The Unfettered Shogun


The Unfettered Shogun was a Japanese television program on the TV Asahi network. Set in the eighteenth century, it showed fictitious events in the life of Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa shōgun.
The program started in 1978 under the title Yoshimune Hyōbanki: Abarenbō Shōgun who went after rogue councilors and daimyō who were abusing their power. After a few seasons, they shortened the first two words and the show ran for two decades under the shorter title until the series ended in 2003; a two-hour special aired in 2004. The earliest scripts occasionally wove stories around historic events such as the establishment of firefighting companies of commoners in Edo, but eventually the series adopted a routine of strictly fiction.
Along with Zenigata Heiji and Mito Kōmon, it ranks among the longest-running series in the jidaigeki genre. Like many other jidaigeki, it falls in the category of kanzen-chōaku, which loosely translates to "rewarding good and punishing evil".

Repeating characters

Regulars

Tokugawa Yoshimune
Ōoka Echizen-no-Kami Tadasuke
Goyō toritsugi
Fire captain
Women of Megumi
Firemen
Oniwaban
'''Narrator'''

Semi-regulars

Tokugawa Muneharu
Yamada Asaemon
'''O-Yuri no Kata'''

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, the famous singer, also appeared in the series. Former and future regular characters occasionally made guest appearances.
Among the guest stars were the following:
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, prostitution, inflation, and the tension between Japanese and foreign knowledge.

Climax

At the end of about eight hundred episodes, Yoshimune confronts the corrupt official or officials in their safe haven. The official calls his men, but Yoshimune stands firm to reveal and criticize his crimes without hesitation. At first, the official behaves rudely and insultingly as he believes Yoshimune is just a man of low social status, but then after looking closely 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. In the premiere episode "The Star of Edo", Yoshimune confronts the main villain as himself inside Castle Edo and the villain recognizes him as the hatamoto; after attempting to flee, being disarmed by Yoshimune and being surrounded by Yoshimune's ninja and the palace guards, he is allowed to kill himself.

Lines of rebellion

In confronting Yoshimune, the official declares his rebellion with a variety of reasons, including the doubt of the appearance of the Shogun at that place and time or losing his respect to Yoshimune, etc., and it's one of the enjoyable points in the climax.
Example:

  • Lord Tokugawa cannot be here
  • He is an insolent person calling himself Lord Tokugawa
  • It's fine if the person were Lord Tokugawa
  • Everything ends, kill, kill him
  • Lord Tokugawa, I will fight with you
  • We lob your life, Lord Tokugawa
  • You are just Shinnosuke Tokuda dying now
  • I decorate the last minute as an evil
  • You are like a moth flying into the flame
  • Your Highness exists because of us, subordinates' dedication
  • The eighth shogunate will end
  • Now is the time
  • Shame on you
  • Bring his head to our lord Muneharu
  • I have forgotten the face of Lord Tokugawa
  • There is no reason to obey the order of Lord Tokugawa
  • It is you who cut your own body, not I
  • We have planned to make you die
  • You must give up your life
  • I am a person who should have died at once
  • If you know the situation completely, in for a penny, in for a pound
  • How stupid saying who you are, it's the best timing that you show up here

    Cast

  • Ken Matsudaira as Tokugawa Yoshimune
  • Tadashi Yokouchi, Ryō Tamura as Ōoka Tadasuke
  • Megumi
  • * Saburō Kitajima as Tatsugorō, the first captain
  • * Masumi Harukawa, Yōko Asaji, Ryōko Sakaguchi as Osai, wife of Tatsugorō
Misako Kinmura, as Omachi, sister of Tatsugorō
wrote the opening theme, which is popular as a ring tone. He also composed the incidental music. Saburō Kitajima 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 TV 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 via KIKU 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.

Reception

The series has been called "the origin and pinnacle of 'Shogun' dramas".

2025 television film

The series was revived in the 2025 television film Shin Abarenbō Shōgun directed by Takashi Miike. Ken Matsudaira reprised his role as Tokugawa Yoshimune.