Zenmai Zamurai - Story

Story

200 years ago, Zenmai Zamurai (Zennosuke at that time) was a thief by profession (albeit not a very skilled one). While stealing from a house one night, he fell down a well and died. He was then resurrected by Daifukunokami (The god of Bounty:大福の神) and a wind-up key (zenmai:ぜんまい) was placed on his head. If the key winds down, Zennosuke dies. The only way the key can be wound is by Zennosuke doing good deeds and if he does enough of them, he will be released from his servitude to the god. In order to achieve this end, he is given the Dango-ken, which is a sword with Japanese Dumplings skewered onto it. Whenever Zenmai Zamurai sees people doing injustice or generally being out of control, he uses his sword to shoot the dumplings into their mouths. When people eat the dumplings, they suddenly become happy and realize the error of their ways. He helps out the people of his village in many ways, big and small. Whenever he does well, a rainbow comes out of the sky to wind his key. His name and the theme of the show is based on a short Japanese proverb, "Ichinichi Ichizen" (一日一膳), which means "Do a good deed daily".

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