Yajikita son'nô no maki (1927) User Reviews

Thieves Never Forget A Favor

[boblipton · 5/10 · 14 July 2021]

When the local swordsman defends two locals for singing a song about burning hollyhocks -- the hollyhock is a symbol of the Tokugawa shogunate -- and gets arrested, they try to bust him out of jail. Instead, they release Denjirô Ôkôchi, who tries to help them in their rescue.

It's a short comedy, which seems more silly than funny. That may be a cultural distinction; Ôkôchi faints at the sight of police lanterns, and the comics seem unaware of the symbolism of the song they sing.

There aren't that many short comedies from the silent era available from the Japanese industry in this period. It's good to see one.

Homage to benshi silent film narration

[private-90505 · 8/10 · 17 November 2021]

Few today, beyond fans of Japanese cinema, are familiar with the long, uniquely-Japanese tradition of the benshi -- a live film narrator who interprets the story for the audience, even speaking dialog lines in character, as the movie played. "Yajikita son'nô no maki" is a great example,

Benshi were highly-skilled professional, performing around live orchestral scores, if one existed, while taking intertitles into consideration. At some point, a benshi voiceover was added to the print foundon YouTube, giving it great historical value. Sadly, only fragments of the film survive.

Benshi has deep roots in kabuki and other Japanese theatrical traditions long before films came along, so audiences were well accustomed to off-screen narration which began in films of the 1890s and lasted well into the talking picture era of the 1930s.

Enjoy the experience of watching and listening to this silent comedy just as moviegoers did in 1927.