BEGINNINGS AND THE BENSHI Fo in Japan, asin most countries, during the last few years ofthe nineteenth cen- ‘tury. The Cinématographe Lamigre made its Osaka debut in 1897. Within weeks, Thomas Faison’s Vitascope was also seen there and, shorty after that, in Tokyo as wel. In the samme yea the ist motion-pitue camera was imported by photographer Asano Shiro of the Koni- shi Camera Shop, and he was shorly shooting stret snes around the capital. At nearly the same time the Mitsukoshi Department Store formed a photography department and its ‘cameramen, Shibata Tsunekich and Shirai Kanzo, began taking shots ofthe Ginza and of risa By early 1899, Asano atl tue to geisha aswel, capturing a seis of dances, Komada Koyo, also originally with the Konishi Camera Shop and soon to be one ofthe leading bens (silen-film narrators), later remembered the rouble they had with the focus and with keep- ing the dancers within the sigh-ine they had drawn on the loor. Nonetheless, afer much struggle, they finaly produced a Japanese motion picture. Geisha were chosen as subjects not because they were quintessentially Japanese but because their appeal was so strong, Asano and Komada had both noticed that among the various popular photographic postcards their stores sold, those of gesha outsold any other. Geisha were therefore a commodity popular enough to warrant the necessary cinematic outlay. By the mide of 1899, Komada had acquired enough capital to leave the camera store sand form the Association of Japanese Motion Pictures. This organization now sponsored an centre program of such geisha dances all ney filmed, all infocus, atthe Tokyo Kabuiki-za, and the event was wel attended even atthe inflated admission pices common to that venue ‘Thus inspired, other camera-wielding businessmen began producing their own programs. Shibata, atthe request ofa local dramatic troupe, filmed scene from one ofits plays, Armed Robber: Shimizu Sadakichi (Pisutora Goto Shimizu Sadakichi, 1899, ns), and v7Inter in the year he approached Kabuki itself and filmed excerpts from Maple Viewing (Momijgari, 1899) and Nini Dojoft (Two People at Dojo Temple, ns). The later was tinted (another Japan firs) by the Yoshizawa Company, later one ofthe firs fl production companies ‘Maple Viewing, 189, Shibata Tsuki, with ae Ki 20, chika Dano (riginlly, the leatng Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro DX ws agains the idea of motion Pictures dismissing them as (apparently unlike Kabuki) merely vulgar amusement, In fac, Kabuki actors—though not Danjurohimselt—had already appeared before the Lumiére cameramen wien they visited Japan, but this apparent contradiction was acceptable sinoe those performanoss were fo export. However, Danjur was eventually won over by the argu ment that his appearance would be agit for posterity Consequently, joined by Once Kikugoro V, Danjuro went through three short scenes for the camera. Shibata had decided to shoot in a small outdoor stage reserve for tea parties ‘behind the Kabuki-za, but that mong there was strong wind. Stagehands had to hold the backdrop, andthe wind cared away one of the fans Danjuro was tssng. Reshooting was ‘ut ofthe question, and so the mistake stayed inthe picture, Later, Shibata remembered that some viewers remarked thatthe accident gave the pice a certain charm. As one ofthe eati- est Japanese isto survive, Maple Viewing can stil be appreciated today, with the “ying fan” soene inact Inthe same year, the active Komada appeared atthe Kinkikan, a smal theater in Tokyo's Kanda district where Vitascop premiered, Dressed in formal evening wear and carying & silver headed cane, he greeted his guests and began explaining what they were seeing —in this case seis of American Vitascope shorts Although this bnshi lecturer commentator had his counterparts in most early cinemas, the role was eaned longer in Japan than elsewhere. The ned for live narrator had faded in the United States by 1910, but in Japan the benshi survived well nto the era of sound, and was not ely challenged nti 1932. Eventually, the profession was done in bythe enormous popular success of Joe von Stembery's erly talkie, Morocco (1930) “The easos forte lng life of the bens were various. Since pan had only some forty yeas before been “opened up tothe West” (a phrase invented in the Wes), ignorance of ‘much of the outside world was common. The benshi ill inthe gaps of knowledge Western viewers had acquired long before. They were “a reassuring native presence with a presumed, acquaintance ofthe foreign objet,” a necesity which might even now “explain the Japanese afecton for teachers, tour ides, sommelier, and other conduits forthe aoquisition of new experience"! 1m addition to his eucational role, the benshi was essential to the flm-viewing experi- ence. In pat, this was because the early cinema of Japan was, as elsewhere, a cinema of short, often unrelated clips— intial films fom abroad: inthe Lumitre collection, one saw babies being fed, gardeners being squirted, and soon. A commentary connecting thes clips not only made a short program longer but more coherent. Later, wien longer programs became available, story links were created bythe benshi, Stil ater came the illusion ofa self-contained story-word. Until then, the benshi was all hat these litle glimpses had in common ‘The benshi was also required to fill the time. This he accomplished in various ways, Besides talking, he sometimes lengthened the viewing time, Many films were quite shor, and 0 number wer shown on a single bil. Sometimes, as was common in early showings in France an the United States, films were repeated, Since the audience had not yet developed ‘hat hasbeen called “linear response,” no one minded a second viewing ast gave one a canoe to catch new tings the second time around, In recalling the films be had seen around 1898, as acid of about ten, novelist Tanizak Junichiro said: “The ends ofthe reel would be joined together so thatthe same scene could be projected over and ove, I can sill remember, endlessly repeated, high waves rolling in on «shore somewhere, breaking and then reoding, and alone dg playing there, now pus ing, now being pursued by the retreating and advancing waters ‘Another example ofthe need for length occurred during the initial Japanese showing of the Edson fil, Tbe May ring Rice Kiss (1896). Though the lm was seen by Westem spectators but onc, in Japan, withthe ends joined together, John approached May and kised her some dozen times. This repetition had consequences. Suspicious police appeared, but the quick-minded commentator—one Ueda Hoteikan—explained that Westerners customarily ‘ete each other with fll-mouth kis and thatthe ladies and gentlemen of the audience ‘ought tobe eified by this documentary footage of what in America was an evertay courtesy. ‘The technique of repetition has a proper Japanese name, tasube (continuous lop), and its use remains common on Japanese television and in the movie theaters, where advertising, 9 31