Samurai drama

Fire in Edo — Disaster, Rebuilding and the City That Kept Burning

By Yoshi | Japan UnveiledEdo burned regularly. This is not a rhetorical flourish — it is one of the most consequential e...
Samurai drama

The Doctor in Jidaigeki — Medicine, Poison and the Healing Arts

By Yoshi | Japan UnveiledThe doctor who appears in jidaigeki is one of the most morally complex recurring figures in the...
Samurai drama

The Landscape of Fate — Mountains, Rivers and Geography in Period Drama

By Yoshi | Japan UnveiledI want to begin with a specific image: the approach to a mountain pass in winter. The screen is...
Samurai drama

The Magistrate’s Dilemma — Law, Justice and Pragmatism in Period Drama

By Yoshi | Japan UnveiledThe magistrate — the bugyō or daikan, the official invested with judicial and administrative au...
Samurai drama

The Yoshiwara in Jidaigeki — Women of the Pleasure Quarter

By Yoshi | Japan UnveiledThe Yoshiwara (吉原) — the licensed prostitution district that the Tokugawa shogunate authorized ...