Jidaigeki

Jidaigeki (時代劇) is a genre of film and television in Japan. The name translates as period drama, and the period is, in most cases, the Edo period of Japanese history. Set during the time span from 1600 to 1868 A.D., jidaigeki show the lives of the samurai, farmers, craftsmen and merchants of medieval Japan. Jidaigeki films are sometimes referred to as chambara movies, which derives from onomatopoeia for the slow, drum-heavy, march-like scores typical of the genre.

Contents

1 Kinds of Jidaigeki

2 Roles in Jidaigeki

2.1 Warriors
2.2 Craftsmen
2.3 Merchants
2.4 Governments

3 Clichés in Jidaigeki

4 Famous Jidaigeki

5 Famous Directors

6 Famous Actors and Actresses

7 External Links

Kinds of Jidaigeki

Many jidaigeki take place in Edo, the military capital. Others show the adventures of people wandering from place to place. The long-running television series Zenigata Heiji and Abarembo Shogun typify the Edo jidaigeki. Mito Komon , the fictitious story of the travels of the historical daimyo Tokugawa Mitsukuni, and the Zatoichi movies and television series, exemplify the travelling style.

Another way to categorize jidaigeki is according to the social status of the principal characters. The title character of Abarembo Shogun is Tokugawa Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa shogun. The head of the samurai class, Yoshimune assumes the disguise of a low-ranking hatamoto, a samurai in the service of the shogun. Similarly, Mito Komon is the retired vice-shogun, accompanied by two samurai retainers while masquerading as a merchant. In contrast, the title character of Zenigata Heiji is a commoner, working for the police, while Ichi, a masseur, is an outcast.

Whether the lead role is samurai or commoner, jidaigeki usually reach a climax in an immense sword fight just before the end. This earns them the nickname chambara. The title character of a series always wins, whether using a sword or a jitte (the device police used to trap, and sometimes to bend or break, an opponent's sword).

Roles in Jidaigeki

Jidaigeki are a parade of people with occupations unfamiliar to modern Japanese, and especially to foreigners. Here are a few.

Warriors

The warrior class included samurai, hereditary members in the military service of a daimyo or the shogun (themselves samurai). Rōnin, samurai without masters, were also warriors, and like samurai, wore two swords; they were, however, without inherited employment or status. Bugeisha were men who aimed to perfect their martial arts, often by travelling throughout the country. Ninja were the secret service, specializing in stealth, the use of disguises, explosives, and concealed weapons.

Craftsmen

Craftsmen in jidaigeki included metalworkers (often abducted to mint counterfeit coins), bucket-makers, carpenters and plasterers, and makers of woodblock prints for art or newspapers.

Merchants

In addition to the owners of businesses large and small, the jidaigeki often portray the employees. The bantō was a high-ranking employee of a merchant, the tedai, a lower helper. Many merchants employed children, or kozō.

Governments

In the highest ranks of the shogunate were the rojū. Below them were the wakadoshiyori, then the various bugyō or administrators, including the jisha bugyō (who administered temples and shrines), the kanjō bugyō (in charge of finances) and the two Edo machi bugyō. These last alternated by month in the role of chief administrator of the city. Their role was mayor, chief of police, and judge, and jury in criminal and civil matters.

The machi bugyō oversaw the police and fire departments. The police, or machikata, included the high-ranking yoriki and the dōshin below them; both were samurai. In jidaigeki, they often have full-time patrolmen, okappiki and shitappiki, who were commoners. (Historically, these people were irregulars, called to service only when necessary.) Zenigata Heiji is an okappiki. The police lived in barracks at Hatchōbori in Edo. They manned ban'ya, the watch-houses, throughout the city that had a million residents. The jitte was the symbol of the police, from yoriki to shitappiki.

A separate police force handled matters involving samurai. The ōmetsuke were high-ranking officials in the shogunate, and controlled a group of metsuke and kachi-metsuke who could detain samurai. The feudal nature of Japan made these matters delicate, and jurisdictional disputes are common in jidaigeki.

