The Samurai (TV series)

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The Samurai was a Japanese television historical drama series of the 1960s made by Senkosha Productions. The series premiered on October 7, 1962 in Japan and ran until March 1965. Its original Japanese title was Onmitsu Kenshi ('spy swordsman').

It was the first Japanese TV program ever screened in Australia, where it premiered in 1964, and it built up a remarkably large fan-base among pre-teen children. Despite its massive popularity in Japan, Australia, and the Philippines, the series was not widely screened elsewhere and its fame remains largely restricted to those countries.

Filmed in black-and-white, the series was based in part on historical events, but it borrowed heavily from the Japanese historical romance genre. The producers compensated for its low budget by using real historical locations around Japan, including the imposing feudal castles from the era.

The series portrayed the adventures of a roving samurai, Akikusa Shintaro (whose real name is Matsudaira Nobuchiyo), played by Ose Koichi. Shintaro is the older half-brother of Ienari, the 11th Tokugawa shogun. Because he is the son of a concubine, he has no claim to power, so he assumes the guise of a wandering spy-swordsman (along with the name Shintaro) to seek out and eliminate plots by rival warlords, in this way protecting his younger brother, who is still a minor. Acting on secret orders from roju (chief councillor) Matsudaira Sadanobu, Shintaro gathers information in the various fiefdoms and battles rival warriors and spies, aided by his Iga Ninja friend, Kiri no Tonbei (translated as "Tombei the Mist") played by Fuyukichi Maki. Shintaro is also helped by Shusaku (played by the 9 or 10 year old Omori Shunsuke ), whose father has been kidnapped by Koga ninja, and whom Shusaku and Shintaro are also trying to find.

The series had some memorable villains, especially those played by Bin Amatsu, including the imposing Kongo of Koga, the other-worldly Fuma Kotaro (a descendant of the famous 16th century ninja Fūma Kotarō) and Gensai the Wolf. Genkuro Momochi, played by Toshiyuki Katsuki, was another villain who had a genuinely menacing screen presence; as well as a prominent scar in the middle of his brow. The Negishi (Negoro) ninja leaders Garidoshi (played by Yoshio Yoshida) and Onime the Bat (a one-eyed evil-doer with a shuriken for an eye-patch) also projected an aura of menace.

The Samurai was shown in 10 stories (or series) usually of 13 episodes each. It was only at the start of the second story (“Koga Ninjas”) that the show’s signature feature – ninjas – was introduced. And it wasn’t until the first episode of Story Three (“Iga Ninjas”) that the audience was introduced to Shintaro’s faithful assistant Tombei The Mist.

[edit] Impact in Australia

Though now mainly remembered by people over 45, The Samurai had a huge impact on teen and pre-teen children in Australia at the time, and it rapidly became a cult favourite, with children imitating ninja handsprings, hurling cardboard 'star knives' (shuriken) and waving imaginary swords as they played 'samurai and ninja'.

Presumably responding to the increasing interest in Japan that accompanied the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, a few episodes of The Samurai were screened by Channel 9, Sydney in early 1964. After this first screening Channel 9 took the unprecedented step of inviting viewers to write in if they wanted to see more. The result was one of the largest viewer responses in the station's history, with thousands of letters sent in requesting more episodes. The entire series was shown in Australia, though the storylines were presented out of their original sequence, as shown in Japan. This denied the Australian audience the intended effect of the mysterious, open-ended conclusion to the entire series. (The conclusion involves the main character and his arch-enemy, Fuma Kotaro, who has adopted the title Kongo of Koga by this point.)

By 1965 The Samurai was the TV hit of the year, becoming the most popular programme in TCN-9's (a Sydney commercial TV channel) history up to that time, surpassing even The Mickey Mouse Club. The popularity of the series in Australia can perhaps be partially explained by Australia's fascination with its former enemy Japan (the show screened less than twenty years after the end of World War II); even so the level of popularity it attained is remarkable given there was still much resentment of Japan in Australia at the time.

The program proved so popular in Australia that a promoter brought out star Ose Koichi and a large supporting troupe from Japan to appear in a specially written 90-minute stage play based on the series, which played to capacity houses in both in Sydney and Melbourne, and it was reported that more people turned out to greet Ose Koichi when he arrived at Essendon Airport in Melbourne than greeted The Beatles when they visited there in June 1964.

The success of The Samurai led Sydney TV channel ATN-7 to screen Phantom Agents, another Japanese ninja TV series but set in 1960s Japan. Phantom Agents developed its own cult following.

The Samurai was screened in Australia as repeats in the early morning in the 1970s.

With many still fond of the series more than forty years later, Siren Visual began releasing all three series on DVD in Australia in 2002.