Mayumi
    is a Japanese actress. One of her television roles was as the ninja Sagiri in the jidaigeki Abarenbo Shogun.As of 2005, she is still active in television commercials....
    
     as Sagiri
  • Kiyotaka Mitsuki as Sagenta
  • Takayuki Godai
    Takayuki Godai
    is a Japanese actor. He was born on July 1, 1956 and is famous as the shogun's ninja Saizō in the long-running prime-time television jidaigeki Abarenbō Shōgun...
    
     as Saizō
  • Reiko Sugano as Hayate
  • Reiko Takashima
    Reiko Takashima
    Reiko Takashima is a Japanese actress.Active in television series, movies, and commercials, her roles have included ninja in jidaigeki such as Abarembō Shōgun and Abare Hasshū Goyō Tabi, the wife Oeyo of the shogun Tokugawa Hidetada, Lady Fujitsubo in a special with characters based on The Tale of...
    
     as Kozue
  • Mayuko Irie
    Mayuko Irie
    is a Japanese actress and model. She has also written her name 入江まゆこ. Irie is represented by Blare International and Splash Model Agency.Her roles have ranged from historical-period parts to modern people, and encompassed tokusatsu as well. She portrayed Aikawa Midori in Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain in...
    
     as Akane
  • Tarō Iketani as Kirihara Sasuke
  • Toshihide Wakamatsu
    Toshihide Wakamatsu
    Toshihide Wakamatsu is a Japanese actor born in Miyakonojo, Miyazaki, Japan.- Profile :* He originally came to Tokyo to be a painter, but soon became interested acting in movies and plays....
    
     as Hayami Saheiji
  • Akiko Andō as Koyuki
  • Takahito Ōmori as Jūmonji Hayato
  • Hitoe Ōtake as Ayame
  • Chika Kochihira as Satsuki
  • Kaori Yamaguchi
    Kaori Yamaguchi
    is a retired judoka.Yamaguchi won the All-Japan Judo Championships 10 consecutive times from 1978-1987 and won her first medal at the 1980 World Judo Championships. She went on to win 4 silver medals and one gold medal at the World Judo Championships...
    
     as Nagisa
  • Miki Murai as Kaede
• Akira Nakao
  Akira Nakao
  is a Japanese actor and personality from Kisarazu, Chiba, Japan. He graduated from Chiba Prefectural Kisarazu High School and attended Musashino Art University. Nakao is a member of the Furutachi Project agency....
  
   (first), Tokuma Nishioka (second) as Tokugawa Muneharu
  Tokugawa Muneharu
  was a daimyo in Japan during the Edo period. He was the seventh Tokugawa lord of the Owari Domain, and one of the gosanke.- Biography :Muneharu was the 20th son of Tokugawa Tsunanari by a concubine, and a great-great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu...
  
  
• Asahi Kurizuka
  Asahi Kurizuka
  Asahi Kurizuka is a Japanese actor. He specializes in jidaigeki. His most notable appearances include the following:* Shinsengumi Keppū-roku * Moeyo Ken * Ore wa Yōjinbō * Kaze, co-starring Sanae Tsuchida...
  
   as Yamada Asaemon
• Tamao Nakamura
  Tamao Nakamura
  is a Japanese actress. She was married to Shintaro Katsu.-Filmography:* Zenigata Heiji: Ghost Lord * Flowery Brothers...
  
   as Oyuri, mother of Yoshimune
• Tsukasa Ito as Oyō, intern at the Koishikawa Yōjōsho
• Azusa Nakamura as Tsuruhime/Chizuru, love interest of Yoshimune
• Megumi Matsushita as Chinatsu, niece of Ōoka Tadasuke

Music

Shunsuke Kikuchi

Shunsuke Kikuchi

is a prolific Japanese composer from Hirosaki. He specializes in incidental music for media such as television and film.Active since the early 60s, he has been one of Japan's most highly demanded film and TV composers, working principally on tokusatsu and anime productions for children, as well as...

 wrote the opening theme, which is popular as a ring tone

Ring tone

A ringtone or ring tone is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call or text message. Not literally a tone, the term is most often used today to refer to customizable sounds used on mobile phones.-Background:...

. He also composed the incidental music

Incidental music

Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....

. Saburō Kitajima

Saburo Kitajima

is a well-known Japanese enka singer, lyricist and composer.He was born Minoru Ōno , in a little town in Hokkaidō to a fisherman. He was very poor because of the effects of World War II, and he was forced to work while he studied....

 sang the closing theme songs to various series. Late series omitted the closing theme, having instead introductory music by Kikuchi leading into an opening theme song sung by Kitajima. Due to the show's popularity in the Hawaiian islands where a large portion of the population is Japanese, the opening theme has become one of the official sports themes played at University of Hawaii sporting events.

Broadcasts

The original broadcasts were on the Asahi network in Japan. The Jidaigeki Senmon Channel has rebroadcast the series on cable and satellite. Also, full English-subtitled programs have been broadcast in Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 via KIKU-TV

KIKU

KIKU-TV is an independent television station based in Honolulu, Hawaii. Currently, KIKU broadcasts on DTV channel 19, Time-Warner Cable 9/Digital 89 , Time-Warner Cable 10/Digital 89 , Time-Warner Cable Digital 89 , Hawaiian Cable 12, and Hawaiian Telcom Cable 20...

and have become very popular even among younger generations probably due to the large Japanese-American population and heavy Asian influence on modern Hawaiian culture.