Edo had three fire departments. The daimyo-bikeshi were in the service of designated daimyo; the jōbikeshi reported to the shogunate; while the machi-bikeshi, beginning under Yoshimune, were commoners under the administration of the machibugyō. Thus, even the fire companies have turf wars in the jidaigeki.

Each daimyo maintained a residence in Edo, where he lived during sankin kotai. His wife and children remained there even while he was away from Edo, and the ladies-in-waiting often feature prominently in jidaigeki. A high-ranking samurai, the Edo-garō, oversaw the affairs in the daimyo's absence. In addition to a staff of samurai, the household included ashigaru (lightly armed warrior-servants) and chūgen and yakko (servants often portrayed as flamboyant and crooked). Many daimyo employed doctors, goten'i; their counterpart in the shogun's household was the okuishi. Count on them to provide the poisons that kill and the potions that heal.

The cast of a wandering jidaigeki encountered a similar setting in each han. There, the karō were the kuni-garō and the jōdai-garō. Tensions between them have provided plots for many stories.

What would a jidaigeki be without characters to give the flavor of the times? Jugglers, pedlars, fortune-tellers, candy-sellers, rag-pickers, blind moneylenders, itinerant singer/shamisen-players, effete courtiers from the imperial capital at Kyoto, the Dutch kapitan from Nagasaki, streetwalkers and prostitutes from the licensed and unlicensed quarters, the million-dollar kabuki actor, flute-playing mendicant Buddhist priests wearing deep wicker hats, and of course geisha, provide a never-ending pageant of old Japan.

Clichés in Jidaigeki

Authors of jidaigeki grasp every opportunity to work clichés into the dialog. Here are a few:

Tonde hi ni iru natsu no mushi: Like bugs that fly into the fire in the summer [, they will come to their destruction]

Shishi shinchū no mushi: A wolf in sheep's clothing (literally, a parasite in the lion's body)

Kaji to kenka Edo no hana: Fires and brawls, the flowers of Edo

Ōedo happyaku yachō: "The eight hundred neighborhoods of Edo"

Tabi wa michizure: "Travel is who you take with you"

In addition, the authors of series invent their own clichés in the kimarizerifu that the protagonist says at the same point in nearly every episode. In Mito Komon, a sidekick holds up an accessory bearing the shogunal crest and shouts, Hikae! Kono mondokoro ga me ni hairan ka?: "Down! Can you not see this emblem?" Likewise, Tōyama no Kin-san bares his tattooed shoulder and snarls, Kono sakura fubuki o miwasureta to iwasane zo!: "I won't let you say you forgot this cherry-blossom blizzard!" After sentencing the criminals, he proclaims, Kore ni te ikken rakuchaku: "Case closed."

The kimarizerifu betrays the close connection between the jidaigeki and the comic-book superhero.

Famous Jidaigeki

Films

Kurama Tengu series
Tange Sazen series
The Seven Samurai
Yojimbo
Tsubaki Sanjuro
Zatoichi film series
Miyamoto Musashi trilogy
Yagyu Ichizoku no Imbo

Television series

Abarembo Shogun
Ude ni Oboe ga Aru
Edo o Kiru
Ōedo Sōsamō
Ōoka Echizen
Onihei Hanka-chō
Kage Dōshin
Kage no Gundan
Kenkaku Shōbai
Zatoichi (television series)
Sambiki ga Kiru!
Jitte-nin
Shogun Iemitsu Shinobi Tabi
Shinsen gumi Keppūroku
Zenigata Heiji
Taiga drama (NHK annual series)
Chōshichirō Edo Nikki

Tenamon'ya Sando-gasa
Tenga Gomen
Tenga Dōdō
Tōyama no Kin-san
Hissatsu series
Mito Komon
Moeyo Ken
Momotarō-zamurai

Famous Directors

Names are in Western order, with the surname after the given name.

Famous Actors and Actresses