is a Japanese

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

or katsuben (

silent film A silent film is a film without 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, w ...

narrator).

Life

Originally from

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Midori Sawato graduated from the Department of Philosophy,

Hosei University formerly known as Tokyo University of Law (東京法学社, Tokyo Hogakusha) is a top research university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Hosei University and four other private universities in Tokyo are collectively known as "MARCH (Japanese univers ...

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

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese filmmaker who directed roughly 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), '' Ugetsu'' (1953), and ' ...

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

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 (film director), Daisuke Itō. It was originally released in three parts, all of which were long thought to be lost until portions of the second ...

''. 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 by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

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 The Museum of the Moving Image is a media museum located in a former building of the historic Astoria Studios (now Kaufman Astoria Studios), in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens in New York City. The museum originally opened in 1988 as the Am ...

, 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 Le Giornate del cinema muto (referred to in English as Pordenone Silent Film Festival) is an annual festival of silent film held in October in Pordenone, northern Italy. It is the first, largest and most important international festival dedicated ...

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 Yamata no Orochi (ヤマタノオロチ, also written as 八岐大蛇, 八俣遠呂智 or 八俣遠呂知) is a legendary eight-headed and eight-tailed serpent that appears in Japanese mythology. Both the ''Kojiki'' and ''Nihon Shoki'' record the ...

'' 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 film archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, 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 Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, South Korea * April 2004 - Performs at four venues in Boston and Portsmouth including

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

, 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 The Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra, formerly known as Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, was founded in 1900. It is the second oldest orchestra in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains. The orchestra now plays mainly at the Hawaii Theatre Center ...

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