{{Infobox person | name = Musei Tokugawa | image = Musei Tokugawa 1.JPG | alt = | caption = Musei Tokugawa | birth_name = Toshio Fukuhara | birth_date = {{birth date|1894|4|13|df=yes}} | birth_place = Masuda, Shimane, Japan | death_date = {{Death date and age|1971|8|1|1894|4|13|df=yes}} | death_place = | other_names = | known_for = | occupation = Film actor, raconteur }} {{nihongo|'''Musei Tokugawa'''|徳川 夢声|Tokugawa Musei|13 April 1894 – 1 August 1971}} was a Japanese ''benshi'', actor, raconteur, essayist, and radio and television personality.
== Career == Musei (as he was called) first came to prominence as a ''benshi'', a narrator of films during the silent era in Japan. He was celebrated for his restrained but erudite narration that was popular among intellectual film fans.<ref name="Dym">Dym, Jeffrey A. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=KFhdFGRgPfQC&pg=PP12 Tokugawa Musei: A Portrait Sketch of One of Japan's Greatest Narrative Artists]." ''In Praise of Film Studies: Essays in Honor of Makino Mamoru''. Eds. Aaron Gerow and Abé Mark Nornes (Kinema Club, 2001).</ref> He concentrated on foreign films such as ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' at high-class theaters like the Aoikan and the Musashinokan, but also performed Japanese works such as Teinosuke Kinugasa's experimental masterpiece ''A Page of Madness'' (1926).<ref>{{cite book|last=Gerow|first=Aaron|authorlink=Aaron Gerow|title=A Page of Madness: Cinema and Modernity in 1920s Japan|publisher=Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan|year=2008|pages=53|isbn=978-1-929280-51-3}}</ref>
As the silent era ended, Musei switched to storytelling on stage and on radio, and also began acting and doing narrations in films.
He was also famous for his essays, humorous novels, and autobiographical writings,<ref name="Dym" /> publishing nearly fifty books in his life.<ref>Tokugawa Musei chosho, Japanese Wikipedia</ref> With the advent of television in Japan, Musei also became a prominent presence in that medium.
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0865800}} *{{jmdb name|id=0312610|name=Tokugawa Musei}} *[http://www.matsudafilm.com/matsuda/c_pages/c_c_2e.html Clip] of one of Musei Tokugawa's benshi performances.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tokugawa, Musei}} Category:1894 births Category:1971 deaths Category:20th-century Japanese male actors Category:Japanese radio personalities Category:Benshi Category:People from Masuda, Shimane Category:Japanese television personalities Category:20th-century storytellers Category:20th-century Japanese essayists