Masaru Satō

Where to watch Masaru Satō

• High and LowMovie · 1963

Biography

Masaru Satō (佐藤 勝) was a Japanese composer of film scores. The youngest of six brothers, all of them music lovers, Masaru Sato decided early in life that he wanted to be a composer. His models were two other composers born, as he was, on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido: Akira Ifukube and Fumio Hayasaka. After hearing Hayasaka's score for Rashomon (1950), Sato decided Hayasaka was the only one he wanted for his teacher. He absorbed much of Hayasaka's modernist leanings, and grew to know Hayasaka's best friend Akira Kurosawa during this period. The year 1955 was a vast turning point for Sato: after scoring numerous insignificant pictures for various studios in Tokyo, Sato won the assignment for Gojira no Gyakushu (1955). Then his teacher Fumio Hayasaka died tragically young, while finishing the score for Kurosawa's Ikimono no Kiroku (1955). Sato stepped in to complete the score, uncredited. Kurosawa was sufficiently pleased with Sato to use him for all his pictures for the following ten years. Though the two had a falling-out after Akahige (1965), Sato remained one of Japan's most in-demand film composers, returning to the Gojira series several times and remaining a favorite of many other directors such as Kihachi Okamoto and June Fukuda. After scoring Dun-Huang in 1987, Sato had to call a brief halt to his career in order to tend to family interests in real estate in his native Hokkaido; but within a few years, the problems were wrapped up, and Sato was able to go back to film composing full time, at last reaching and surpassing his 300th movie score. Sato is almost unique among Japan's prolific film composers in that he has written extensively for his chosen field, but has never written for the concert stage.

Filmography

1. 2000After the RainMusic
2. 1992The Oil-Hell MurderMusic
3. 1991Heat WaveMusic
4. 1991Rainbow KidsMusic
5. 1989Shogun's ShadowMusic
6. 1988The Silk RoadMusic
7. 1986Yakuza LadiesMusic
8. 1986Death ShadowsMusic
9. 1983The GeishaMusic
10. 1982IrezumiMusic
11. 1980Toward the TerraMusic
12. 1980A Distant Cry from SpringMusic
13. 1979Hunter in the DarkMusic
14. 1977The Yellow HandkerchiefMusic
15. 1974Lupin the Third: Strange Psychokinetic StrategyMusic
16. 1974Violent StreetsMusic
17. 1974Godzilla vs. MechagodzillaMusic
18. 1973Submersion of JapanMusic
19. 1971The WolvesMusic
20. 1971The Battle of OkinawaMusic
21. 1970Where Spring Comes LateMusic
22. 1970Incident at Blood PassMusic
23. 1970The Scandalous Adventures of BuraikanMusic
24. 1969Shinsengumi: Assassins of HonorMusic
25. 1969Red LionMusic
26. 1969Tenchu!Music
27. 1969GoyokinMusic
28. 1969Samurai BannersMusic
29. 1968The Human BulletMusic
30. 1968Kill!Music
31. 1967Son of GodzillaMusic
32. 1967Japan's Longest DayMusic
33. 1966Ebirah, Horror of the DeepMusic
34. 1966Moment of TerrorMusic
35. 1966The Sword of DoomMusic
36. 1966Cash Calls HellMusic
37. 1965Red BeardMusic
38. 1965Samurai AssassinMusic
39. 1963The Elegant Life of Mr. EverymanMusic
40. 1963Samurai PirateMusic
41. 1963Warring ClansMusic
42. 1963High and LowMusic
43. 1962SanjuroMusic
44. 1961YojimboMusic
45. 1960The Bad Sleep WellMusic
46. 1960IntimidationMusic
47. 1959Desperado OutpostMusic
48. 1959Gigantis, the Fire MonsterMusic
49. 1958The Hidden FortressMusic
50. 1958The H-ManMusic
51. 1958Rusty KnifeMusic
52. 1957I Am WaitingMusic
53. 1957The Lower DepthsMusic
54. 1957Half Human: The Story of the Abominable SnowmanMusic
55. 1957Throne of BloodMusic
56. 1956Crazed FruitMusic
57. 1955I Live in FearMusic
58. 1955Taira Clan SagaMusic
59. 1955Beast Man Snow ManMusic
60. 1955Godzilla Raids AgainMusic