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Shinichi Saito

さいとう しんいち

Saito Shinichi

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1922-07-06 （Ajino, Kojima, Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan）
Died
1994-09-18 age 72
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese
Residence History
Kurashiki (Ajino), Okayama, Japan → Shizuoka (Shimizu), Japan → Itō, Shizuoka, Japan → Paris, France (study abroad)

Career

Occupations
Painter, Writer, Illustrator
Active Years
1940-1994
Influenced By
Tsuguharu Fujita (Léonard Foujita), Ben Mizu (Mizuue Ben) or Mizu Ben
Influenced
Susumu Kinoshita

Education

Tokyo Art School (former)
Teacher Training Department
Period: 1942-1948
Year of Graduation: 1948
Country: Japan
Conscripted during studies (military service) and returned to complete studies; graduated in 1948.

Awards

Nitten Exhibition Selection
1948
Work: Chicken Coop
Organization: Nitten (Japan Fine Arts Exhibition)
Result: 入選
Pourv Prize
1957
Work: Road of Early Spring
Organization: Kofukai (Kofukai Exhibition)
Result: 受賞
Japan Essayists' Club Award
1973
Work: Goze: Blind Itinerant Performers
Organization: Japan Essayists' Club
Result: 受賞
Medal with Dark Blue Ribbon
1982
Organization: Government of Japan
Result: 受章

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Goze: Blind Itinerant Performers

1972 Illustrated essays / art-essay

An illustrated-essay work based on research of goze (blind itinerant female performers) in Echigo, depicting their lives and sorrows.

Goze (blind itinerant singers)folk culturesuffering of women

Echigo Goze Diary

1972 Art book / field journal

A collection of field notes and artworks based on goze in Echigo; exhibited in galleries.

field researchEchigo regionblind itinerant performers

Egoshi: Yoshiwara Ablaze / Yoshiwara Ablaze (source novel)

1985 Historical illustrated narrative

An illustrated narrative about the Yoshiwara red-light district in the Meiji era, focusing on courtesans; served as the source for the film 'Yoshiwara Ablaze' directed by Hideo Gosha.

Yoshiwarared-light districtwomen's history
Adaptations
  • [Film] Yoshiwara Ablaze / 五社英雄

Bibliography

  • Goze: Blind Itinerant Performers (1972)
  • Echigo Goze Diary (1972)
  • Tsugaru Jyonkara: Goze Diary (1975)
  • Shinichi Saito Wanderer's Record (1978)
  • A Meiji Yoshiwara Handbook (1985)
  • Egoshi: Yoshiwara Ablaze (1985)
  • Wind, Rain, Snow (1983)

Adaptations

  • Film 'Yoshiwara Ablaze' - original work

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Lyrical, folk-inspired illustrated-essay styleA hybrid of field-reporting and visual art
Recurring Motifs
Goze (blind itinerant singers)Yoshiwara (red-light district)wanderingmelancholy of women

Health

  • Pancreatic cancer
    1994
    Led to his death in 1994

Legacy

Known for illustrated books about Echigo goze and Meiji-era Yoshiwara, Saito's work has been the subject of many exhibitions and is held in museum collections (including a Dewazakura Museum branch). His oeuvre bridges visual art and folk studies.

Museums

  • Dewazakura Museum of Art (branch) 'Shinichi Saito Museum of Heart' Tendō, Yamagata, Japan Opened in 1993
  • Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art (collection) Okayama, Okayama, Japan

Academic Societies

  • Japan Essayists' Club

Archives

  • Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties - Tobunken archive database (Shinichi Saito materials)

In Popular Culture

  • Film 'Yoshiwara Ablaze' (based on his work)
  • Featured on the TV program 'Nandemo Kanteidan' in 2023

Trivia

  • During his 1958 stay in Paris he reportedly traveled from Marseille to Italy on a motorized bicycle.
  • His goze series grew out of research on Tsugaru festivals, shamisen music and visits to blind female performers.
  • His 1985 work 'Egoshi: Yoshiwara Ablaze' served as the source for Hideo Gosha's film 'Yoshiwara Ablaze'.