This week, we’re starting a history of the most famous genre in the history of Japanese film: the jidaigeki, and its related genre of the ninkyo eiga. This week: what do we know about early jidaigeki, and how do they fit into the wider history of early Japanese film?
Sources
Spalding, Lisa and David Desser. “Period Films of the Prewar Era,” in Reframing Japanese Cinema: Authorship, Genre, History, ed. Arthur Nolletti, Jr and David Desser.
Anderson, Joseph L and Donald Ritchie. The Japanese Film: Art and Industry (Expanded Edition).
A great article on the benshi from the Japan Society
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