prime time
Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
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 ...
'' programs that originally aired from 1970 to 1992. The series was broadcast on
TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Oedo Dragnet" ("New Oedo Dragnet" for the second series). Early on, it carried the subtitle "Ōedo Untouchables."
Characters
The central characters are a ninja group who serve as secret police agents in Edo. They work undercover under the direction of 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 later, under Matsudaira Sadanobu.
* Jūmonji Koyata, masquerading as a vagrant from Sagami, Sanjirō. The male lead, Koyata was played by Ryōtarō Sugi, Kōtarō Satomi, Hiroki Matsukata, Shirō Namiki, and Jun Hashizume.
* Isaka Jūzō, masquerading as a rōnin of the same name. Tetsurō Sagawa created the role.
* Female leads: Konami ( Meiko Kaji), Yūgiri (Miyako Koshiro), Kurenai Ochō ( Michiyo Yasuda), Inazuma Oryū ( Sanae Tsuchida), Kazaguruma no Okiku ( Yōko Natsuki), and others.
A 1979 film ''Onmitsu Dōshin Ōedo Sōsamō'' starred Hiroki Matsukata, included Toshiro Mifune in the role of Matsudaira Sadanobu.
TV special
The special episode '' Onmitsu Doshin: Oedo Sosamo'' was made in 1979, guest-starring Toshirō Mifune in a rare TV role.
Rebroadcasts
Jidaigeki Senmon Channel has rerun all the other 715 episodes via satellite and cable.