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Jidaigeki (時代劇) is agenre offilm,television,video game, andtheatre inJapan. Literally meaning "period dramas", it refers to stories that take place before theMeiji Restoration of 1868.[1]
Jidaigeki show the lives of thesamurai, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants of their time.Jidaigeki films are sometimes referred to aschambara movies, a word meaning "sword fight", though chambara is more accurately a subgenre ofjidaigeki.Jidaigeki rely on an established set ofdramatic conventions including the use of makeup, language, catchphrases, and plotlines.
Manyjidaigeki take place inEdo, the military capital. Others show the adventures of people wandering from place to place. The long-running television seriesZenigata Heiji andAbarenbō Shōgun typify the Edojidaigeki.Mito Kōmon, the fictitious story of the travels of the historicaldaimyōTokugawa Mitsukuni, and theZatoichi movies and television series, exemplify the traveling style.
Another way to categorizejidaigeki is according to the social status of the principal characters. The title character ofAbarenbō Shōgun isTokugawa Yoshimune, the eighthTokugawashōgun. The head of the samurai class, Yoshimune assumes the disguise of a low-rankinghatamoto, a samurai in the service of the shogun. Similarly, Mito Kōmon is the retired vice-shogun, masquerading as a merchant.
In contrast, the coin-throwing Heiji ofZenigata Heiji is acommoner, working for the police, while Ichi (the title character ofZatoichi), a blind masseur, is an outcast, as were many disabled people in that era. In fact, masseurs, who typically were at the bottom of the professional food chain, was one of the few vocational positions available to the blind in that era.Gokenin Zankurō is a samurai but, due to his low rank and income, he has to work extra jobs that higher-ranking samurai were unaccustomed to doing.
Whether the lead role is samurai or commoner,jidaigeki usually reach a climax in an immense sword fight just before the end. The title character of a series always wins, whether using a sword or ajitte (the device police used to trap, and sometimes to bend or break, an opponent's sword).
Among the characters injidaigeki are a parade of people with occupations unfamiliar to modernJapanese and especially to foreigners. Here are a few:
The warrior class included samurai, hereditary members in the military service of adaimyō or theshōgun, who was a samurai himself.Rōnin, samurai without masters, were also warriors, and like samurai, wore two swords, but they were without inherited employment or status.Bugeisha were men, or in some stories women, who aimed to perfect their martial arts, often by traveling throughout the country.Ninja were the secret service, specializing in stealth, the use of disguises, explosives, and concealed weapons.
Craftsmen injidaigeki included metalworkers (often abducted to mint counterfeit coins), bucket-makers, carpenters and plasterers, and makers of woodblock prints for art or newspapers.
In addition to the owners of businesses large and small, thejidaigeki often portray the employees. Thebantō was a high-ranking employee of a merchant, thetedai, a lower helper. Many merchants employed children, orkozō. Itinerant merchants included the organized medicine-sellers, vegetable-growers from outside the city, and peddlers at fairs outside temples and shrines. In contrast, the great brokers in rice, lumber and other commodities operated sprawling shops in the city.
In the highest ranks of the shogunate were therojū. Below them were thewakadoshiyori, then the variousbugyō or administrators, including thejisha bugyō (who administered temples and shrines), thekanjō bugyō (in charge of finances) and the twoEdo machi bugyō. These last alternated by month as chief administrator of the city. Their role encompassed mayor, chief of police, and judge, and jury in criminal and civil matters.
The machi bugyō oversaw the police and fire departments. The police, ormachikata, included the high-rankingyoriki and thedōshin below them; both were samurai. Injidaigeki, they often have full-time patrolmen,okappiki andshitappiki, who were commoners. (Historically, such people were irregulars and were called to service only when necessary.) Zenigata Heiji is anokappiki. The police lived in barracks at Hatchōbori in Edo. They mannedban'ya, the watch-houses, throughout the metropolis. Thejitte was the symbol of the police, fromyoriki toshitappiki.
A separate police force handled matters involving samurai. Theōmetsuke were high-ranking officials in the shogunate; themetsuke andkachi-metsuke, lower-ranking police who could detain samurai. Yet another police force investigated arson-robberies, whileShinto shrines andBuddhist temples fell under the control of another authority. The feudal nature of Japan made these matters delicate, and jurisdictional disputes are common injidaigeki.
Edo had three fire departments. Thedaimyō-bikeshi were in the service of designateddaimyōs; thejōbikeshi reported to the shogunate; while themachi-bikeshi, beginning under Yoshimune, were commoners under the administration of themachi-bugyō. Thus, even the fire companies have turf wars in thejidaigeki.
Eachdaimyō maintained a residence in Edo, where he lived duringsankin-kōtai. His wife and children remained there even while he was away from Edo, and the ladies-in-waiting often feature prominently injidaigeki. A high-ranking samurai, theEdo-garō, oversaw the affairs in thedaimyō's absence. In addition to a staff of samurai, the household includedashigaru (lightly armed warrior-servants) andchūgen andyakko (servants often portrayed as flamboyant and crooked). Manydaimyōs employed doctors,goten'i; their counterpart in the shogun's household was theokuishi. Count on them to provide the poisons that kill and the potions that heal.
The cast of a wanderingjidaigeki encountered a similar setting in eachhan. There, thekarō were thekuni-garō and thejōdai-garō. Tensions between them have provided plots for many stories.
There are several dramatic conventions ofjidaigeki:
Authors ofjidaigeki work pithy sayings into the dialog. Here are a few:
The authors of series invent their own catchphrases calledkimarizerifu that the protagonist says at the same point in nearly every episode. InMito Kōmon, in which the eponymous character disguises himself as a commoner, in the final sword fight, a sidekick invariably holds up an accessory bearing the shogunal crest and shouts,Hikae! Kono mondokoro ga me ni hairanu ka?: "Back! Can you not see this emblem?", revealing the identity of the hitherto unsuspected old man with a goatee beard. The villains then instantly surrender and beg forgiveness.
Likewise,Tōyama no Kin-san bares his tattooed shoulder and snarls,Kono sakurafubuki o miwasureta to iwasane zo!: "I won't let you say you forgot this cherry-blossom blizzard!" After sentencing the criminals, he proclaims,Kore nite ikken rakuchaku: "Case closed."
The following areJapanese video games in thejidaigeki genre.
Although jidaigeki is essentially a Japanese genre, there are also Western games that use the setting to match the same standards. Examples areGhost of Tsushima,Shogun: Total War series or Japanese campaigns ofAge of Empires III.
Names are in Western order, with the surname after the given name.
Star Wars creatorGeorge Lucas has admitted to being inspired significantly by the period works ofAkira Kurosawa, and many thematic elements found inStar Wars bear the influence ofChanbara filmmaking. In an interview, Lucas has specifically cited the fact that he became acquainted with the termjidaigeki while in Japan, and it is widely assumed that he took inspiration for the termJedi from this.[3][4][5]
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