is a popular character based on the historical

Tōyama Kagemoto was a hatamoto and an official of the Tokugawa shogunate during the Edo period of Japanese history. His ancestry was of the Minamoto clan of the Mino Province. His father, Kagemichi, was the magistrate of Nagasaki. Biography During his youth, K ...

, a samurai and official of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

Japanese history The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new invent ...

. In

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

and

kōdan is a style of traditional oral Japanese storytelling. The form evolved out of lectures on historical or literary topics given to high-ranking nobles of the Heian period, changing over the centuries to be adopted by the general samurai class and e ...

, he was celebrated under his childhood name, Kinshirō, shortened to Kin-san. He was said to have left home as a young man, and lived among the commoners, even having a

tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several Process of tatt ...

of flowering sakura trees on his shoulder. This story developed into a legend of helping the common people. The novelist Tatsurō Jinde (陣出達郎) wrote a series of books about Kin-san. Noted actor

Chiezō Kataoka (March 30, 1903 – March 31, 1983) was a Japanese film and television actor most famous for his starring roles in jidaigeki. Career Born in 1903 in Gunma Prefecture (his real name was Masayoshi Ueki), he was raised in Tokyo. As a child he began ...

starred in a series of eighteen Toei ''

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "period dramas", they are most often set during the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—''Portrait of Hel ...

'' films about him. Several Japanese television networks have aired series based on the character. These variously portrayed him pretending to be a petty hood or a yojinbō while solving crimes as the chief of police. People famous for having portrayed Kin-san on television include kabuki stars Nakamura Umenosuke IV and Ichikawa Danshirō, singers Yukio Hashi and

Teruhiko Saigō was a Japanese singer and actor. As a singer, he was known as one of the three "''Gosanke''" (referring to ''gosanke'', the three great Tokugawa houses), along with Yukio Hashi and Kazuo Funaki. The stage name was based on the Meiji Restoration ...

, and actors

Ryōtarō Sugi (born 14 August 1944, Kobe) is a Japanese singer and actor. He is the father of actor Jundai Yamada. He appeared in ''Sukima Kaze'', which sold over a million copies. His acting credits include 18 films. On television, he specialized in ''jid ...

Hideki Takahashi is a Japanese actor. Born in Kisarazu, Chiba near Tokyo, he attended Ichikawa Gakuen and later Nihon University. Career Takahashi made his debut with Nikkatsu and acted in youth-oriented films. Takahashi made film debut with ''Kōgenji'' directe ...

Hiroki Matsukata , better known by his stage name , was a Japanese actor. He was the son of ''jidaigeki'' actor Jūshirō Konoe and actress Yaeko Mizukawa and has a younger brother, Yūki Meguro, who is also an actor. With ex-wife actress Akiko Nishina he had tw ...

, and

Kōtarō Satomi (born 28 November 1936) is a Japanese actor from the city of Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. In 1956, he signed with Toei film company. He appears in both contemporary roles and in the historical dramas known as '' jidaigeki''. Sele ...

. Saigō and Satomi portrayed Kin-san in the series ''

Edo o Kiru or ''Slashing Edo'' was a popular ''jidaigeki'' on Japan's Tokyo Broadcasting System. During the decades from its 1973, premiere until 1994, finale, 214 episodes aired. It lasted through eight series, with several casts and settings. It ran on Mon ...

''.

Film versions

Eighteen films from Toei starred

: *''The Tattooed Magistrate: Cherry Blossoms Dance Volume'' (いれずみ判官　桜花乱舞の巻) (1950) *''The Tattooed Magistrate: Fallen Flowers Showdown Volume'' (いれずみ判官　落花対決の巻) (1950) *''The Official and the Princess of Thieves'' (女賊と判官) (1951) *''The Well-known Magistrate'' (お馴染み判官　あばれ神輿) (1951) *''The Jumping Magistrate'' (飛びっちょ判官) (1952) *''The Bloody Cherry Blossom Magistrate'' (血ざくら判官) (1954) *''A Gang of Five'' (勢ぞろい喧嘩若衆) (1955) *''The Fighting Magistrate'' (喧嘩奉行) (1955) *''The Roar of The Lion'' (荒獅子判官) (1955) *''Short Sword Magistrate'' (長脇差奉行) (1956) *''Pirates Magistrate'' (海賊奉行) (1957) *''Falcon Magistrate'' (はやぶさ奉行) (1957) *''Fireball Magistrate'' (火の玉奉行) (1958) *''Whirlwind Magistrate'' (たつまき奉行) (1959) *''The Edo Official and the Apprentice'' (江戸っ子判官とふり袖小僧) (1959) *''The Official with a Tattoo'' (御存じいれずみ判官) (1960) *''The Magistrate of Chess'' (さいころ奉行) (1961) *''Sakura Official'' (さくら判官) (1962)

Television series

*''Tōyama no Kin-san Torimono Chō'' starring

Shunji Natsume Shunji (written: 俊二, 俊治, 俊嗣, 舜二 or 隼士) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include *, Japanese photographer *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese actor *, Japanese actor *, Imperial Japanese Navy admi ...

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially b ...

*''Tōyama no Kin-san'' starring Ebizō Ichikawa on

Nippon Television JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

*''Tōyama no Kin-san Torimono Chō'' starring Nakamura Umenosuke IV on

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Compan ...

(NET) *''Gozonji Tōyama no Kin-san'' starring Ichikawa Danshirō on TV Asahi (NET) *''Gozonji Kin-san no Torimono Chō'' starring Yukio Hashi on TV Asahi (NET) *''Tōyama no Kin-san'' on NET, renamed TV Asahi **starring

from 1975 to 1979 (Sugi also sang the theme song) **starring

from 1982 to 1986 *''Meibugyō Tōyama no Kin-san'' starring

on TV Asahi **Cast included (at various times) Ryōko Sakaguchi,

Kimiko Ikegami is an American-born Japanese actress. She is best known for playing the lead role of Gorgeous in the 1977 film ''House''. Early life Born in Manhattan, New York City, United States to Japanese parents, she moved to Kyoto at age 3. Kimiko graduat ...

, Keiko Saitō, Casey Takamine, Tetsuo Ishidate,

Kazuo Nakamura Kazuo Nakamura was a Japanese-Canadian painter and sculptor (born Vancouver October 13, 1926; died Toronto April 9, 2002) and a founding member of the Toronto-based Painters Eleven group in the 1950s. Among the first major Japanese Canadian arti ...

Gō Wakabayashi is a Japanese film and television actor from Nagasaki. A graduate of Senshu University, Wakabayashi became a member of Shin Kokugeki, then Wakabayashi Promotions. Currently he is a member of Toho Entertainment. After some roles in minor televi ...

*''

'' starring Teruhiko Saigō and later Kotarō Satomi on TBS, 1975 to 1994 *''Tōyama no Kin-san'' on TV Asahi starring

Ken Matsudaira is a Japanese actor and musician from Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan. His real name is . Career In 1974, he joined Shintaro Katsu's production company and made his debut with the television series Zatoichi as a guest. For a quarter of a century, he ...

, beginning in January, 2007 *''Oh Edo Rocket'' (anime) featured Toyama as a continuing minor character

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toyama No Kin-San Japanese television series Jidaigeki television series Jidaigeki Fictional samurai 1970s Japanese television series 1980s Japanese television series 1990s Japanese television series 2000s Japanese television series