He was said to have left home as a young man, and lived among the commoners, even having a tattoo of flowering sakura trees on his shoulder.
The novelist Tatsurō Jinde (陣出達郎) wrote a series of books about Kin-san.
Noted actor Chiezō Kataoka starred[2] in a series of eighteen Toei jidaigeki films about him.
These variously portrayed him pretending to be a petty hood or a yojinbō while solving crimes as the chief of police.
People famous for having portrayed Kin-san on television include kabuki stars Nakamura Umenosuke IV and Ichikawa Danshirō, singers Yukio Hashi and Teruhiko Saigō,[3] and actors Ryōtarō Sugi, Hideki Takahashi,[4] Hiroki Matsukata,[5] and Kōtarō Satomi.