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The Unfettered Shogun Season 1

January. 07,1978
|
8.4
| Drama Family Action & Adventure
The Unfettered 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."

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The Unfettered Shogun

1978

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."

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Cast
Ken Matsudaira, Saburo Kitajima
Producted By
Toei Company
Genres
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The Unfettered Shogun Season 1 Full Episode Guide

Episode 143 - I am the Most Unpleasant Person in the World
First Aired: January. 10,1981

Shin-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.

Episode 80 - The Direct Retainers of the Shogun Run Wild
Episode 79 - Peerless! The Taste of Momma
First Aired: September. 15,1979

Matsumae 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.

Episode 78 - A Man Hunting the Whole Country
First Aired: September. 08,1979

The 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.

Episode 77 - The Bride That Came From Kishu
First Aired: August. 25,1979

Kikue, 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.

Episode 76 - Suspicion Begets Idle Fears
Episode 75 - Gorozaemon Kano's Disappearance
First Aired: August. 11,1979

Kano 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.

Episode 74 - Kick the Edo Illness Out!
First Aired: July. 21,1979

A 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).

Episode 73 - A Man Passionate About the Snow on Mount Fuji
First Aired: July. 14,1979

A 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.

Episode 72 - Revenge Colored with Safflowers
First Aired: July. 07,1979

A 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.

Episode 69 - Very Proud of the Celebrated Sword
First Aired: June. 16,1979

An 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.

Episode 56 - The Man Who Died in the Light Snowfalls in Spring
First Aired: March. 17,1979

Ryuko'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.

Episode 55 - This Small Incident Occured Ten Years Ago
First Aired: March. 10,1979

Shoheiko, 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.

Episode 54 - The Female Doctor Who Loves Money
Episode 53 - The Best Dry Sake for Mother and Son
First Aired: February. 24,1979

Clannish 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.

Episode 52 - The Downfall of Ooka Echizen No Kami
First Aired: February. 17,1979

A 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...

Episode 47 - The Female Doctor with a Fist
Episode 45 - The Counterfeit Coins and the Candy Man
First Aired: December. 30,1978

A 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 him (bastard we know you just want free candy) just when the guy's old friends force him to counterfeit again...

Episode 43 - The Shogun's Secret Ninja
First Aired: December. 16,1978

Female 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.

Episode 35 - The Bride with an Explosive
First Aired: October. 14,1978

A 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...

Episode 33 - A Daimyo's Famed Shiruko Restaurant
First Aired: September. 30,1978

A 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...

Episode 32 - The Best Announcement of the Winner in Japan
First Aired: September. 23,1978

Ryuko 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 (maybe he ate a lot of sugar) and really wants to wrestle him. Eventually Shin-san learns of the wrestling drama that is unfolding...

Episode 19 - A Ballad of a Fireman
First Aired: May. 20,1978

Tatsugoro'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.

Episode 18 - The Beat of a Taiko Drum in Edo
First Aired: May. 13,1978

Yoshimune 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.

Episode 17 - Love and the Guardian Deity
First Aired: May. 06,1978

Satsuma 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!

Episode 15 - The Quack Who Calls Forth Spring
First Aired: April. 22,1978

Even 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.

Episode 13 - The Perilous Souvenir Gift
First Aired: April. 08,1978

Yoshimune'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.

Episode 4 - Mother From Long Past
First Aired: January. 28,1978

A 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).

Episode 3 - The First Fireman Banner
Episode 1 - The Star of Edo
First Aired: January. 07,1978

Roughhousing 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.

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