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is a [[genre]] of [[film]], [[television]], and [[theatre]] in [[Japan]]. Literally meaning "[[period drama|historical drama]]s", it refers to stories that take place before the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Jidaigeki show the lives of the samurai, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants of their time. Jidaigeki films are sometimes referred to as chambara movies, a word meaning "sword fight", though chambara is more accurately a subgenre of jidaigeki. Jidaigeki rely on an established set of dramatic conventions including the use of makeup, language, catchphrases, and plotlines.
Another way to categorize jidaigeki is according to the social status of the principal characters. The title character of Abarenbō Shōgun is Tokugawa Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa shōgun. The head of the samurai class, Yoshimune assumes the disguise of a low-ranking hatamoto, a samurai in the service of the shogun. Similarly, Mito Kōmon is the retired vice-shogun, masquerading as a merchant.
In contrast, the coin-throwing Heiji of Zenigata Heiji is a commoner, working for the police, while Ichi (the title character of Zatoichi), a blind masseur, is an outcast, as were many disabled people in that era. In fact, masseurs, who typically were at the bottom of the professional food chain, was one of the few vocational positions available to the blind in that era. Gokenin Zankurō is a samurai but, due to his low rank and income, he has to work extra jobs that higher-ranking samurai were unaccustomed to doing.
Whether the lead role is samurai or commoner, jidaigeki usually reach a climax in an immense sword fight just before the end. The title character of a series always wins, whether using a sword or a jitte (the device police used to trap, and sometimes to bend or break, an opponent's sword).
The machi bugyō oversaw the police and fire departments. The police, or , included the high-ranking and the below them; both were samurai. In they often have full-time patrolmen, and , who were commoners. (Historically, such people were irregulars and were called to service only when necessary.) Zenigata Heiji is an . The police lived in barracks at Hatchōbori in Edo. They manned ban'ya, the watch-houses, throughout the metropolis. The was the symbol of the police, from to .
A separate police force handled matters involving samurai. The ōmetsuke were high-ranking officials in the shogunate; the metsuke and kachi-metsuke, lower-ranking police who could detain samurai. Yet another police force investigated arson-robberies, while Shinto shrines and Buddhism fell under the control of another authority. The feudal nature of Japan made these matters delicate, and jurisdictional disputes are common in jidaigeki.
Edo had three fire departments. The daimyō-bikeshi were in the service of designated daimyōs; the jōbikeshi reported to the shogunate; while the machi-bikeshi, beginning under Yoshimune, were commoners under the administration of the machi-bugyō. Thus, even the fire companies have turf wars in the jidaigeki.
Each daimyō maintained a residence in Edo, where he lived during sankin-kōtai. His wife and children remained there even while he was away from Edo, and the ladies-in-waiting often feature prominently in jidaigeki. A high-ranking samurai, the Edo-garō, oversaw the affairs in the daimyōs absence. In addition to a staff of samurai, the household included ashigaru (lightly armed warrior-servants) and chūgen and yakko (servants often portrayed as flamboyant and crooked). Many daimyōs employed doctors, goten'i; their counterpart in the shogun's household was the okuishi. Count on them to provide the poisons that kill and the potions that heal.
The authors of series invent their own catchphrases called that the protagonist says at the same point in nearly every episode. In Mito Kōmon, in which the eponymous character disguises himself as a commoner, in the final sword fight, a sidekick invariably holds up an accessory bearing the shogunal crest and shouts, : "Back! Can you not see this emblem?", revealing the identity of the hitherto unsuspected old man with a goatee beard. The villains then instantly surrender and beg forgiveness.
Likewise, Tōyama no Kin-san bares his tattooed shoulder and snarls, : "I won't let you say you forgot this cherry-blossom blizzard!" After sentencing the criminals, he proclaims, : "Case closed."
