Tanzen Sazen portrayed by Ryūtarō Ōtomo

Tange Sazen[lower-alpha 1] is a fictional swordsman featured in Japanese literature, cinema and TV.[1] Originally a samurai member of the Sōma clan, he is attacked and mutilated, losing his right eye and right arm. He then begins to lead the life of a rōnin, using the pseudonym Sazen.[1]

Development

Tange Sazen first appeared as a minor character in a newspaper serial by Fubō Hayashi, which ran from October 1927 to May 1928 in the Mainichi Shimbun.[1] The story mainly concerned the exploits of Ōoka Echizen, but the strikingly dramatic illustrations of Tange made by Tomiya Oda, with a scar across his right eye and an empty right sleeve, so caught the imagination of the public that within a few months three silent films about Tange were produced by different companies.

As a result of the success of these films, Hayashi wrote a new serial, Tange Sazen, with Tange as the hero. This initially ran in the Mainichi Shimbun from June to October 1933, but internal strife at the newspaper led to the interruption of publication and the serial eventually resumed in the Yomiuri Shimbun from January 1934.[1] In this story, Tange developed from the nihilistic character he had been in the first novel to a doughty fighter against injustice.[1]

The continued popularity of the character led to the production of the successful title The Million Ryo Pot in 1935, directed by Sadao Yamanaka and starring Denjirō Ōkōchi as a comic Tange.[1]

Ōkōchi is the actor most identified with Tange in the cinema, but many others have played the role. [2]

Film

Silent films

Year Transcribed title Original title Main actor Director
1928 Shinban Ōoka seidan [lower-alpha 2][3] 新版大岡政談
  • 鈴川源十郎の巻
  • 中編
  • 後編
 Tokumaro Dan Gorō Hirose
1928 Shinban Ōoka seidan [lower-alpha 3] 新版大岡政談
  • 前編
  • 中編
 Kanjūrō Arashi Buntarō Futagawa
1928 Shinban Ōoka seidan [lower-alpha 4] 新版大岡政談 [4]
  • 第一編
  • 第二編
  • 第三編
 Denjirō Ōkōchi Daisuke Itō

Sound films starring Denjirō Ōkōchi

Year Transcribed title Original title Director
1933 Tange Sazen [lower-alpha 5] 丹下左膳[5]
  • 第一編
  • 第二編
  • 解決編
 Daisuke Itō
1934 Tange Sazen II: Kengeki no maki [6] 丹下左膳 第二篇 剣戟の巻 Daisuke Itō
1935 The Million Ryo Pot 丹下左膳余話 百萬両の壺 Sadao Yamanaka
1936 Tange Sazen: Nikkō no maki 丹下左膳 日光の巻 Kunio Watanabe
1937 Tange Sazen: Aizō maken hen 丹下左膳 愛憎魔剣篇 Kunio Watanabe
1937 Tange Sazen: Kanketsu hōkō 丹下左膳 完結咆吼篇 Kunio Watanabe
1938 Shinpen Tange Sazen: Yōtō hen 新篇 丹下左膳 妖刀篇 Kunio Watanabe
1938 Shinpen Tange Sazen: Hayate-hen 新篇 丹下左膳 隻手篇 Satsuo Yamamoto
1939 Shinpen Tange Sazen: Sekigan no maki 新篇 丹下左膳 隻眼の巻 Nobuo Nakagawa
1939 Shinpen Tange Sazen: Koiguruma no maki 新篇 丹下左膳 恋車の巻 Ryō Hagiwara
1953 Tange Sazen 丹下左膳 Masahiro Makino
1953 Zoku Tange Sazen 続丹下左膳 Masahiro Makino
1954 Tange Sazen: Kokezaru no tsubo 丹下左膳 こけ猿の壺 Kenji Misumi

