The program started in 1978 under the title "Yoshimune Hyobanki: Abarenbo Shogun" ("Chronicle in Praise of Yoshimune: The Unfettered Shogun") who went after rogue councillors and "daimyō" who were abusing their power. After a few seasons, they shortened the first two words and ran for two decades under the shorter title until the series ended in 2003; a two-hour special aired in 2004. The earliest scripts occasionally wove stories around historic events such as the establishment of firefighting companies of commoners in Edo, but eventually the series adopted a routine of strictly fiction.