Almost a decade ago when I first started the blog, I wrote about my memories and the famous theme song for "Mito Komon"（水戸黄門）, the televised jidaigeki that my family used to watch in the early days of the VCR when the local Buddhist church held video nights on Wednesdays. The theme song's title of "Aa, Jinsei ni Namida ari" (ああ人生に涙あり）was most likely far harder to remember than simply calling it the "Mito Komon" theme, but it's about as memorable and epic as the lightning-fast swordplay which inevitably results in the penultimate scene of an episode.
One of the other famous jidaigeki that has lasted long over the decades is "Abarenbo Shogun"（暴れん坊将軍...The Unfettered Shogun） which first began its run in 1978. Starring veteran actor Ken Matsudaira（松平健）, the story revolved around the shogun Yoshimune Tokugawa（徳川吉宗）who brought swordsman justice to the corrupt and evil while in disguise as Shinnosuke Tokuda（徳田新之助）, the employee of a fire brigade in the capital. I would have loved Stan Lee's take on this.
As with "Mito Komon", "Abarenbo Shogun" has had its own legendary theme song, simply titled "Abarenbo Shogun no Tehma" (The Theme of Abarenbo Shogun). Not quite the march that "Aa, Jinsei ni Namida ari" is, this theme still reflects the wisdom and intrepidness of Matsudaira's shogun, and the introductory seven-note fanfare is the equivalent of the opening brass blast from the "Dragnet" theme. They both mean "Evildoers, you are so done!".
The late composer Shunsuke Kikuchi（菊池俊輔）who passed away in April 2021 was responsible for the theme song. He's been the one behind themes and incidental music ranging from anime such as "Doraemon"（ドラえもん）to cop shows including "G-MEN★75". For the "G-MEN★75" article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I lifted a quote from the Wikipedia article on the composer and would like to use it here again: "...people began to say that 'if Kikuchi Shunsuke is in charge of the music, the show will be a hit.'". Well, "Abarenbo Shogun" did last well into the 21st century, and its theme song is probably as well as known as the one for "Doraemon".
Taking things all the way into this year, this video got put up just yesterday on Matsudaira's own YouTube channel, and it features a new song by him called "Matsuken EDM". Since his fighting shogun days, the actor has also gotten further fame from performing his flamboyant "MatsuKen Samba"（マツケンサンバ）. Well, this time, if you're willing to download or stream, you can now also get his latest as he moves away from Rio over to the electronica dance music club. It's basically the techno version of "Abarenbo Shogun no Tehma" surrounded by some extra music and lyrics for Ken-san, thanks to anime songwriter Kenichi Maeyamada（前山田健一）. If you can imagine the shogun spinning discs rather than waving katana, then "Matsuken EDM" is for you.
Say bye! Seibai!（成敗...Judgement）
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