is a television ''

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "historical drama, period dramas", it refers to stories that take place before the Meiji Restoration of 1868. ''Jidaigeki'' show the lives of the samurai, farmers, crafts ...

'' series. It ran in prime time on the

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...

network in Japan. The first episode aired on January 27, 1996, and the 19th and final installment was broadcast on June 29 of that year. The series starred Kunihiko Mitamura with

Yoko Minamino , also known as Nanno (ナンノ), is a Japanese actress and singer. She is best known for playing Saki Asamiya in the second season of the live action ''Sukeban Deka'' television series. Though currently independent, Minamino was previously unde ...

, Yūji Kishimoto, and Bengal as the team of secret agents working under the leadership of

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 ...

. Kyōko Tsujisawa also appeared regularly. The series is set during the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

of the

history of Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Japanese Paleolithic, Paleolithic, around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the fi ...

. The eighth Tokugawa ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...

'', Yoshimune, had officially had 17 families of ''oniwaban'', his private ''ninja'' guards. The title group was the secret 18th group. The series begins some months after Yoshimune's death as his fourth son Hitotsubashi Munetada (Satomi) brings the group back together. The team leader is Kanō Ametarō (Mitamura), a hairdresser. The other members are Miki (Minamino), a doctor; Otojirō (a chef); and Inokichi (an acrobat). Oharu (Tsujisawa) owns the small restaurant where her brother Otojirō works. Many actors and actresses appeared in guest roles. Among them were

Hiroshi Arikawa was a Japanese actor and voice actor from Kagoshima Prefecture affiliated with Engekishūdan En. Formerly affiliated with Gekidan Haiyūza, Arikawa enrolled in Gekidan Kumo in 1965. It wasn't until 1975 that Arikawa would enroll in Engekish� ...

, Yoriko Douguchi, Saiko Isshiki, Shun Ōide, Mitsutaka Tachikawa,

Naoya Uchida is a Japanese actor and voice actor from Tokyo, Japan. He has played several minor roles of authority in various television dramas. He debuted in 1972 in the NHK program , and continued acting in theater and television dramas until the late 1990 ...

Kenichi Endō is a Japanese actor and writer. He also worked as a narrator for many documentaries, both on television and film. He is best known for his roles in '' Visitor Q'' (2001), '' Crows Zero'' (2007), ''Crows Zero 2'' (2009), and '' The Raid 2: Bera ...

, Seizō Fukumoto,

Ken Nishida is a Japanese actor and voice actor. He is noted for his roles in ''Return of Ultraman'',西田健
at JMDB (Retrieved on May ...

, Shun'ya Wazaki, Yuki Ninagawa, Kenta Satoi, Hiroshi Miyauchi, Kei Taguchi,

Susumu Kurobe (born ; 22 October 1939) is a television, film and stage actor from Kurobe, Toyama, Japan, widely known for his portrayal of Shin Hayata, the first Ultraman in the '' titular character series'', a role he has played since the original series in ...

, Seiichirō Kameishi, Shinsuke Mikimoto,

Tsutomu Isobe is a Japanese actor and voice actor from Tokyo, Japan. He is the best known dubbing roles for Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Chow Yun-fat, Peter Weller, Tim Allen, Sean Bean, Choi Min-sik, Stringfellow Hawke (Airwolf) and many more. His daughter is ...

, and

Gorō Mutsumi was a Japanese actor with more than 30 films to his credit. He has also appeared in numerous television shows, especially ''jidaigeki'', in which he specializes in villains, and in ''tokusatsu''. In addition, he is a stage and voice actor with pr ...

. Three guests had portrayed ''oniwaban'' on the television series ''

Abarenbō Shōgun (Abarenbō Shōgun) was a Japanese television program on the TV Asahi network. Set in the eighteenth century, it showed fictitious events in the life of Tokugawa Yoshimune, Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa clan, Tokugawa ''shōgun''. The program s ...

'', including the versions that preceded and followed ''Shōgun no Onmitsu! Kage Jūhachi'' in the same time slot on TV Asahi. The closing theme is the song ''Utakata'', sung by

Mayumi Itsuwa (born January 24, 1951) is a Japanese vocalist, composer, lyricist, and keyboardist who made her debut in 1972. Her first studio album entitled ''Shoujo'' was recorded in Los Angeles, produced by Grammy Award winner John Fischbach, with disting ...

. The series originally appeared in the Saturday 8:00–8:54 p.m. prime-time slot on the TV Asahi network. It aired during the hiatus between the sixth and seventh versions of the ''jidaigeki'' ''Abarenbō Shōgun''. The Jidaigeki Channel rebroadcast the series via satellite and cable.今月の新番組時代劇専門チャンネル
Jidaigeki Channel (Retrieved on May 10, 2009)

References

Sources

This article incorporates material found in 将軍の隠密!影十八 (''Shōgun no Onmitsu! Kage Jūhachi'') in the Japanese Wikipedia, retrieved on May 10, 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shogun No Onmitsu! Kage Juhachi Jidaigeki television series Ninja television series TV Asahi original programming 1996 Japanese television series debuts 1996 Japanese television series endings