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Jidaigeki
aka: Chanbara

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Three things in this life are inevitable: the waters of the Kamogawa river; the dots on dice and the bells of the mountain temples.
—Japanese proverb

(The following description should ideally be read under falling Cherry Blossoms.)

Jidaigeki (meaning "period drama") is a genre of Historical Fiction and Period Pieces found in Japanese Media.

These works are set before (or around the beginning of) the Meiji Restoration when the Shogunate was deposed. The time subdivisions most often found in Japanese media include the Sengoku Period (or "Warring States", an era of civil war from about 1467 to 1573), the Edo Period (after Japan was united under the Tokugawa shogunate, 1603–1868),note  and the Bakumatsu/early Meiji Period (1853–1868, the part of the Edo Period leading into the Meiji Period, 1868–1912).

Jidaigeki can be idealized or realistic, operate as rigorous Historical Fiction that show their work. It can also be like the American Western, soapy drama or hardass action, and feature a rich cast of character tropes. Jidaigeki that emphasize swordplay are often referred to as chanbara (meaning "sword fighting"), especially the live-action movies, and counted on for lots of hot Samurai action (Ninja, Rōnin, and Yakuza are also frequent players).note  Given the fact that there are plenty of Edo-era buildings in Japan still standing, and that Edo-era costumes are dime-a-dozen, that period appeals a lot to Japanese TV producers. Compare the sheer number of BBC costume dramas set in the Victorian era, or the innumerable Chinese films and series set during the Qing dynasty.

The Jidaigeki films considered most notable by Western audiences tend to feature samurai, and from this they tend to assume that the term Jidaigeki refers to samurai films in particular. This is an exaggeration. Jidaigeki basically means historical settings or something set in the past, and does not by itself concern samurai or ronin by default. A number of Jidaigeki exist that focus on women, on painters, actors, and even burakumin (the lower-caste Japanese underbelly who are the ancestors to Yakuza). In the classical era of Japanese cinema, Jidaigeki was the most prestigious and serious genre.

Also, although it may seem American and European directors have been borrowing (or, depending on your POV, appropriating) these conventions — sometimes whole plots — for years, Jidaigeki pieces have long borrowed/appropriated in equal measure from Westerns and Film Noir. Akira Kurosawa, himself, was known to be a fan of director John Ford. George Lucas took some inspiration from this cross-pollination while writing Star Wars — guess where he got the word "jedi". Even before that, Jidaigeki borrowed and took inspiration from American films (e.g., Stella Dallas, a popular melodrama in Japan) and from European drama (e.g., Henrik Ibsen and Leo Tolstoy). Kurosawa likewise won fame for his transpositions of William Shakespeare to feudal Japan. Klingon society as seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation also took from this era for inspiration.

For Western depictions of Japanese history, see Hollywood Medieval Japan. Compare The Middle Ages and The Wild West, two popular Western historical periods that are roughly analogous to Jidaigeki. See also Wutai for Fantasy Counterpart Cultures that are based upon Japan. Related to Ninja Fiction, which focus on fictional works that focus on the samurai and shinobi respectively, usually overlapping with Jidaigeki.


Some notable historical names that have been originating from this era include:

Examples of shows taking place in this era:

    open/close all folders 

    Vague Period 
Anime and Manga
  • Mononoke skips around madly between the Sengoku and post-Meiji eras thanks to its immortal protagonist. None of said eras are particularly well-defined or historically accurate, though.
  • Shura no Toki (mostly) self-contained story arcs is set in multiple periods, except Azuchi-Momoyama (yes, none of the Mutsu encountered Oda Nobunaga or his contemporaries). Well, except for one arc set in American frontier.
  • Made explicit in Millennium Actress, which recounts the story of Chiyoko's life largely in the form of scenes inspired by her films. So the setting follows Japanese history from the Heian era all the way through to the modern world and even beyond into science fiction with callbacks to earlier eras embedded in some of the later ones. Lampshaded when a supporting character asks another "Aren't you dressed for the wrong era?" after a particularly abrupt transition.
  • Sgt. Frog: The entire Musha Kero arc takes place on an Alternate Universe planet vaguely like ancient Japan. All the best-known Jidai Geki tropes are played straight, from the alternate Idiosyncratic Episode Naming to Keroro saying "Kore nite, ikken rakchaku... de arimasu."

Live-Action TV

  • Kamen Rider:
    • In universe example for Kamen Rider Double has Shotaro and Akiko become fans of a Jidai Geki series, including a themed dream sequence.
    • Although set in the modern day, Kamen Rider Gaim seems to be taking influence from the genre: the Transformation Trinkets are called "Sengoku Drivers" in reference to the time period, and the Rider vs. Rider rivalries are directly compared to the time's civil wars, with one of the characters even pointing out how it's developing into a modern day Sengoku War. As the episodes go on, the tone begins to shift and the Sengoku War feel fades away. It doesn't go into obscurity, as the main character retains this feel with his Super Modes giving him a general motif.
  • The backstories for Juzo and Daiyu in Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. The series as a whole uses tropes and conventions of the genre despite being set in the modern day.

