Zenigata Heiji
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Zenigata Heiji (Japanese: 銭形平次) is the hero of a series of Japanese novels, films and TV programmes set in the Edo period of Japanese history. He is a policeman (岡っ引き, okappiki) who catches criminals by throwing coins, the zeni of the title, thus Zenigata Heiji. The hero was created by novelist Kodō Nomura (野村胡堂, Nomura Kodō) in 1937. Heiji's beat is Myōjin-shita, "beneath the Myōjin shrine."
Situation
The hero, Heiji, lives with his wife Oshizu. His sidekick is Hachigorō (八五郎), also known as Karappachi or just Hachi. He uses deduction, a jutte, and old-fashioned coins with a hole, called kan'eitsūhō (寛永通宝), as weapons to catch criminals.
Novels
The original series of stories ran from 1937 to 1959. The first story was published in the Japanese magazine Bungei Shunjū Ōru Yomimono-han (all story edition). In all, 383 stories were produced. Many are still in print in Japan today.
TV series
The TV series "Zenigata Heiji" started in 1952. The longest-running Zenigata Heiji, Hashizō Ōgawa (大川橋蔵 Ōgawa Hashizō) made a total of 888 programmes, with several different co-stars, from 1966 until his death in 1984. Kitaōji Kin'ya played Heiji in the 1990s, and in 2005, a new cast features Murakami Hiroaki in the lead role.
Historical accuracy
Zenigata Heiji is a fictional story, and is not based on any real individual. It is not made clear in which part of the Edo period the stories are set.
The description of the okappiki in Zenigata Heiji differs from reality on several points. Okappiki were unpaid, or received a very small amount of money. Zenigata Heiji is depicted as a full-time policeman with no other job. In reality, this would have been impossible. Further, the "jutte" that Heiji usually carries was only issued to okappiki when the severity of an incident called for it.
In the TV series, Heiji carries his jutte in his belt; however, the jutte was actually carried in a pocket. The style of the jutte is also unrealistic.
Trivia
- Hashizō Ōgawa is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest running actor in a one-hour long television series for his performance as Heiji.
- Hashizō was originally an onnagata, an actor who plays women's parts in kabuki.
- The lyrics of the ending theme of the TV show changed every week depending on the plot line.
- In the TV series, the closing credits show a parody of the kan'eitsūhō coin thrown by Heiji with the kanji for Zenigata Heiji written on it.
- Heiji is famously parodied by the character Inspector Koichi Zenigata in the anime Lupin III. Instead of throwing coins, however, the Inspector throws handcuffs.
See also
- Jidaigeki, Japanese period dramas
- [ja], the Japanese Wikipedia article on kan'eitsūhō gives images of the original coins.
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