< Silent Movies > Silent movies, or katsudo-shashin in the old Japanese, is said to have first appeared in 1895, when the Lumière brothers from France released the cinematograph in Paris. However, optical lanterns, which can be called the predecessor of today’s movies in terms of optical projection devices, had already been invented in the 17th century and introduced to Japan in the late 18th century. Optical lantern slideshows with musical accompaniment, narration and elaborate mechanism, which were called utsushi-e in Edo and nishiki-kage-e in Kamigata, had been all the rage in Japan since the early 19th century. They were so popular that they even had regular venues. With such spread of image culture, the cinematograph by the Lumière brothers was released in Japan in 1897, almost simultaneously with the vitascope, invented by Edison. Since both devices projected silent movies, a film interpreter, later called a katsudo-benshi (lit. orator for moving pictures), was indispensable at a screening. Another requirement for a successful screening was that the film interpreter worked in perfect harmony with the cinematographer, because projectors in those days were operated by hand. (Silent Movies and Osaka) Despite a boom in nishiki-kage-e in Osaka since the end of the Edo period, the first movie shown in Japan is thought to be the release of the cinematograph at the Osaka Nanchi Embujo theater on February 15, 1897. A week later, on February 22, the vitascope was also released at the Osaka Shimmachi Embujo theater. The film interpreter at the vitascope screening was UEDA Hoteiken, a skilled gidayu narrator born into a merchant family in the Minami-Semba district, and recognized as Japan’s first katsudo-benshi. As these facts show, Osaka is the birthplace of movies (katsudo-shashin) in Japan.

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