Although jidaigeki is essentially a Japanese genre, there are also Western games that use the setting to match the same standards. Examples are Ghost of Tsushima, the series, and Japanese campaigns of Age of Empires III.
| Zenigata Heiji | Hashizo Okawa | 1966–84 | ||
| Akakage | Fuji Television | Yūzaburō Sakaguchi, Yoshinobu Kaneko, Fuyukichi Maki | 1967–1968 | |
| Mito Kōmon | TBS | Eijirō Tōno, Ichirō Nakatani, Ryōtarō Sugi, Kōtarō Satomi | 1969–2011 | |
| Ōedo Sōsamō | TV Tokyo | Tetsurō Sagawa, Takeya Nakamura, Ryō Kurosawa | 1970–1980 | |
| Ōoka Echizen | TBS | Go Kato, Takashi Yamaguchi, Chiezō Kataoka | 1970-99 | |
| Daichūshingura | NTV | Toshiro Mifune, Tetsuya Watari, Masakazu Tamura | 1971 | |
| Kogarashi Monjirō | Fuji TV | Atsuo Nakamura | 1972 | |
| Ronin of the Wilderness | NTV | Toshiro Mifune | 1972–1974 | |
| Hissatsu Shikakenin | TV Asahi | Ken Ogata, Yoichi Hayashi, Sō Yamamura | 1972–1973 | |
| Kaiketsu Lion-Maru | Fuji TV | Tetsuya Ushio, Akiko Kujō, Norihiko Umechi, Kiyoshi Kobayashi | 1972–1973 | |
| Nemuri Kyōshirō | Kansai TV | Masakazu Tamura | 1972 | |
| Fuun Lion-Maru | Fuji TV | Tetsuya Ushio, Kazuo Kamoshida, Masaki Hayasaki | 1973 | |
| Lone Wolf and Cub | NTV | Kinnosuke Yorozuya | 1973–1976 | |
| Hissatsu Shiokinin | TV Asahi | Tsutomu Yamazaki, Masaya Oki, Makoto Fujita | 1973 | |
| Oshizamurai Kiichihōgan | NTV | Tomisaburo Wakayama, Shintaro Katsu | 1973-74 | |
| Tasukenin Hashiru | TV Asahi | Takahiro Tamura, Ichirō Nakatani, So Yamamura, Hiroshi Miyauchi | 1973–1974 | |
| Zatoichi | Fuji TV | Shintaro Katsu | 1974–1979 | |
| Onihei Hankachō | NET | Tetsurō Tamba, Takahiro Tamura, Akihiko Hirata, Ichirō Nakatani | 1975 | |
| Edo no Kaze | Fuji TV | Yūzō Kayama, Keiju Kobayashi, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi | 1975–1979 | |
| Shin Hissatsu Shiokinin | TV Asahi | Tsutomu Yamazaki, Shōhei Hino, Makoto Fujita | 1973 | |
| Abarenbō Shōgun | TV Asahi | Ken Matsudaira, Ichirō Arishima, Saburō Kitajima | 1978–2003 | |
| The Yagyu Conspiracy | FUJI TV | Sonny Chiba, Hiroyuki Sanada, Mikio Narita, So Yamamura, Yūki Meguro | 1978-79 | |
| Akō Rōshi (1979 TV series) | TV Asahi | Kinnosuke Yorozuya, Masakazu Tamura, Mikio Narita, Ken Matsudaira | 1979 | |
| Hissatsu Shigotonin | TV Asahi | Makoto Fujita, Gorō Ibuki, Kunihiko Mitamura | 1979–1981 | |
| Shadow Warriors | Fuji TV | Sonny Chiba, Mikio Narita, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shōhei Hino | 1980–1985 | |
| Tōyama no Kin-san | TV Asahi | Hideki Takahashi | 1982–1986 | |
| Ōoku | TV Asahi | Tomisaburō Wakayama, Tetsurō Tamba, Masaya Oki, Masahiko Tsugawa | 1983 | |
| Sanada Taiheiki | NHK | Tsunehiko Watase, Tetsurō Tamba, Masao Kusakari | 1985 | |
| Onihei Hankachō | Fuji TV | Kichiemon Nakamura, Meiko Kaji | 1989–2016 | |
| Kenkaku Shōbai | Fuji TV | Makoto Fujita | 1998–2010 | |
| Ōoku (2003 TV series) | FujiTV | 2003 | ||
| Jin | TBS | Takao Ōsawa, Miki Nakatani, Haruka Ayase | 2009–2011 | |
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