Shintaro Worship: When The Samurai swept the nation
It’s the 60th anniversary of hit TV series The Samurai and Brisbane super-aficionado Greg Newman wants fellow fans to join him to celebrate.
I’ll never forget that moment in Melbourne in July 1965 when my next-door neighbour Mrs Tansey told me that Rod, her son and my best friend, was watching “that new Japanese TV show The Samurai”.
This was on a Tuesday night, which also happened to be my mother’s birthday. I only watched the last 10 minutes of the TV show but that was enough to immediately make me a fan. A few weeks later the program began screening every Monday to Friday at 4pm.
By the end of the year, The Samurai had become a hit series not only in Melbourne but in all other states of Australia.
Looking back, I think it was because us Aussie kids were getting a bit tired of all the American cowboy shows. But this was different. It had evil black ninjas dressed in black who could leap backwards into trees and walk on water.
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Instead of viewing dusty open plains and Hollywood back lots, we got to view exotic castles, lush forests, mysterious caves – and, of course, we adopted a new hero, Shintaro, the Samurai.
And instead of talking about Hopalong Cassidy and Rin Tin Tin, our playground talk revolved around Shintaro, his side-kick Tombei The Mist, the boy Shusaku and the various ninja groups, including Fuma, Koga, Black, Puppet and the good guys – the Iga ninjas.
The actor who played Shintaro, Koichi Ose, came out to Australia in early 1966 and performed stage shows in Sydney and Melbourne. I missed out, as our family was on a Christmas holiday.
However, many years later I had the opportunity to meet Koichi Ose in Sydney and twice in Tokyo. Our last meeting was in Tokyo in 2023 at his favourite Italian restaurant! I was joined by my eldest son, a female fan and an Aussie mate who interpreted.
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Afterwards, I did an interview and gave him some gifts, including some of my extra Scanlens Samurai bubblegum cards.
Now 87, he’s very fond of Australia, in particular, as the program was more popular in Australia than in Japan or any of the other Asian countries that screened the TV series.
Saturday, August 16, 1965, was the exact date The Samurai first screened on Brisbane television. Six decades later, fans of The Samurai will gather on August 16, 2025 – its 60th anniversary.
On that day I will be showing the 2023 interview with Koichi Ose as well as a Samurai movie that was never released in Australia, which I have subtitled.
On display will be a collection of Koichi Ose’s personal photos, as well as a collection of the 72 Samurai bubblegum cards that were issued by Scanlens in 1965.
And for a final fun fact: Did you know that in 1983 the Australian rock group Men At Work recorded a tribute to The Samurai series with their song Shintaro!
To join Brisbane fans on Saturday, August 16, contact Greg Newman on 0407 750 694 or email [email protected]; Visit thesamurai.com.au for lots of trivia and interviews with fans, along with the American actors who dubbed the English voices for the TV series.
Greg Newman has had a long career in radio – he’s worked at 4KQ, 4BH, 4BC and 4GG on the Gold Coast. He is currently drive announcer on the Vision Christian Radio Media Network. He is also the editor of the radio industry publication, The Jock’s Journal.