#Shiro Jishi Kamen

[chernobog13]

No, this ain't some refugee from an '80s glam metal band! This is the Japanese tokusatsu hero Shiro Jishi Kamen, aka White Lion Mask, star of the eponymous television series.

Produced by the now-defunct Nippon Denpa Eiga, White Lion Mask ran for 13 episodes from April 4 to June 27, 1973.

Frankly, I dunno where the name White Lion Mask came from, because that's NOT a lion mask, and there's nothing remotely lion-like about this guy. Although he is pretty creepy looking.

Shiro Jishi Kamen (White Lion Mask) doing his signature hair tug. I think the suit actor did this so the wig wouldn't fly off when he did back-flips.

I think the "white lion" part comes from the wig, which vaguely resembles the mane of Kaiketsu Lion-Maru, whose popular series had begun broadcasting a year earlier.

P Productions' Kaiketsu Lion-Maru. Now that's a real lion mask!

Beyond the hair style, both series had other similarities: both were satin Japan around the year 1600; both characters were ordinary men given the ability to transform into powerful warriors; both fought fantastical enemies; both had a woman and little boy as sidekicks; and both rode magical horses that appeared when summoned, although Lion-Maru's had wings and could fly.

White Lion Mask's secret identity was a young samurai named Hyoma Tsurugi. He was tasked by a magistrate, Echizen Ooka (based on a real historical figure), to deal with evil yokai that were terrorizing the countryside.

Tsurugi battles the first group of yokai, the Wolfmen, but is defeated and left for dead in a cave. A supernatural entity decides to gift Tsurugi the ability to transform into the powerful White Lion Mask in order to combat and defeat the yokai.

Infernal Devil, also called Daimoah, ruler of the evil yokai; Hyoma Tsurugi; and White Lion Mask.

White Lion Mask battled a different type of yokai every episode. While he was skilled with a sword and other bladed weapons, the tool he used most often was a long whip. There was also an episode wherein he was able to emit a powerful light that weakened the yokai.

White Lion Mask astride his magic horse, which wears a mask to protect its secret identity.

Unfortunately, White Lion Mask was up against some stiff competition on the television scene with other period jidaigeki tokusatsu shows - Fuun Lion-Maru, Henshin Ninja Arashi, and Demon Hunter Mitsurugi, to name a few - and had a hard time finding an audience. This led to the show's sponsor to drop it, and White Lion Mask stopped broadcasting for a short while.

A new sponsor was found, but the writing was on the wall: White Lion Mask's run was over. The series was cut short, and the storyline was wrapped up in the 13th - and final - episode. White Lion Mask takes on several resurrected yokai that he had defeated earlier in the series, before finally going mano a mano with the big bad, Daimoah the Infernal Devil.

The series finally received a DVD release in Japan in 2003, after several years of various parties haggling over the rights (Nippon Denpa Eiga went bankrupt in 1990). The DVD is currently out of print, but I've managed to find a few episodes on YouTube. They are not subtitled or dubbed, but I hold out hope that some enterprising soul will get around to doing so someday.

Here's the first episode, in case you're interested:

[chernobog13]

Ziggy Stardust’s long-lost Japanese cousin.

White Lion Mask (Shiro Jishi Kamen) was a short-lived (13 episodes) 1973 jidaigeki tokusatsu television series that took place during the early 1700s in Edo (now Tokyo).  It involved a police investigator who, after being mortally wounded by the main bad guy, is granted the powers of White Lion Mask so he may fight the evil yokai army terrorizing the city.

Obviously inspired by Lion Maru (Kaiketsu Lion-Maru) and Henshin Ninja Arashi, it looks like the production company, Nippon Denpa Eiga (long since bankrupt), had very little money to spend on this series.  White Lion Mask rode a magical white horse like Lion Maru, but where Lion MArk’s mount was a pegasus with wings, White Lion Mask’s horse just wore a gold mask with two soft horns.

I don’t know about you, but this guy’s mask looks nothing like a lion.  And please tell me they didn’t make his costume out of a grey sweatsuit.

白獅子仮面

[himitsusentaiblog]

A two page spreads of Super Heroes featuring (from left to right):

Robot Keiji- 1973 Shiro Jishi Kamen- 1973 Rainbowman- 1972 Henshin Ninja Arashi- 1972 Choujin Barom 1- 1972 Spiderman- 1978 UFO Daisensou Tatakae Red Tiger- 1977 Ganbaron- 1977 Kaiketsu Zubat- 1977 Denjin Zaborger- 1974 Tetsujin Tiger Seven- 1973