Sanpei the Fisherman

つりきちさんぺい

Aired: 1980 - 1982

A television anime co-produced by Nippon Animation and Tsuchida Productions, broadcast on Fuji Television, adapting Takao Yaguchi's landmark fishing manga 'Tsurikichi Sanpei' (serialised in Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine). The series follows the fishing-obsessed mountain boy Sanpei Mihira, who lives with his grandfather Ippei in a remote village in the Tohoku region of northern Japan, as he pursues legendary fish - the master of the Yonaki Valley, giant carp in O-Pond, salmon at Lake Akan, sea creatures off Yakushima, and beyond - through an episodic structure that faithfully follows the original manga's most famous arcs. Detailed depiction of fish behaviour, fishing techniques and traditional tackle, combined with sweeping nature drama, made the show a defining work of outdoor-life anime. MOJO's ending theme 'Ore wa Tsurikichi Sanpei da' remains one of the best-known fishing-anime songs in Japan.