Abarenbo Shogun
Set in the 18th century, the show follows the Shogun Yoshimune, who likes to disguise himself as a low-ranking samurai and go into his capital of Edo to see the life of the common man, as well as to seek out and punish evildoers who would hurt his citizens. He is aided by Magistrate Oo'oka and a vivacious fireman, Tatsugoro, as well as a rotating cast of other recurring characters. Along with Zenigata Heiji and Mito Kōmon, it ranks among the longest-running series in the jidaigeki genre. Like so many other jidaigeki, it falls in the category of kanzen-chōaku, loosely, "rewarding good and punishing evil."
Episodes
1. The Star of Edo
PlayRoughhousing daimyo Tokugawa Yoshimune of Kishu reluctantly becomes the Shogun so that he may bring prosperity to everyone in the country. On his procession to Edo Palace, he runs into his old friend Tatsugoro, and a little girl begging for a pardon for her father on death row. Yoshimune decides to sneak out of Edo Palace and do a little detective work.
1978-01-0745m2. The Remarkable Charlatan
PlayOgyu Shosen is called a quack doctor, but Yoshimune thinks he should be made surgeon-general.
1978-01-1445m3. The First Fireman Banner
PlayHatamoto firemen are causing a nuisance and thieving in town, so fiery Tatsugoro and his gang of construction workers aim to take them down.
1978-01-2145m4. Mother From Long Past
PlayA hatamoto's spoiled brat daughter is in the habit of thieving and blaming it on commoners. Meanwhile, Yoshimune becomes preternaturally obsessed with a den-den taiko (a type of child's toy).
1978-01-2845m12. The Amazing Kishu Woman
PlayYoshimune's old friend from Kishu, a female lumberjack, comes to Edo to engage in lumber trade, but gets in trouble.
1978-04-0145m13. The Perilous Souvenir Gift
PlayYoshimune's old friends from Kishu, Sakichi and Onatsu of the lumber store, are leaving town, so Yoshimune comes to bring them a present. He ends up getting in the way of a drug bust and is mistaken for a drug dealer.
1978-04-0845m14. The Golden Crow Charms
PlayFireman Genzo wins the lottery, but is then reported to the police for having a forged ticket.
1978-04-1545m15. The Quack Who Calls Forth Spring
PlayEven though he has been made surgeon-general, nobody trusts Ogawa Shosen or Yoshimune's city hospital. Yoshimune decides to get himself admitted as Shin-san to investigate from within.
1978-04-2245m17. Love and the Guardian Deity
PlaySatsuma domain bully a store that is in their debt by trying to steal the storekeeper's girlfriend, and by framing them for theft. Only a man of stone can save Tamba-ya from destruction!
1978-05-0645m18. The Beat of a Taiko Drum in Edo
PlayYoshimune really wants to attend a festival in Edo, but he has important business to attend to in the palace. Jii says he can go out as long as he is back by 4 PM. This doesn't seem likely, since Yoshimune gets involved in a big fistfight and village drama.
1978-05-1345m19. A Ballad of a Fireman
PlayTatsugoro's family is indebted to a samurai family, so Tatsugoro gives the samurai family his very best fireman to adopt, since the samurai have no heir of their own. The other samurai do not like him.
1978-05-2045m32. The Best Announcement of the Winner in Japan
PlayRyuko and Isonokaze were sumo wrestlers for a clan who tried to make them throw a match. Ryuko hides out at the fire house and meets Shin-san, who is very excitable and really, really wants to wrestle him. Eventually Shin-san learns of the wrestling drama that is unfolding...
1978-09-2345m33. A Daimyo's Famed Shiruko Restaurant
PlayA certain han ruled by a child lord is having money trouble, so one of the han's samurai starts a sweet bean soup restaurant to try and raise funds. The samurai has some trouble getting customers...
1978-09-3045m35. The Bride with an Explosive
PlayA land reclamation project is taking place largely with Shogunate funds, carried out by contract with 2 companies (which are marrying their kids together as the ultimate symbol of the contract). One of the companies invents a bomb with a long fuse, to blow up a mountainous area in the reclamation zone. The other company decides to assassinate the first company, and steals the bomb...
1978-10-1445m43. The Shogun's Secret Ninja
PlayFemale ninja Osono's dad Seiemon comes to town. He is now a cotton-farming country samurai. Needs dried sardines for fertilizer. The hatamoto of sardineland is driving the fishermens' prices down so all the farmers secretly sell to Seiemon. The merchant tries to assassinate Seiemon and fails, since Seiemon is a ninja. Seiemon stays at the firehouse and plans to secretly assassinate the criminals, then kill himself, because he's depressed.
1978-12-1645m45. The Counterfeit Coins and the Candy Man
PlayA man makes little pretty sugar candies for kids and tells funny stories. He used to be a counterfeiter because of his great manual dexterity, but vowed to turn his life around. Shin-san becomes interested in candy just when the guy's old friends force him to counterfeit again...
1978-12-3045m47. The Female Doctor with a Fist
PlayEdo is invigorated by an unusually aggressive and outspoken female doctor, Oshino, who physically beats her patients if they do not obey her.
1979-01-1345m52. The Downfall of Ooka Echizen No Kami
PlayA bad gang leader kidnaps Tadasuke's wife (who never appeared before or since), as she went to the shrine to pray for a baby. Tadasuke decides that justice outweighs his bride and prepares to prosecute the gang leader anyway, so Shin-san lets the prisoner go secretly to try and follow him to Tadasuke's bride...