Theatre

Video Games

  • Akanesasu Sekai de Kimi to Utau is set in a separate universe that mimics seven eras of Japanese history, reaching as far back as Yayoi-Asuka period and as recent as Meiji-ShĹŤwa period, along with Japanese Mythology thrown into the mix for good measure, compressed into a single world. The Cast Full of Pretty Boys the protagonist interacts with are established as similarly named stand-ins for historical figures of our world and have similarities in terms of personalities and backgrounds as their historical counterparts.
  • Fate/Grand Order: The GUDAGUDA events based on the Koha-ACE comics practically takes place in a wacky combination between the Sengoku and Bakumatsu era (which may include mechanized soldiers or UFO). Chief Servants from this include Gender Flip versions of Okita Souji and Oda Nobunaga. Other periods pop up in the main story, mixed up during the 3rd Epic of Remnant Shimousa, and focusing mostly on the Heian Era in the Lostbelt side story Naraka Mandala: Heian-Kyo.
  • Ikki, an early Sunsoft game set during some farmer's rebellion.
  • Kenseiden in which Benkei shows up as a boss and the final boss is an indeterminate individual named "Yonensai".
  • Kengo:
  • Ōkami: Sure it's an alternate world, but the setting clearly takes inspiration from Heian and Sengoku stories, events and characters.
  • Deae Tonosama Appare Ichiban includes a rather insane mishmash of Japanese historical figures.
  • Toukiden‎ has "Ages" loosely corresponding to periods of Japanese history from its legendary beginnings to the Meiji era. Toukiden 2 explicitly establishes the Awakening takes place in the Meiji period, with Western-style houses and ships in Yokohama before it's destroyed in the game's opening sequence.
  • Touken Ranbu technically takes places 20 Minutes into the Future, but it involves going back in time to various times in Japanese history (from the Sengoku to Bakumatsu periods) in order to prevent historical revisionists from changing history. The characters, apart from the Featureless Protagonist, are Anthropomorphic Personifications of famous Japanese swords, ranging from the 10th to 19th centuries.
  • Tengai Makyou: The series is a parody of this genre, fueled by Western misconceptions and stereotypes about Feudal-Era Japan. It was supposedly based on a book called Far East of Eden written by a P.H. Chada, a orientalist that worked at the Smithsonian Museum. In reality, Chada is a pseudonym for Ouji Hiroi, the real creator and author of the series.

    Heian Period (late 8th century to 12th century) 
Anime and Manga

Film

Literature

Video Games

Webcomics

    Genpei War (1180-1185) 
Film

Literature

Live-Action TV

  • Cosmos: A Personal Voyage recreates the battle of Dan-no-ura to explore artificial selection based on the resemblance of the Heike crabs to the Samurai.

Video Games

Visual Novels

  • Gikei, an adaptation with Historical Gender Flip, in which three characters from the present time end up stuck in the late Heian period up to the Genpei War, assuming the role of three historical characters in their place. Features a good amount of Infodump on the Heian period and its numerous customs, while also being a faithful adaptation of the Heike Monogatari and the Gikeiki, detailing the political intrigue between the samurai clans.

    Kamakura and Muromachi Periods (1185–1573) 
Anime and Manga
  • Angolmois: Genkou Kassenki takes place during the 1274 Mongol invasion of Japan. The story begins very shortly before the Mongols make landfall and focuses on the desperate first 7 days of the invasion as a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits and War Refugees attempt to fight back and survive against the invaders.
  • The Elusive Samurai takes place during the Kenmu Restoration (1333-1336) and early Nanboku-chĹŤ period (1336-1392), following the adventures of Tokiyuki Hojo, the surviving heir of the previous ruling Hojo clan that was massacred during the Ashikaga takeover of Kamakura in 1333.

Film

Video Games

  • Ghost of Tsushima is set during the Mongol invasion of Japan in the year 1274. The protagonist is a samurai defending the island of Tsushima.
  • The very first Total War game, Shogun: Total War, has its expansion pack, Mongol Invasion, present an Alternate History scenario where the kamikaze storm that stopped the 1274 Mongol invasion of the Japanese main islands in real life never happened. With the full force of the Mongolian Empire landing in Kyushu, the invasion turns into a grueling years-long war of attrition. Players can choose to be either the Mongols or the Hojo Clan in the campaign.

    Sengoku Period (15th to 17th centuries) 
See here.

    Edo Period (1603-1868) 
Anime and Manga

Film

Literature

Live-Action TV

Video Games

Visual Novels

Web Original

  • Look to the West is an alternate history story that, at one point, features Japan balkanized by the European powers after an apocalyptic civil war.

    Bakumatsu/Early Meiji (1853-late 19th century) 
Anime and Manga

Audio Play

Comic Books

Film

Live-Action TV

Theatre

Video Games

Visual Novels

  • Miburo, depicting the history of the Gender Flipped Shinsengumi and the various power plays of the Bakumatsu Era.

 
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Video Example(s):

Alternative Title(s): Feudal Japan, Chanbara

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John mentions to Lord Toranaga that Portuguese Macau recruited samurais who were baptized as Catholics as mercenaries.

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