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."
207 Episodes
E01 The Star of Edo
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.
January 7, 1978E02 The Remarkable Charlatan
Ogyu Shosen is called a quack doctor, but Yoshimune thinks he should be made surgeon-general.
January 14, 1978E03 The First Fireman Banner
Hatamoto firemen are causing a nuisance and thieving in town, so fiery Tatsugoro and his gang of construction workers aim to take them down.
January 21, 1978E04 Mother From Long Past
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).
January 28, 1978E05 Spring in the O'oku
February 4, 1978E06 The Splendid Potato Samurai
February 11, 1978E07 The Man of River Styx
February 25, 1978E08 The Befouled Truncheon
March 4, 1978E09 The Chivalrous Thief
March 11, 1978E10 The Blossoming Meyasubako
March 18, 1978E11 The Finest Kiyari Song
March 25, 1978E12 The Amazing Kishu Woman
Yoshimune's old friend from Kishu, a female lumberjack, comes to Edo to engage in lumber trade, but gets in trouble.
April 1, 1978E13 The Perilous Souvenir Gift
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.
April 8, 1978E14 The Golden Crow Charms
Fireman Genzo wins the lottery, but is then reported to the police for having a forged ticket.
April 15, 1978E15 The Quack Who Calls Forth Spring
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.
April 22, 1978E16 Showdown at Beautiful Yoshiwara
April 29, 1978E17 Love and the Guardian Deity
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!
May 6, 1978E18 The Beat of a Taiko Drum in Edo
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.
May 13, 1978E19 A Ballad of a Fireman
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.
May 20, 1978E20 Iris and Sympathy
May 27, 1978E21 Fireman's Standard was Watching
June 3, 1978E22 Friendships Support the World
June 17, 1978E23 Rage of the Fishmonger
June 24, 1978E24 The Dreadful Shichi-ri Messengers
July 1, 1978E25 Heavens! Great Trouble in Edo
July 8, 1978E26 The Drunken Man Who was Promoted
July 15, 1978E27 The Woman Who Challenged the Yagyu Family
July 22, 1978E28 A Flower Blooms in the Dark
July 29, 1978E29 The Goofiest Pickpocket in Edo
August 19, 1978E30 The Misjudged Betrayer
September 9, 1978E31 The Woman Who Disappeared from the Hunting Ground
September 16, 1978E32 The Best Announcement of the Winner in Japan
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 and really, really wants to wrestle him. Eventually Shin-san learns of the wrestling drama that is unfolding...
September 23, 1978E33 A Daimyo's Famed Shiruko Restaurant
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...
September 30, 1978E34 The Women Who Dance in a Tempest
October 7, 1978E35 The Bride with an Explosive
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...
October 14, 1978E36 The Deceiving Mole Under a Woman's Eye
October 21, 1978E37 Feel Her Heart
October 28, 1978E38 The Woman Who Challenged Her Master
November 4, 1978E39 A Sweet Snare from RyuKyu
November 11, 1978E40 Go! The Prodogy of the Commoners
November 18, 1978E41 Hara-Kiri! The Drunkard Magistrate
December 2, 1978E42 A Hot Man and a Brazen Hussy
December 9, 1978E43 The Shogun's Secret Ninja
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.
December 16, 1978E44 Fresh Blood on the Bestowed Sword
December 23, 1978E45 The Counterfeit Coins and the Candy Man
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 candy just when the guy's old friends force him to counterfeit again...
December 30, 1978E46 A Grand New Year's Gift
January 6, 1979E47 The Female Doctor with a Fist
Edo is invigorated by an unusually aggressive and outspoken female doctor, Oshino, who physically beats her patients if they do not obey her.
January 13, 1979E48 Hell in the Heavenly Bath
January 20, 1979E49 The Pen is Mightier Than The Sword
January 27, 1979E50 The Great Packed Lunch of a Woman
February 3, 1979E51 The Bride of the Fish Market
February 10, 1979E52 The Downfall of Ooka Echizen No Kami
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...
February 17, 1979E53 The Best Dry Sake for Mother and Son
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.
February 24, 1979E54 The Female Doctor Who Loves Money
Oshino, the female doctor with a fist, is in charge of a temple that gives free medical service to orphans, but it is reputed that she is stealing all the money instead.
March 3, 1979E55 This Small Incident Occured Ten Years Ago
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.
March 10, 1979E56 The Man Who Died in the Light Snowfalls in Spring
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.
March 17, 1979E57 Eliminations of Black Sheep
March 24, 1979E58 The Best Cherry Blossom Dance in Edo
March 31, 1979E59 The Firemen's Standard is the Firemen's Heart and Soul
April 7, 1979E60 Only the Sun Knew
April 14, 1979E61 The Perished Love in a Spring Storm
April 21, 1979E62 A Single Flower in the Dark
April 28, 1979E63 The Fallen Flower in the Game of Chance
May 5, 1979E64 Holding a Fire Standard for a Spear
May 12, 1979E65 The Troublesome Tea Urn Trip
May 19, 1979E66 Daruma Smiled on Joshu Road
May 26, 1979E67 Commissioner Ooka Committs Hara-Kiri!
