Shin Hakkenden (partially found Japanese puppet TV series; 1973-1975)
Promotional poster
Status: Partially Found
Shin Hakkenden (新八犬伝) is a Japanese puppet TV series that aired on NHK from April 2nd, 1973 to March 28th, 1975. There were 464 episodes in total, based on the epic novel Nansō Satomi Hakkenden written by Bakin Kyokutei.
Overview
The show, in which eight warriors, each with an orb that displays the letters Jin (仁, "Humanity"), Gi (義, "Justice"), Rei (礼, "Courtesy"), Chi (智, "Wisdom"), Chū (忠, "Loyalty"), Shin (信, "Sincerity"), Kō (孝, "Filial Piety"), and Tei (悌, "Obedience"), battle ghosts and monsters, was extremely popular with children, garnering a 38 percent rating despite running only 15 minutes per episode. The puppet art was done by puppeteer Jusaburō Tsujimura, who made his name with this show. The show was also narrated by Kyu Sakamoto, a singer famous for his Ue o Muite Arukō, also known as "Sukiyaki."
Availability
Because master tapes were expensive at the time of broadcast, the recordings were erased after this broadcast. However, only three episodes (Episode 1, 20, 464) escaped deletion and were re-aired on May 18th, 1985[1], and were included in the January 24, 2003 home media DVD release, "NHK Puppet Chronicle Series Vol. 4." Incidentally, episode 1 was re-aired on NHK BS2 on January 25th, 1993[2].
In 2011, resources for episode 86 were provided by a former associate of the show and aired on NHK Archives on February 19th, 2012[3]. In 2013, we learned that an avid fan of the show named Osamu Takenouchi had kept tapes of the 34 episodes of audio he had recorded while the show was airing at the time, and a year earlier, but those 34 episodes of audio were already available on YouTube. It is possible that the uploader may have been Mr. Takenouchi himself, but this is unknown.
As of 2023, only partial scenes of the extant episode are available online. The complete videos of episodes 1, 20, and 464 are not available unless one obtains a DVD, and for episode 86, there is currently no way to watch it because it is not being re-aired and no home media adaptation or recorded video exists.
34 episodes audio
Gallery
Note
The show was also produced for a film under the title Shin Hakkenden Part I: Hōryūkaku no Ketto and was released on March 15, 1975. It was later released on DVD as home media on March 21st, 2003. Incidentally, the film is not a re-edit of the TV show, but a new production for theater.