| Genre: | Jidaigeki |
| Runtime: | 45 minutes (per episode) |
| Country: | Japan |
| Language: | Japanese |
| Num Episodes: | 26 |
| Company: | Toei Company |
| Network: | Kansai Telecasting Corporation |
| Director: | Kazuo Ikehiro Akira Inoue Tokuzō Tanaka |
| Starring: | Masakazu Tamura |
| Narrated: | Masaya Takahashi |
| Theme Music Composer: | Takeo Watanabe |
| Last Aired: | [1] |
is a Japanese television jidaigeki or period drama that was broadcast in prime-time in 1972 to 1973.[2] It is based on series of Nemuri Kyōshirō novels by Renzaburō Shibata.[3] [4] Masakazu Tamura played the role of Nemuri Kyōshirō. Tamura's older brother Takahiro Tamura and younger brother Ryo Tamura appeared as a guest in the episode 6. Five special editions of the drama were produced later also Tamura played the role on the stage in 1973 and 1981. The complete DVD box was released on April 10, 2019. The original soundtrack was released on August 11, 2021.[5]
Set in the eighteenth century, during the reign of the eleventh Tokugawa shōgun Tokugawa Ienari. Nemuri Kyōshirō is a master of the sword, but he is a man who shuts his mind and heart because of his unhappy background: Kyōshirō's father was a Dutch missionary who became an apostate and his mother was the daughter of Matsudaira Mondonoshoū, the Tokugawa shogunate's upper superintendent officer. He was an unwanted child conceived during a Black Mass ceremony, and Kyōshirō's mother killed herself soon after Kyōshirō`s birth.[6] Although he hates being involved with incidents and people, he is always involved in them no matter where he goes. Some people challenge him to a duel to see his unusual Engetsu Sappō (Full Moon cut) sword style,[7] while others try to use him because he is a half-breed. He solves incidents with both his intelligence and his Musō Masamune sword.[8]
Kyoshirō becomes involved in a political power struggle when he uncovers a plot to subvert the Shogunate succession by replacing the Shogun's heir with a double.
Directed by Tokuzō Tanaka
Kyoshirō, who has returned to Edo after three years, protects Lady Mihoyo, who exactly resembles his late mother, as rival Elders struggle to destroy each other over the proposed marriage of the Shogun's heir.
Directed by Akira Inoue
Kyoshirō is asked to help save the Akita Clan from a plot which could end in the clan's extermination.
Directed by Sadao Nakajima
Kyoshirō's Full Moon Cut technique becomes the focus for both an artist who wants Kyoshirō to use that style to kill his wife and a lord who is obsessed with Kyoshirō.
Directed by Akira Inoue
Kyoshirō has returned to Edo after an absence of ten years, only to learn of the murder of his former teacher Priest Kunen. While Kyoshirō tries to hold himself aloof, one day a young girl named Misao suddenly appears to him claiming that he is her father. Kyoshirō doubts that Misao is really his daughter, but that is the least of the plots he must unravel, leading to a face-to-face confrontation with perhaps the most dangerous opponent he has ever faced ... a man who intends to utterly destroy the world Kyoshirō knows in order to create his ideal of Utopia and who also knows and can use the Full-Moon Cut sword style as well as Kyoshirō does![9]
Directed by Tomohiko Yamashita