Masaru Sato

In this Japanese name, the family name is Sato.

Masaru Sato
Born	(1928-05-29)May 29, 1928
Origin	Rumoi, Hokkaidō, Japan
Died

Masaru Sato (佐藤 勝, Satō Masaru, May 29, 1928 – December 5, 1999) was a Japanese composer of film scores. He was born in Rumoi, Hokkaidō and raised in Sapporo. While studying at the National Music Academy, Sato came under the influence of Fumio Hayasaka, Akira Kurosawa's regular composer for his earlier films. He became a pupil of Hayasaka's, studying film scoring with him at Toho Studios, and working on the orchestration of Seven Samurai (1954). When the older composer died suddenly in 1955, leaving the scores to Kenji Mizoguchi's New Tales of the Taira Clan, and Kurosawa's Record of a Living Being incomplete, Toho assigned Sato to finish them. His first original score was for Godzilla Raids Again in 1955. He wrote the music to all of Kurosawa's movies for the next decade, including Throne of Blood, The Bad Sleep Well, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, and Red Beard. In addition to Mizoguchi and Kurosawa, Sato worked with Hideo Gosha.

His work in the realm of popular film continued throughout his career, composing the scores to Ishirō Honda's Half Human (1955) and The H-Man (1958), Senkichi Taniguchi's The Lost World of Sinbad (1963), and three Jun Fukuda-directed Godzilla films: Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966), Son of Godzilla (1967), and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974). During his 44-year association with Toho Studios, he wrote more than 300 film scores. He also created the music for such Japanese Television series as Water Margin. He was nominated for Best Music at the 15th Japan Academy Prize.

Musical style

Sato's style differs considerably from Akira Ifukube, the principal composer of the Godzilla films. Ifukube's scores show strong roots in European classical music, as well as influences from Japanese traditional and Ainu folk music. Sato, however, employed Western popular styles and light jazz in his film scores. Unlike Ifukube, Sato apparently never felt the need to compose for the concert stage, writing exclusively for film.

Selected film scores

• Rokunin no ansatsusha (1955)
• I Live in Fear (1955)
• Season of the Sun (1956)
• Throne of Blood (1957)
• Ikiteiru Koheiji (1957)
• I Am Waiting (1957)
• The Lower Depths (1957)
• Song for a Bride (1958)
• A Slope in the Sun (1958)
• The H-Man (1958)
• The Hidden Fortress (1958)
• The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
• Yojimbo (1961)
• Sanjuro (1962)
• High and Low (1963)
• Sengoku Yaro (1963)
• Red Beard (1965)
• The Sword of Doom (1966)
• Japan's Longest Day (1967)
• Kill! (1968)
• The Human Bullet (1968)
• Red Lion (1968)
• Battle of Okinawa (1971)
• Submersion of Japan (1973)
• Lupin III: Strange Psychokinetic Strategy (1974)
• The Yellow Handkerchief (1977)
• Ah! Nomugi Toge (1979)
• Tsuribaka Nisshi 4 (1991)

References

• Masaru Sato at The New York Times online.
• Masaru Sato at MSN

External links

• Masaru Sato (I) at the Internet Movie Database