1979-02-1745m53. The Best Dry Sake for Mother and Son
PlayClannish Edoite sake sellers turn against a travelling Osakan female sake seller to force her out of the market; only her long-lost son, an Edoite sake seller, can save her.
1979-02-2445m54. The Female Doctor Who Loves Money
PlayOshino, the female doctor with a fist, is in charge of a temple that gives free medical service to orphans, but it is reputed that she is stealing all the money instead.
1979-03-0345m55. This Small Incident Occured Ten Years Ago
PlayShoheiko, the official Shogunate college, has an admissions scandal where the bureaucrats turn out to have been accepting bribes for admissions. Yoshimune suggests opening it to commoners and calls up some obscure scholars; the vicious bureaucrats attack and kill one. Shin-san absolutely loses his mind, but Tatsugoro is there to give him a helping hand.
1979-03-1045m56. The Man Who Died in the Light Snowfalls in Spring
PlayRyuko's friend is killed by a rice wholesaler. Shin-san investigates this and discovers a whole sordid rice-based drama, including collective punishment, famine, and assassination.
1979-03-1745m59. The Firemen's Standard is the Firemen's Heart and Soul
PlayNo description available.
1979-04-0745m69. Very Proud of the Celebrated Sword
PlayAn unbalanced ronin wants to become the sword teacher to a daimyo, so he can get enough money to buy back his really sexy sword from the pawn shop. However, a competitor attacks him, crippling the ronin's hand. Shin-san is really mad about this, even though the ronin attacked him earlier.
1979-06-1645m72. Revenge Colored with Safflowers
PlayA pregnant safflower farmer's husband is run over by the local lord's horse. She's lured to the daikan's office to get compensated but is raped and turned into the lord's concubine instead. She schemes to have herself murdered so Ooka Echizen will enter the manor and discover these great crimes.
1979-07-0745m73. A Man Passionate About the Snow on Mount Fuji
PlayA kind but untalented kitchen-supervisor samurai is assigned to accompany his domain's gift to the Shogun: big blocks of ice. Shin-san, tramping around Shinjuku, accidentally discovers this delivery and starts accompanying it too, and discovers a rival domain is trying to kill the ice to humiliate the first domain.
1979-07-1445m74. Kick the Edo Illness Out!
PlayA mysterious illness (beriberi) becomes common and Yoshimune calls his doctor to find out what the cause is. His doctor says only his own special blend of medicine (very expensive) can cure it. Oshino, the female doctor with a fist, however, believes the solution is more simple (and involves punching people).
1979-07-2145m75. Gorozaemon Kano's Disappearance
PlayKano Gorozaemon, who is practically Yoshimune's adoptive father, goes out into Edo to get a surprise present for the Shogun, and is kidnapped by a nutter who wants to frame him for murder to steal his job.
1979-08-1145m76. Suspicion Begets Idle Fears
PlayA lord lets 3 master ghost actresses into his house as maids, somehow doesn't connect this with supernatural happenings in his house.
1979-08-1845m77. The Bride That Came From Kishu
PlayKikue, the daughter of a potter, comes to Edo and meets her old friend Shin-san, who she recognizes as the Shogun. She came to marry Kano Gorozaemon, who proposed to her when she was eight (??!) but Kano backed out.
1979-08-2545m78. A Man Hunting the Whole Country
PlayThe Ogobanshu (kind of like a guild of hatamotos) want to hunt, but in setting the borders of the hunting area they recklessly steal the corner of a VERY sensitive farmer's farm.
1979-09-0845m79. Peerless! The Taste of Momma
PlayMatsumae domain officials and the store Ebisu-ya are conspiring to give predatory loans to alcohol shops. Lady merchant Omasa from Osaka wants to get a better deal, and her son unfortunately took the debt from his main sake supplier, so now she needs to get money to save both their skins.
1979-09-1545m80. The Direct Retainers of the Shogun Run Wild
PlayHatamotos, a domain, a runaway killer samurai from the domain, the firemen, and jii for some reason, all end up in a gigantic free for all fight.
1979-09-2245m103. Catastrophe! We Shouldn't Have Gotten Out of the Way!
PlayNo description available.
1980-03-0845m124. The One Who Stood Out After Being at Risk of Drowning
PlayNo description available.
1980-08-0945m125. Floating Lanterns That Mark a New Beginning in a Man's Life
PlayNo description available.
1980-08-1645m133. Listen! The Chronicles of the Old Man and the Young Master
PlayNo description available.
1980-10-1845m142. Munenryu Shintoism and Confucianism According to the Hayashi Clan
PlayNo description available.
1980-12-2745m143. I Am the Most Unpleasant Person in the World
PlayShin-san accidentally gets involved with two low-class thieving morons, to Tatsugoro's horror. Tatsugoro finally manages to get rid of them, and one of them is promptly killed by evil ninjas for having seen something he should not have. Yoshimune learns they were raising a bunch of orphans in an awful shack with their scammed money, and decides he must avenge the dead criminal.
1981-01-1045m162. The Blooming Ginseng Flower That the Firefighter's Matoi Made Flourish
PlayNo description available.
1981-05-3045m182. The One Who Eats From the Table and the One Who Doesn't
PlayNo description available.
1981-10-2445m192. Laughter and Tears, The Dramatic Life of the People of Kawachi
PlayNo description available.
1982-01-0945m193. The First Snow is the Make-Up of the Dead of a Sad Woman
PlayNo description available.
1982-01-1645m
Casts
Ken Matsudaira
Tokugawa Yoshimune
Saburo Kitajima
Tatsugoro
Tadashi Yokouchi
Oo'oka Echizen-no-Kami Tadasuke
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