I have a Japanese video of Mizoguchi Kenji's TAKI NO SHIRAITO ('White Threads of the Waterfall', 1933) which has a benshi narration on the soundtrack. Does anyone know what the source would have been for this soundtrack? Is it an authentic benshi narration recorded in the 1930s? Or something that was created years later (perhaps specifically for the video)?

Hello Brad (and everyone else),

Is your source the Digital Meme DVD? See below:

http://www.digital-meme.com/en/our_products/dvds/index.html

Also, take a look at benshi Sawato Midori's website for an interesting credit in April 2004:

http://www.sawatomidori.com/eng/profile.html

Brad -- Is the benshi a male or a female?

The tape I have appears to be from a video release, not a DVD.

The narrator is male.

Then it is almost surely Shunsui Matsuda. See:

http://www.matsudafilm.com/matsuda/f_pages/f_3e.html

Thanks.