June 2, 1979E68 A Bogus Complaint
June 9, 1979E69 Very Proud of the Celebrated Sword
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.
June 16, 1979E70 A Loach Pot Rather Than A Domain
June 23, 1979E71 The Best Godfather in Japan
June 30, 1979E72 Revenge Colored with Safflowers
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.
July 7, 1979E73 A Man Passionate About the Snow on Mount Fuji
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.
July 14, 1979E74 Kick the Edo Illness Out!
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).
July 21, 1979E75 Gorozaemon Kano's Disappearance
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.
August 11, 1979E76 Suspicion Begets Idle Fears
A lord lets 3 master ghost actresses into his house as maids, somehow doesn't connect this with supernatural happenings in his house.
August 18, 1979E77 The Bride That Came From Kishu
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.
August 25, 1979E78 A Man Hunting the Whole Country
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.
September 8, 1979E79 Peerless! The Taste of Momma
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.
September 15, 1979E80 The Direct Retainers of the Shogun Run Wild
Hatamotos, a domain, a runaway killer samurai from the domain, the firemen, and jii for some reason, all end up in a gigantic free for all fight.
September 22, 1979E81 Heroes in the Darkness
September 29, 1979E82 Angelic Neighborhood Bully
October 13, 1979E83 Thief Targeting the Nation
October 20, 1979E84 O-sai Flies!
October 27, 1979E85 Mount Fuji Saw The Wild Spear
November 3, 1979E86 The Shogun Permitted a Thief
November 10, 1979E87 Bullet Aiming At 8 Million Koku
November 17, 1979E88 Burn! Even If You Must Die
November 24, 1979E89 Embarrased To Recieve Flowers in Congratulation
December 1, 1979E90 Beast Battle! Master Tatsugoro
December 8, 1979E91 Duel! In the Stormy Castle
December 15, 1979E92 Cheers! Quack Doctor
December 22, 1979E93 The Will of the Raging Samurai
December 29, 1979E94 The Lanterns of Early Spring and Noon Emerge
January 5, 1980E95 I Saw a Rainbow in the Sea of Flames
January 12, 1980E96 Get the Vermin Out of the Castle!
January 19, 1980E97 I Don't Need a Mother!
January 26, 1980E98 The Girl From the Wolf Village
February 2, 1980E99 A Dohyori of Fire!
February 9, 1980E100 The Fake Shogun
February 16, 1980E101 The Eight Million Koku Porter
February 23, 1980E102 The Collector Who Collected the Villain's Head
March 1, 1980E103 Catastrophe! We Shouldn't Have Gotten Out of the Way!
March 8, 1980E104 Japan's Most Wanted Bride
March 22, 1980E105 Stop! Uncontrolled Official Carriage
March 29, 1980E106 What is a Shogun?
April 5, 1980E107 Watch Out! A Female Spy
April 12, 1980E108 The Man Who Gives Orders to the Shogun!
April 19, 1980E109 Snacks Delight on a Sunny Day
April 26, 1980E110 Youth of Edo, Stand Up!
May 3, 1980E111 Love Blossoms in Ubasuteyama!
May 10, 1980E112 The Proud and Naive Samurai
May 17, 1980E113 The Man Who Didn't Stop
May 24, 1980E114 I Saw the Real One! The Hayabusa Brat
May 31, 1980E115 Beware of the Quick Bucks
June 7, 1980E116 The Man Who Died and Flourished
June 14, 1980E117 Courage in the Face of Injustice
June 21, 1980E118 Thief Training
June 28, 1980E119 The Fox Woman Cries, the Banner of Empathy
July 5, 1980E120 The Princess Take - Tears from a Wedding Procession
July 12, 1980E121 The Flourishing of the Female Bushido
July 19, 1980E122 The Sad Song of the South
July 26, 1980E123 The New Boss! - Osai, of the Fire Extinguisher
August 2, 1980E124 The One Who Stood Out After Being at Risk of Drowning
August 9, 1980E125 Floating Lanterns That Mark a New Beginning in a Man's Life
August 16, 1980E126 Love Sold for 20,000 Ryu
August 23, 1980E127 The Trap in the Wolf Village
August 30, 1980E128 Melancholy Ninja Love
September 6, 1980E129 Dad, You Used to Be Someone
September 13, 1980E130 My Childhood Friend is an Oku Woman
September 27, 1980E131 There was a Bullet in the Clam Chowder!
October 4, 1980E132 Run! The Shogun's Horse!
October 11, 1980E133 Listen! The Chronicles of the Old Man and the Young Master
October 18, 1980E134 A Silly Dance in an Oily Hell
October 25, 1980E135 Duel on the Steam of Hell
November 1, 1980E136 The Woman Who Bet on the Mountain of Fire
November 8, 1980E137 Edo's Female Chief
November 15, 1980E138 Hakone's Melancholic Drizzle
November 22, 1980E139 The One Who Flirted Was to Blame
November 29, 1980E140 The Wild Spear Everyone Fears
December 6, 1980E141 The Bandit Harusame's Mother
December 20, 1980E142 Munenryu Shintoism and Confucianism According to the Hayashi Clan
December 27, 1980E143 I Am the Most Unpleasant Person in the World
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.
