Benshi Narration: Kataoka Ichiro
Musical Accompaniment: arwulf arwulf

Kataoka Ichiro (片岡一郎) returns to Ann Arbor for an evening of swordplay, with DJ arwulf arwulf providing music for the soundtracks of the films.

Silent films were never silent in Japan. A benshi always stood to the side of the screen, providing spectacular narration and imitating the voices of characters. This evening presents a tour through the history of the samurai film, starting with the first film ever made in Japan and ending with an Ozu comedy. In between, we’ll see early anime, the oldest Japanese-American film, and one of the greatest action films of all time. Join us for an evening of action!

This event is FREE and open to the public. Please book your free tickets with Marquee Arts here: https://myumi.ch/VGQk3

The films for this event are as follows:

1. Viewing Maple Leaves (Momijigari, 1899, 6 min., [National Film Archive of Japan)
2. The Oath of the Sword (1914, 31 min., [George Eastman Museum])
3. The Dull Sword (Namakura gatana, 1917, 5 min. [National Film Archive of Japan])
–INTERMISSION and Q&A–
4. Jiraiya the Hero (Goketsu Jiraiya, 1921, 21 min. [National Film Archive of Japan)
5. Blood Spattered Takadanobaba (Chikemuri Takadanobaba, 1928, 12 min. [Toy Film Museum])
6. A Straightforward Boy (Tokkan Kozo, 1929, 21 min. [Shochiku])

Presented by the Center for Japanese Studies.