jidai geki

The word "Jedi" is derived from the Japanese words "Jidai Geki" which translate as "period drama". A period drama is a Japanese TV soap opera program set in the samurai days. George Lucas mentioned in an interview that he saw a "Jidai Geki" program on TV while in Japan a year or so before the movie was made and liked the word.

Many popular jidai geki are set in the Edo era - a peaceful time during which the middle class flourished. Those qualities make it easy to adapt current social issues to the jidai geki.

Still, that adaptation requires the exercise of creative liberties of the history and culture depicted in the script. In fact, the historically inaccuracies are so acute in some jidai geki that they prompted the publication of books which point them out.

Here are some examples of popular jidai geki:

• Mito Koumon - The travels of Tokugawa Mitsukuni, a Vice-Shogun in the Edo era.
• Touyama no Kin-san - The adventure of the title character, a governor-magistrate in the Edo era.
• Abarenbou Shogun - The adventures of Tokugawa Yoshimune, 8th Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
• Onihei Hankachou - The adventures of Hasegawa Heizou, the head of a special police force in the Edo era.
• Oooka Echizen - The trials of the title character, a governor-magistrate in the Edo era.
• Zenigata Heiji - The adventures of the (completely fictional) title character, a commoner street cop in the Edo era.
• Taiga Dorama - A year-long jidai geki shown on NHK. The topic changes every year. Usually very closely based on historical events.