was a Japanese

boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...

under the trainee area of

Starto Entertainment is a Japanese entertainment company that provides artist management services established on October 17, 2023. The president is Atsushi Fukuda. Many of the groups and artists formerly affiliated with Johnny & Associates belong to this company. ...

. Originally produced by Johnnys' Island Company, a division of Tokyo-based talent agency

Johnny & Associates was a Japanese talent agency formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962, which managed groups of male idols known as The company had a significant impact on pop culture with male idols and boy bands in Japan since the 1980s. Until 2019, the company w ...

, they were created on February 26, 2018, by

Johnny Kitagawa John Hiromu Kitagawa (Japanese name ; October 23, 1931 – July 9, 2019), known professionally as , was a Japanese business magnate, promoter, record producer. He was best known as the founder of Johnny & Associates, a talent agency for numerous ...

, and named after

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...

's 1954 film ''

Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai action film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay co-written with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni. Taking place in 1586 in the Sengoku period of Japanese history, it follows the story of a villag ...

''. They are known for their dance acumen, band-style performances, and rock covers/remixes of

J-Pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

songs from the older Johnnys' talent catalog, including "Cinderella Girl" and "Samurai." In addition to appearing regularly as a group in the bi-monthly music and variety show '' The Shōnen Club'' (NHK), they were one of eight groups featured on the official Johnnys' Junior

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Channel, and have posted content every Friday since August 2019. They were also active on the Johnnys' official video site ''Island TV'', where they shared vlog-style behind-the-scenes recaps of work and engagements, as well as humorous vignettes, outtakes and original skits. Members appeared on Japanese variety TV programs, such as the quiz show ''Torinikutte Nan no Nikui!?'' (TV Asahi) and the sports competition series ''Honoo no Taiikutai TV'' (TBS) for which member Rinne Sugeta has been an official part of the in-show "Johnny's Track-and-Field Team" coached by

KAT-TUN was a Japanese boy band under Starto Entertainment. Their formation under Johnny & Associates was in 2001. The group's name was originally an acronym based on the first letter of each member's family name: Kazuya Kamenashi, Jin Akanishi, Junnos ...

Tatsuya Ueda , is a Japanese singer and actor under Starto Entertainment. Born in Kanagawa in Japan. He joined the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates in 1998. In March 2006 he debuted as a member of KAT-TUN, group to which he belonged until its disba ...

. Individual members have also been cast in starring and supporting roles for stage and in scripted television dramas. The group ceased to exist in February 2025, after Starto reorganized the Junior area, with the members divided into 2 new groups.

Members

* * * * * *

Music

On May 1, 2020, it was announced that they would be receiving their first original song from Johnnys' Island CEO Hideaki Takizawa during a surprise prank video uploaded as one of their YouTube contents. The song had been intended for their solo segment during the annual Johnnys' Ginza spring talent showcase, all of which was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The song, called "Samu-dama" (サムダマ), was finally performed in August 2020, during a 2 day/5 show solo segment the group hosted as part of the larger ''Summer Paradise 2020'' livestreamed music festival from Johnny & Associates for the website Johnny's Net Online (JNO). The song is a hard rock number with the title being a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the Japanese words for "samurai spirit," or ''samurai damashii'' (侍魂). On September 11, 2020, a self-shot Studio Live music video for SAMU-DAMA was uploaded to the Johnnys' Junior YouTube channel, along with a separate making-of vignette and an encore performance covering

Tokio Tokio may refer to: * , the capital of Japan, used primarily in non-English-speaking countries may also refer to: Music * Tokio (band), a Japanese pop/rock band ** ''Tokio'' (album), their debut album * Tokio Hotel, a German rock band * Tok ...

's 2000 up-tempo rock song "Jumbo". A second original song, "Siren" (サイレン) was debuted on November 28, 2020, as part of the boys' solo set within the Johnnys' Jr. Island FES music festival, performed alongside additional original songs for fellow Johnnys' Junior performers HiHi Jets and Jr.SP. A third, "SHOUT," premiered during the JOHNNYS' IsLAND THE NEW WORLD new year showcase in January 2022.

Live Concerts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:7 MEN Samurai Japanese pop music groups Japanese idol groups Japanese boy bands Japanese dance groups Johnny & Associates Starto Entertainment Musical groups established in 2018 Musical groups from Tokyo 2018 establishments in Japan