is a Japanese

benshi were Japanese performers who provided live narration for silent films (both Japanese films and Western films). ''Benshi'' are sometimes called or . Role The earliest films available for public display were produced by Western studios, portraying ...

or katsuben (

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

narrator).

Life

Originally from

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Midori Sawato graduated from the Department of Philosophy,

Hosei University is a private university based in Tokyo, Japan. The university originated in a school of law, Tōkyō Hōgakusha (, i.e. Tokyo association of law), established in 1880, and the following year renamed Tōkyō Hōgakkō (, i.e. Tokyo school of law ...

. She first decided she wanted to become a benshi in 1972, when she saw the silent film ''

The Water Magician is a 1933 Japanese silent drama film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. It is based on the story of the same name by Kyōka Izumi. Plot Tomo, called "Shiraito", is a "mizugei" (water arts presented by a performer) artist touring with a circus troupe ...

'' by

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, who directed about one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include ''The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums'' (1939), ''The Life of Oharu'' (1952), ''Uget ...

. She was particularly impressed with the performance as benshi of the man who would become her teacher,

Shunsui Matsuda was the last Japanese ''benshi'' of the silent film era. Shunsui Matsuda's love for silent films was so great he dedicated his life to finding and preserving valuable classic films from the golden era. Biography Born in 1925 in Tokyo, Shunsui Mats ...

. After studying under Matsuda, Sawato made her debut in 1973. She is an active benshi who has garnered high praise through her wide variety of activities and performances in Japan and overseas. Of the ten benshi working in Japan (), Sawato is considered the most famous. Her repertoire of over 500 films includes genres as varied as contemporary cinema, historical movies and western films, for which she provides well-formed interpretations of the work. She has received many awards, including the Award for Excellence in the field of Dramatic Performance at the

Agency for Cultural Affairs The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. The agency's budget for FY 2018 rose to ¥107.7 billion. Overview The ag ...

Arts Festival, for her contributions toward promoting katsuben as modern entertainment, in addition to being a valuable presence carrying on the tradition of katsuben as a Japanese storytelling art. As is traditional for benshi, she often gives an introduction before the film to explain the historical and cultural differences of old films and provide background on the actors and directors. She does not use any modern vocabulary for films that have old titles. Besides katsuben, she is involved in activities such as film critiques and essay writing. She is the author of ''Katsudo benshi: Sekai o kakeru'' (transl. "Film benshi across the world"). She was the recipient of the Japan Film Critics Golden Glory Award in 1995. In the same year in October, she received wide acclaim for her katsuben performance for Ito Daisuke's ''

A Diary of Chuji's Travels is a silent Japanese jidaigeki made in 1927 starring Denjirō Ōkōchi and directed by Daisuke Itō. It was originally released in three parts, all of which were long thought to be lost until portions of the second part and much of the third pa ...

''. In December 1998, a katsuben recital was organized to commemorate the 25th year of her career. In November 2000, she received the Special Award of the Yamaji Fumiko Culture Institute. Films with her narration are regularly aired on CS and

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

Performances

Performances abroad

* 1988 - Invited to the Avignon Art Festival in France and performed as benshi for several films of Bando Tsumasaburo * 1989 - Invited to the United States by New York Japan Society, American Museum of the Moving Image, etc. and performs katsuben in New York and three other cities * 1990 - Invited by the Japan Cultural Institute in Rome and Pordenone Silent Film Festival and performs in Italy * 1990 - Performs at the Antwerp International Film Festival in Belgium * 1991 - Performs at the Voice Festival in the Netherlands sponsored by the Rotterdam Arts Society * 1992 - Performs in Los Angeles * 1994 - Performs at the Oberhausen Short Film Festival in Germany * February 1995 - Invited to and performs at the Picture Drama Festival in Evreux, France * September 1995 - Performs ''The Water Magician'' at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia * December 1995 - Performs in Sao Paulo, Brazil * October 2001 - Performs ''

Orochi , or simply , is a legendary eight-headed and eight-tailed Japanese dragon/serpent. Mythology Yamata no Orochi legends are originally recorded in two ancient texts about Japanese mythology and history. The 712 AD transcribes this dragon name ...

'' at the Silent Film Festival in Sacile, Italy * September 2002 - Invited to the

Pacific Film Archive The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, where she performed ''The Water Magician'' and ''A Diary of Chuji's Travels'' * October 2003 - Performs '' I Was Born, But...'' at the 39th Annual

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

. * April 2004 - Performs ''The Water Magician'' at the 6th Women's Film Festival in Seoul, South Korea * April 2004 - Performs at four venues in Boston and Portsmouth including

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

, and

Harvard Film Archive The Harvard Film Archive (HFA) is a film archive and cinema located in the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dedicated to the collection, preservation and exhibition of film, the HFA houses a c ...

* July 2004 - Performs at the

San Francisco Silent Film Festival The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is a film festival first held in 1996 and presented annually at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, California, United States. It is the largest silent film festival in the United States, although the largest ...

* November 2004 - Performs with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra in Hawaii

Other activities

* Performs in

Kaizo Hayashi is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He made his directorial debut with '' To Sleep so as to Dream'' (1986). He is best known for his neo-noir '' Maiku Hama'' trilogy, ''The Most Terrible Time in My Life'' (1994), '' Stairway to the Dist ...

's ''Yume miru yoni nemuritai'' (''To Sleep so as to Dream'') and ''Nijusseiki shonen dokuhon'' (''Circus Boy'') * Many works being shown with Sawato's katsuben on the NHK BS2 channel * Made regular appearances as an interviewer on the "Movies I Grew Up With" corner of the NHK show "Seikatsu Hot Morning" until March 2005

Awards

* 2002 Received the Award for Excellence in the field of Dramatic Performance at the Agency for Cultural Affairs Arts Festival * 2000 Received the 21st Special Award of Yamaji Fumiko Culture Institute * 1995 Received the Japan Film Critics Golden Glory Award * 1990 Received the Japan Film Pen Club Award

Notes

References

External links

Midori Sawato Official Website

An interview with Midori Sawato
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sawato, Midori Benshi Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Actresses from Tokyo Hosei University alumni