Benshi and the Introduction of Motion Pictures to Japan

Abstract

T NHROUGHOUT the film era in Japan (1896-1932), no matter what the movie theater, there was sure to be one distinctive cinematic element: the benshi #?, or silent film narrator. Whether the theater held two hundred or three thousand, whether one sweltered in the summer heat or froze during the unheated winter, whether one sat on tatami after having checked one's with the footwear man or on a hard wooden bench placed directly on the dirt floor in front of the screen, a benshi (or a group of benshi) situated in the shadows next to the screen would supply a vocal narration called setsumei NHA to enhance the moving images. The benshi' s primary job was to help the spectators understand the action on the screen. He did this with both explanatory narration and dialogue delivered in the mimetic voices of a wide spectrum of characters ranging from young high-pitched maidens to deep, husky brutes.1 While motion picture lecturers existed outside of Japan, they were the exception rather than the rule.2 By and large, music and sound effects were the only aural components added to pictures. Lecturers were never a central component in the cinematic experience, and they rarely prospered financially. In Japan, on the other hand, music and sound effects were of secondary importance to the aural star, the benshi. Benshi thrived throughout the era, and some succeeded in obtaining large incomes. Although the techniques, forms, and styles of benshi presentation evolved and changed dramatically over time, the basic functions of the benshi remained constant; in broad terms, they were to market the cinema, to attract audiences to performances, and to educate viewers regarding what appeared on the screen.

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