"The ancient sages said 'Do not despise the snake for having no horns, for who is to say it will not become a dragon?' So may one just man become an army. Nearly a thousand years ago in ancient China, at the time of the Sung dynasty, there was a cruel and corrupt government. These men riding are outlaws, heroes who have been driven to live in the water margins of Liang Shan Po, far to the south of the capital city. Each fights tyranny with a price on his head, in a world very different from our own. The story starts in legend even then, for our heroes, it was said, were perhaps the souls reborn of other, earlier knights."

Colour

26 episodes (50 minutes)

1976-1978

Based on the original story by Shi Naian [incorrectly credited on-screen to Shih Tai-An or Shih Tai An; Koki Yokoyama also credited episodes 1-10]

Produced by Kensuke Ishino, Toshio Kato (episodes 1-10), Norio Kato (11-26), Kazuo Morikawa (11, 13-26)

Music by Masaru Sato

Cast: Atsuo Nakamura (Lin Chung), Sanae Tsuchida (Hu San-Niang), Kei Sato (Kao Chiu), Yoshiyo Matsuo (Hsiao Lan), Hajime Hana (Wu Sung), Takeshi Obayashi (Sung Chiang), Isamu Nagato (Lu Ta), Teruhiko Aoi (Shih Chin), Ryohei Uchida (Chu Wu), Toshio Kurosawa (Tai Sung) [character name spelled Tai Tsung in episode 13, and in the novel], Ko Sato (Yang Chih) [actor's name spelled Ju Sato, and character name incorrectly spelled Yang Chin, in episode 11], Yoshiro Kitahara (Wang Lun), Tsutomu Yamagata (Chao Kai), Sachio Sakai (Ko Shou), Hiroshi Hasegawa (Policeman 1), Akira Hamada (Policeman 2), Hideo Amamoto (Pai Mien Lang), Akio Hasegawa (Chang Shun), Shino Kawai (Huang Wen-Ping), Noh Terada (Kung Sun Sheng), Daijiro Harada (Hua Yung), Ryonosuke Minegishi (Huang Hsing), Michiko Matsuki (Yu Lan), Ryunosuke Kaneda (Chi Ching), Mari Nakayama (Yen Li), Fumiko Honma (Lu Ta's Mother), Shoji Kobayashi (Ju Hai), Goro Riku (Li Yun), Takahiro Tamura (Chai Chin), Hyo Kitazawa (Chai Huang Cheng), Yunosuke Ito (Lo Chen Jen), Kojiro Kusanagi (Kao Lien), Hitoshi Omae (Li Kwei) [actor's name spelled Hitoshi Ohmae in episode 18], Tetsuro Tanba (General Hu), Osamu Sakai (Hu Yen-I), Jyun Hongo (Liu), Jyun Negami (Gunpowder Hong), Kazumasa Negishi (Young Hong), Toru Abe (Tseng Lung), Hiroshi Ogasawara (Tang I), Koichi Yamamoto (Liang Chung Shu), Tomoko Mayama (Yung Hua), Jo Wakabayashi (Kuang Sheng), Sei Hiraizumi (Tan Ting Yu)

English adaptation by David Weir

English voices: Michael McClain, Miriam Margolyes [actor's name incorrectly spelled Mirium in episodes 1, 11-22], Peter Marinker, Elizabeth Proud, Sean Lynch, Trevor Martin, John Blythe, David Blagden, Sean Barratt, David Collings, Brian Haines, Simon Lack, Rupert Davies, John Blythe, Frank Duncan, George Little, Peter Hawkins, Robert Rietti, John Woodvine, John Nolan, Ian Thompson, Sean Barrett, Nicolette McKenzie [actor's name incorrectly spelled Nickolette McKenzie in episode 24], Simon Lack, Cecile Chevreau, George Little, John Carson, Hugh Dickson, Harold Reese, Peter Jeffrey, John Hollis, Michael Kilgarriff, Cyril Shaps, Daniel Flynn, Garard Green, Paul Meier, Douglas Blackwell, Garfield Morgan, Denys Hawthorne, Eric Flynn