January 10, 1981E144 One Life For One Isshou of Shochu
January 17, 1981E145 The Silent Man's Divorce Letter
January 24, 1981E146 Ah! Justice Has Tears!
January 31, 1981E147 Megumi Clan's Love Bridge
February 7, 1981E148 Japan's Number One Little Thief
February 14, 1981E149 Tops Spinning Beneath a False Union
February 21, 1981E150 The White Waves That Shame the Flowers
February 28, 1981E151 Sado, the Shining Yellow
March 7, 1981E152 The Shogun, the Horse Thief, and the Brat
March 14, 1981E153 When a Man Sparks
March 21, 1981E154 The Love That Blooms Inside a Coffin
March 28, 1981E155 I Don't Want to Be the Shogun's Bride
April 11, 1981E156 Jongara with a Munen-Ryu Kid
April 18, 1981E157 The Cursed Box of 1000 Ryos
April 25, 1981E158 Hell's Bells Ring at 6.00 p.m
May 2, 1981E159 Rest in Peace, Onaka - The Flowing Lanterns
May 9, 1981E160 The Flowers That Fall Without Waiting for Spring
May 16, 1981E161 The One Who Smiled in the End
May 23, 1981E162 The Blooming Ginseng Flower That the Firefighter's Matoi Made Flourish
May 30, 1981E163 The Cowardly Samurai Who Made a Demon Woman Cry
June 6, 1981E164 Break the Chains of the Heart With Human Kindness
June 13, 1981E165 Whose Ungrateful Son is it
June 20, 1981E166 Promise of the Bell the Girl With Bangs and a Sword
June 27, 1981E167 The Decisive Duel of the Lantern Samurai
July 4, 1981E168 Legitimate Marital Fight
July 11, 1981E169 Clear Sky - The Hungry Lancer
July 18, 1981E170 The Duel! Blood in the Fuefuki River of Koshu
August 1, 1981E171 Burning Tears of the Traitor
August 8, 1981E172 The Flower in the Shadow That Made a Man Bloom
August 15, 1981E173 Waves of the Seto Maiden
August 22, 1981E174 Onomichi - Sunset of Revenge
August 29, 1981E175 The Million Kokus Dependent
September 5, 1981E176 The Bond of Hatred Between Father and Daughter
September 12, 1981E177 The Morning When Demons Wept
September 19, 1981E178 The Bet For the Dance Fan in the Sumo Ring
September 26, 1981E179 The Samurai Tanuki Performs a Great Feat
October 3, 1981E180 The Man Who Steals While Preaching
October 10, 1981E181 Oath of Brothers
October 17, 1981E182 The One Who Eats From the Table and the One Who Doesn't
October 24, 1981E183 The Night Flower That Blooms Once
October 31, 1981E184 The Man Who Danced in the Shadows
November 7, 1981E185 The Man Who Danced in the Shadows
November 14, 1981E186 The Love Story of a Man and His Taiko Drum
November 21, 1981E187 Sorry, Shogun! The Change of a Monk
November 28, 1981E188 Call of the Storm! The Bride From Megumi
December 5, 1981E189 The Heart of a Mother That Made Demons Cry
December 12, 1981E190 The Number One Rain Man in Japan
December 19, 1981E191 Cold Wind of Yoshiwara, Tears of a Woman
December 26, 1981E192 Laughter and Tears, The Dramatic Life of the People of Kawachi
January 9, 1982E193 The First Snow is the Make-Up of the Dead of a Sad Woman
January 16, 1982E194 The Poor and Nameless Grass
January 23, 1982E195 The Fragrance of the Sea, Tastes Like Mama
January 30, 1982E196 Why Sadness in Sharing an Umbrella?
February 6, 1982E197 A Remora That is More Frightening Than a Pufferfish
February 13, 1982E198 Sadness. Fallen Flowers of Those Who Stay
February 20, 1982E199 The Villain Who Laughed Last
February 27, 1982E200 Laughter and Tears, Three Girls From Edo
March 6, 1982E201 The Greatest Achievement of a Drunken Jitte
March 13, 1982E202 The Tale of the Fame of the Fool Kanpachi
March 20, 1982E203 The Flower That Disappeared in an Avalanche
March 27, 1982E204 Farewell Flower, Night Gust
April 10, 1982E205 Spring Has Come Again! Spouses' Kanzashi
April 17, 1982E206 You're a Child. Don't Cry, Torokichi!
April 24, 1982E207 The Farewell of the 808 Towns
May 1, 1982
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7.0
Bull
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Ghost Hunters: TAPS Returns
9.4Our Better World
6.5
Second Life
9.5
Chicago Med
8.3
Kidding
7.6
Legend of the Eight Immortals
8.0
You Wish
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Bekaaboo
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Superstore
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Chicago Fire
8.4
Der Platzwart – Camping unter Palmen
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Eek! The Cat
6.8
Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party
8.5
Pretty Little Liars
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Married to Evil
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Let's Go Crazy on LIVE
6.0