Via the Center for Japanese Studies mailing list:

Kataoka Ichiro’s Sayonara Performance

Saturday, February 23, 2013
7:00PM @ Natural Sciences Auditorium
830 N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Benshi Kataoka Ichiro will perform the samurai feature, Jirokichi the Rat (Oatsurae Jirokichi Koshi, dir. Ito Daisuke, 1931), along with a selection of delightful shorts. DJ musical accompaniment by Arwulf Arwulf.

Kataoka Ichiro, who has a residency this semester at U-M through the Center for World Performance Studies, is a benshi from Japan. During the silent-film era, primarily the late 1800s to the early 1900s, a benshi would stand next to the movie screen and narrate—in a theatrical style—the story to audiences, from packed Tokyo theaters to small screens in fishing villages. Kataoka is one of a dozen or so benshi still performing in Japan, and arguably is the top professional benshi.

Details on the University of Michigan CJS page.