English narrator: Burt Kwouk

(Writer/Director)
1 Nine Dozen Heroes and One Wicked Man (aka How Lin Chung Kept His Chains) (21 Sep 76)
(Hajime Takaiwa, Toshio Masuda/Toshio Masuda)
2 None Ever Escape Alive (aka A Butcher Gets the Chop and Lin Chung Changes His Mind) (28 Sep 76)
(Hajime Takaiwa, Ichiro Miyakawa, Toshio Masuda/Toshio Masuda)
3 Both at Last Will Reach the Sea (aka Yang Chih Keeps His Promise but Kang Sets a Trap) (5 Oct 76)
(Ichiro Miyakawa/Shigeo Takahashi)
4 Ever Busy are the Gods of Love (12 Oct 76)
(Ichiro Miyakawa/Shigeo Takahashi)
5 A Treasure of Gold and Jade (19 Oct 76)
(Kaneo Ikegami, Toshio Masuda/Toshio Masuda)
6 Bandits who Steal are Executed (26 Oct 76)
(Kaneo Ikegami, Toshio Masuda/Toshio Masuda)
7 How Easy to Die, How Hard to Live (2 Nov 76)
(Ichiro Miyakawa, Nobuo Nakagawa/Nobuo Nakagawa)
8 A Man's Only Happiness (9 Nov 76)
(Ichiro Miyakawa, Nobuo Nakagawa/Nobuo Nakagawa)
9 A Dutiful Son and the Love of a Brother (16 Nov 76)
(Kaneo Ikegami, Toshio Masuda/Keiichi Ozawa)
10 Escape is Not Freedom (23 Nov 76)
(Kaneo Ikegami, Toshio Masuda/Keiichi Ozawa)
11 The Girl Who Loved the Flower Priest (aka Soft-Hearted Lu Ta Rescues a Songbird) (20 Sep 77)
(Ichiro Miyakawa/Katsumi Nishikawa)
12 Kao Chiu Loses His Heart (aka Kao Chiu Encounters a Lady Bent on Revenge) (27 Sep 77)
(Ichiro Miyakawa/Katsumi Nishikawa)
13 When Liang Shan Po Robbed the Poor (aka The Early Rise of Kao Chiu to Power) (4 Oct 77)
(Kaneo Ikegami/Yasuo Furihata)
14 A Death for Love, More Deaths from Greed (aka Lin Chung Comes to the Rescue of Tai Tsung who has Been Captured by Three of Kao Chiu's Henchmen) (11 Oct 77)
(Kaeno Ikegami/Yasuo Furihata)
15 The Bravest Tiger is First Killed (18 Oct 77)
(Ichiro Miyakawa/Sokichi Tomimoto)
16 Heaven Aims the Master's Arrow (aka Kao Chiu Determines to Found a Dynasty Based on the Theft of the Emperor's Jade) (25 Oct 77)
(Ichiro Miyakawa/Sokichi Tomimoto)
17 The Traps of Love and Hate (1 Nov 77)
(Kaneo Ikegami/Yasuo Furihata)
18 A Foolish Sage Who Got Involved (8 Nov 77)
(Kaneo Ikegami/Yasuo Furihata)
19 Mourn the Slaughter of So Many (15 Nov 77)
(Ichiro Miyakawa, Sentaro Murano/Sentaro Murano)
20 The War to End All Wars (aka A War to End All Wars) (22 Nov 77)
(Ichiro Miyakawa, Sentaro Murano/Sentaro Murano)
21 Death of a Great Man (29 Nov 77)
(Toshio Masuda/Keiichi Ozawa)
22 Lin Chung is Beaten (6 Dec 77)
(Toshio Masuda/Keiichi Ozawa)
23 A Concubine's Dowry (13 Dec 77)
(Ichiro Miyakawa/Katsumi Nishikawa)
24 Liang Shan Po and the Millionaire (20 Dec 77)
(Ichiro Miyakawa/Gyo Komata)
25 Knight of the Long Sword (27 Dec 77)
(Kaneo Ikegami/Daisuke Yamazaki)
26 The Dynasty of Kao (3 Jan 78)
(Kaneo Ikegami/Daisuke Yamazaki)

Notes

Fabulous Films released the entire series in 2003 (I checked their information and compiled some notes for the DVDs).

This page compiled with thanks to John Mayall, Paul Mason, Simon Rayner and Keith Topping. The image at the top of the page is taken from the cover of David Weir's 1978 novel The Water Margin (published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, and long out of print).