Sound films starring other actors

Year Transcribed title Original title Main actor Director
1936 Tange Sazen: Kan'un hissatsu no maki 丹下左膳 乾雲必殺の巻 Ryūnosuke Tsukigata Masahiro Makino
1936 Tange Sazen: Konryū jubaku no maki 丹下左膳 坤竜呪縛の巻 Ryūnosuke Tsukigata Masahiro Makino
1952 Tange Sazen 丹下左膳 Tsumasaburō Bandō Sadatsugu Matsuda
1956 Tange Sazen: Ken'un no maki 丹下左膳 乾雲の巻 Michitarō Mizushima Masahiro Makino
1956 Tange Sazen: Konryū no maki 丹下左膳 坤竜の巻 Michitarō Mizushima Masahiro Makino
1956 Tange Sazen: Kanketsu-hen 丹下左膳 完結篇 Michitarō Mizushima Masahiro Makino
1958 Tange Sazen 丹下左膳 Ryūtarō Ōtomo Sadatsugu Matsuda
1959 Tange Sazen: Dotō-hen 丹下左膳 怒涛篇 Ryūtarō Ōtomo Sadatsugu Matsuda
1960 Tange Sazen: Mysterious Sword[7] 丹下左膳 妖刀濡れ燕 Ryūtarō Ōtomo Sadatsugu Matsuda
1961 Tange Sazen: Nuretsubame ittōryū 丹下左膳 濡れ燕一刀流 Ryūtarō Ōtomo Sadatsugu Matsuda
1962 Tange Sazen: Kan'unkonryū no maki 丹下左膳 乾雲坤竜の巻 Ryūtarō Ōtomo Tai Katō
1963 Tange Sazen: Zankoku no kawa 丹下左膳 Tetsurō Tanba Seiichirō Uchikawa
1966 Tange Sazen: Hien iaigiri 丹下左膳 飛燕居合斬り Kinnosuke Nakamura Hideo Gosha
2004 Tange Sazen: Hyakuman ryō no tsubo 丹下左膳 百万両の壺 Etsushi Toyokawa Toshio Tsuda

Female Sazen films

There have also been made adaptations of Tange Sazen as a female character, known in Japanese as Onna Sazen (lit. Female Sazen or Lady Sazen).

Year Transcribed title Original title Main actress Director
1937 Onna Sazen: Dai-ichi hen - yōka no maki 女左膳 第一篇妖火の巻 Komako Hara Nobuo Nakayama
1937 Onna Sazen: Dai-ni hen - maken no maki 女左膳 第二篇魔剣の巻 Komako Hara Nobuo Nakayama
1950 Onna Sazen: Tsubanari mutō-ryū no maki 女左膳 鍔鳴無刀流の巻 Taizō Fuyushima
1968 Lady Sazen and the Drenched Swallow Sword 女左膳 濡れ燕片手斬り Michiyo Okusu Kimiyoshi Yasuda

Television dramas

Years Transcribed title Original title Main actor Notes
1958-1959 Tange Sazen 丹下左膳 Tetsurō Tamba Episodes of Yamaichi meisaku gekijō[lower-alpha 6]
1960 Tange Sazen 丹下左膳 Ryūtarō Tatsumi Episodes of Shinkokugeki Awā[lower-alpha 7]
1963-1964 Tange Sazen 丹下左膳 Kon Omura
1965-1966 Tange Sazen 丹下左膳 Takeya Nakamura
1967-1968 Tange Sazen 丹下左膳 Matsuyama Eitaro
1970 Tange Sazen 丹下左膳 Ken Ogata
1971 Tange Sazen to kushimaki o fuji
On'na ga horeta abarenbō		 丹下左膳と櫛巻きお藤
女が惚れた暴れん坊		 Tomisaburō Wakayama Episodes of Edo kōdan hana no Nihonbashi[lower-alpha 8]
1974 Tange sazen: Kenkon-hen 丹下左膳 乾坤篇 Kōji Takahashi
1974 Tange Sazen: Koke saru no tsubo-hen 丹下左膳 こけ猿の壷篇 Kōji Takahashi
1982 Tange Sazen ken-fū! Hyaku man-ryō no tsubo 丹下左膳 剣風!百万両の壺 Tatsuya Nakadai
1990-1994 Fujita Makoto no Tange Sazen 藤田まことの丹下左膳 Makoto Fujita Four TV specials
2004 Tange Sazen 丹下左膳 Nakamura Shidō II

See also

  • Baiken, a similar video game character influenced by the Lady Sazen films

Notes

  1. ↑ Japanese: 丹下 左膳
  2. ↑ Three-part film by Toa Kinema
  3. ↑ Two-part film by Makino Productions
  4. ↑ Three-part film by Nikkatsu
  5. ↑ Three-part sound film by Nikkatsu
  6. ↑ 山一名作劇場
  7. ↑ 新国劇アワー
  8. ↑ 江戸巷談 花の日本橋

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "丹下 左膳" (in Japanese). kotobank. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  2. ↑ "Tange Sazen: The Million Ryo Pot (Japan, 1935)". Nippon-Kino. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  3. ↑ Shinban Ôoka seidan: zenpen: Suzukawa Genjûrô no maki
  4. ↑ 新版大岡政談 第一篇
  5. ↑ 丹下左膳 第一篇
  6. ↑ 丹下左膳 第二篇 剣戟の巻
  7. ↑ TANGE SAZEN: MYSTERIOUS SWORD
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