was a

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the Shōgun, shogunates in History of Japan, Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred ...

and an official of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

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 Japanese history. His ancestry was of the

Minamoto clan was a Aristocracy (class), noble surname bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the Imperial House of Japan, imperial family who were excluded from the List of emperors of Japan, line of succession and demoted into the ranks of Nobili ...

of the

Mino Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today southern Gifu Prefecture. Mino was bordered by Ōmi to the west, Echizen and Hida to the north, Shinano to the east, and Ise, Mikawa, and Owari to the south. Its abbreviated fo ...

. His father, Kagemichi, was the magistrate of

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

Biography

During his youth, Kagemoto departed from his household due to family conflict, and started a life among commoners as a vagabond. It was during this period of time that he supposedly got a tattoo, uncommon for a magistrate. When he inherited the title of his household, he returned to his samurai post and eventually became a

bugyō was a title assigned to ''samurai'' officials in feudal Japan. ''Bugyō'' is often translated as commissioner, magistrate, or governor, and other terms would be added to the title to describe more specifically a given official's tasks or jurisdi ...

. Kagemoto held the posts of Finance Magistrate, North Magistrate, and subsequently South Magistrate of Edo. When the Tokugawa Shogunate instituted the Tenpō Reforms, South Magistrate Torii Yōzō and Rōjū Mizuno Tadakuni tried to enforce sumptuary edicts banning theatre and other popular entertainment. Kagemoto opposed the implementation of the policy, which he believed to be an undue infringement on the livelihood of commoners. Kagemoto's youth won him tremendous popularity among the people of Edo. In 1843, he was ousted from his position as North Magistrate through the machinations of Torii, and although nominally appointed Ōmetsuke, he was without any meaningful power. Two years later, when Mizuno ousted Torii, Tōyama received an appointment as South Magistrate, a post once held by

Ōoka 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 Ma ...

. Tōyama rose to the Lower Junior Fifth rank with the name Tōyama Saemon no Jō.

In fiction

kabuki is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes ...

and kōdan, he was celebrated under his childhood name of Kinshirō, or popularly, Tōyama no Kin-san (Mr. Kin of Toyama). The common theme is the image of a magistrate with a flashy cherry blossom tattoo on his shoulder who fights against corrupt officials and greedy merchants in defense of the ordinary people. The novelist Tatsurō Jinde (陣出達郎) wrote a series of books about Kin-san. Noted actor Chiezō Kataoka starred in a series of eighteen Toei ''

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 ...

'' films about him. Several Japanese television networks have aired series based on the character. These portrayed him pretending to be a petty hood or a ''

yojimbo is a 1961 Japanese samurai film directed by Akira Kurosawa, who also co-wrote the screenplay and was one of the producers. The film stars Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Katō, Takashi Shimura, Kamat ...

'' while solving crimes as the chief of police.

Biography

In fiction

References

Further reading