silent films Have you ever watched one?
Silent films are movies that contain no dialogue or music.
One famous example of a silent film is Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator.
I watched The Great Dictator in a school lesson when I was in elementary school. At first, I was puzzled by the images with no dialogue or music, but I remember being drawn in by Chaplin’s expressive face and movements.
However, because there is no dialogue, the film’s interpretation can vary greatly from one viewer to another.
If you watch without knowing the historical background or the characteristics of the setting, your interpretation can be limited.
A specialist who explains a film alongside its screening is called a “katsuben benshi” (silent-film narrator).
We spoke with Yabuki Katsutoshi and his wife, Yabuki Mutsumi, the only people working as katsuben benshi in Kurashiki City, about the appeal of katsuben narration.
The information presented here was current when this article was published in May 2025. Please note that it may differ from current information.
What Is a Katsuben Benshi?
Most films screened in cinemas today have background music and dialogue coming from speakers.
However, about 100 years ago, there was no technology for adding sound to films, so silent movies known as “katsudo shashin” (moving pictures) were the norm.
In those days, the person who spoke the characters’ lines and explained the plot alongside a screening of “katsudo shashin” was called a “katsuben benshi.” “Katsuben” is an abbreviation; the full term is “katsudo shashin benshi” (moving-picture narrator).
One person handling everything from technical work to voice acting
A benshi’s job involved more than just speaking.
It was the Taisho era. At a time when even photographs were rare, “katsudo shashin”—photographs that moved as images—were even more precious.
For that reason, benshi initially also explained technical aspects, such as how projectors worked.
As moving pictures began to spread, attention gradually grew not only for the films themselves and their actors, but also for the benshi.
Each benshi had a different interpretation and way of presenting moving pictures.
As a result, some theatergoers became fans who followed their favorite benshi, saying, “I want to see the moving pictures screened by this benshi!”
Even today, anime has not only fans of the works and characters, but also a certain number of fans of the voice actors who play those characters. Benshi must have had a similar following.
Benshi almost always worked alone.
In other words, they handled everything themselves, from voicing multiple characters to narrating.
Working with musicians to bring musical screenings to life
Silent films have no “music” as well as no dialogue.
The people responsible for the “music” were called gakushi (musicians).
From the Taisho era through the early Showa era, benshi carried film reels from theater to theater, so portable instruments such as violins and trumpets were the norm.
Many Japanese instruments that had been used since before the Meiji Restoration, such as drums and koto, were large even when considered portable, so the use of Western instruments must also have seemed unusual to Japanese people at the time.
Moving pictures themselves were a culture imported from the West, so perhaps the two went well together.
For each film, music composed by a musician, the benshi’s narration, and the silent moving pictures came together to be screened as a single work.
Reviving a culture that disappeared with the advent of talkies
Benshi once enjoyed immense popularity, but their culture declined with the advent of “talkies,” films with sound.
There were said to be around 8,000 benshi in the early Showa era, but as of 2025, only a dozen or so work professionally nationwide.
However, many devoted fans remain for live music and the lively, in-person experience of katsuben.
The activities of husband-and-wife benshi duo “Mucchan and Kacchan”
“Mucchan and Kacchan,” a husband-and-wife benshi duo, are Yabuki Katsutoshi and his wife, Yabuki Mutsumi, who live in Kojima.
Kurashiki City’s only benshi are a husband-and-wife team, a rarity nationwide
It is unusual for benshi to work as a married couple.
Only a husband and wife can perform both powerful sword-fighting scenes with male characters and delicate scenes with female characters.
The two could never forget the emotion they felt when they first watched a silent film with katsuben narration. Wanting to share that feeling with the people of Kojima, where they live, they have continued working as benshi for 18 years.
The two made their debut at the Okayama Film Festival, held in 2007, with Goketsu Jiraiya Monogatari, starring Onoe Matsunosuke, and have continued their energetic activities ever since.
Because only a limited number of moving-picture films still exist, they continue to take on new works while adapting the same films to each venue.
Preserving local culture for the local community
Moving-picture film is difficult to preserve, and only a limited number of reels still exist.
For that reason, rather than performing a large number of works, the two continue to perform the same works, adapting them to each venue.
As they continued these activities, they began receiving requests from places such as Konko Library in Asakuchi City to add dialogue and music to surviving silent films and screen them. Their work has come to be needed as a way for local people to preserve their local culture.
They also give lectures and hold katsuben film screenings around Okayama Prefecture, including Kurashiki City, and run katsuben workshops at elementary schools. They play a role in sharing live katsuben with local people.
A benshi film screening will also be held in May 2025
Their next scheduled event is Wednesday, May 19, 2025.
The 3rd Shimotsui Film Club screening will be held from 6 p.m. at the Shimotsui Shipping Agent Museum.
The film screened that day will be Mabuta no Haha, starring Kataoka Chiezo.
See the image below for details.
We spoke with the Yabukis about what inspired them to start performing katsuben and what they find appealing about it.
husband-and-wife benshi duo “Mucchan and Kacchan” Information
| Name | Husband-and-wife benshi duo “Mucchan and Kacchan” |
|---|---|
| Address | Kojima, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture |
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