Tōyama Kagemoto

Tōyama Kagemoto.

Tōyama Kagemoto (遠山景元) (September 27, 1793 – April 15, 1855) was a hatamoto and an official of the Tokugawa Shogunate during the Edo Period of Japanese history. His ancestry was of the Minamoto clan of Mino Province. His father, Kagemichi, was the magistrate of Nagasaki. Kagemoto held the posts of Finance Magistrate, North Magistrate, and subsequently the South Magistrate of Edo. (The magistrates of Edo acted as chiefs of the police and fire departments and as judges in criminal and civil matters.) As North Magistrate, his opposition to South Magistrate Torii Yōzō and Rōjū Mizuno Tadakuni won him popularity. In 1843, he was ousted from his position as North Magistrate through the machinations of Torii, and although nominally appointed Ōmetsuke, was out of power. Two years later, when Mizuno ousted Torii, Tōyama received an appointment as South Magistrate, a post once held by Ōoka Tadasuke.

Tōyama's rose to the Lower Junior Fifth rank with the name Tōyama Saemon no Jō.

In fiction

In kabuki and kōdan, he was celebrated under his childhood name of Kinshirō, or popularly, Tōyama no Kin-san. He was said to have left home as a young man, and lived among the commoners, even having a tattoo of flowering sakura trees on his shoulder. This story developed into a legend of helping the common people.

The novelist Tatsurō Jinde (陣出達郎) wrote a series of books about Kin-san. Noted actor Chiezō Kataoka starred in a series of eight Toei jidaigeki films about him. Several Japanese television networks have aired series based on the character. These variously portrayed him pretending to be a petty hood or a yojimbo while solving crimes as the chief of police.