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.
Sound 289
2000s
- 2004
- 2001
The Goblin of Mt. Kurama
Music
- 2000
1990s
- 1997
A Story of Modern Chivalry
Original Music Composer
- 1995
Mitabi no kaikyô
Original Music Composer
Himeyuri no To
Original Music Composer
Gokenin Zankuro
Original Music Composer
- 1994
In Blazing Love
Original Music Composer
- 1993
Film Director Satsuo Yamamoto
Music
Bloom in the Moonlight “The Story of Rentaro Taki”
Original Music Composer
Korekara: Umibe no Tabibitotachi
Music
- 1992
Oda Nobunaga
Original Music Composer
- 1991
Rainbow Kids
Original Music Composer
Takeda Shingen
Original Music Composer
- 1990
13 Assassins
Original Music Composer
1980s
- 1989
Dream Street
Original Music Composer
The Demon Comes in Spring
Original Music Composer
- 1988
- 1987
The Great Department Store Robbery
Original Music Composer
The Forest of the Little Bear
Original Music Composer
Taikoki
Original Music Composer
- 1986
Kāsan no ki
Original Music Composer
- 1985
- 1984
- 1983
Adrift at Sea
Original Music Composer
Lowly Ronin 6: Betrayal at Yatate Pass
Original Music Composer
Lowly Ronin 5: The Teenage Orphan Girl
Original Music Composer
Lowly Ronin 4: Living Hell
Original Music Composer
- 1982
The Law of Hell
Music
南十字星
Original Music Composer
The Lowly Ronin 3: Duel at Dawn
Original Music Composer
- 1981
Xiongmao Monogatari TaoTao
Original Music Composer
At This Late Date, the Charleston
Original Music Composer
Willful Murder
Original Music Composer
- 1980
Toward the Terra
Original Music Composer
1970s
- 1979
The Last Game
Music
Nomugi Pass
Original Music Composer
- 1978
Blood Type: Blue
Original Music Composer
The Glacier Fox
Original Music Composer
- 1977
Sugata Sanshiro
Original Music Composer
The Love and Adventures of Kuroki Taro
Original Music Composer
Kyojin-gun monogatari: Susume eikô e
Original Music Composer
The Alaska Story
Original Music Composer
- 1976
A Portrait of Shunkin
Original Music Composer
Stars and Storms
Music
Between Women and Wives
Original Music Composer
- 1975
Friendship
Original Music Composer
Kyukei no Koya
Original Music Composer
Waga seishun no toki
Music
Tidal Wave
Original Music Composer
Battle Cry
Music
Without Complaint
Original Music Composer
- 1974
Scalpel
Original Music Composer
Aoba shigereru
Original Music Composer
Lupin the Third: Strange Psychokinetic Strategy
Original Music Composer
Machi no Hi
Original Music Composer
Demon Spies
Original Music Composer
The Family
Original Music Composer
- 1973
Long Journey into Love
Original Music Composer
The King
Original Music Composer
The Twilight Years
Original Music Composer
The Three Musketeers of Japan: The Tale of Hakata Obi
Music
- 1972
The Three Musketeers of Japan: Adieu, Tokyo!
Music
Special Boy Soldiers of the Navy
Original Music Composer
Sapporo Winter Olympics
Original Music Composer
- 1971
Onna no hanamichi
Original Music Composer
The Wolves
Original Music Composer
The Battle of Okinawa
Original Music Composer
Maboroshi no Satsui
Original Music Composer
- 1970
Banner of the Young
Original Music Composer
Song of the Horse
Original Music Composer
City of Beasts
Original Music Composer
Incident at Blood Pass
Original Music Composer
240 Hours in One Day
Music
1960s
- 1969
Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor
Original Music Composer
The Great Japanese Pick-Pocket Club
Original Music Composer
Travels of Lord Mito
Original Music Composer
Red Lion
Original Music Composer
The Magoichi Saga
Original Music Composer
Tenchu!
Original Music Composer
Forward, Young People!
Original Music Composer
Goyokin
Original Music Composer
Motta, the Flying Dracula Monster
Original Music Composer
- 1968
Scrap Collectors
Original Music Composer
The Human Bullet
Original Music Composer
My Brother, My Love
Original Music Composer
Cry of the Mountain
Original Music Composer
Admiral Yamamoto
Original Music Composer
Judge and Jeopardy
Original Music Composer
Golden Eyes
Original Music Composer
Sôshun
Music
- 1967
Skiing on the Summit
Music
Sodachi zakari
Original Music Composer
Japan's Longest Day
Original Music Composer
Organized Violence II
Original Music Composer
Who Is Gomez?
Original Music Composer
Organized Violence
Original Music Composer
The Age of Assassins
Original Music Composer
Three Faces of Love
Original Music Composer
- 1966
Big Wind from Tokyo
Original Music Composer
Koto—The Lake of Tears
Original Music Composer
Zero Fighter
Original Music Composer
The Mad Atlantic
Original Music Composer
Moment of Terror
Original Music Composer
Thirst for Love
Original Music Composer
The Sword of Doom
Original Music Composer
- 1965
Ironfinger
Original Music Composer
Stairs of Evil
Original Music Composer
Rokujō yukiyama tsumugi
Original Music Composer
Fort Graveyard
Original Music Composer
Retirement of a Train Engineer
Original Music Composer
Three Yakuza
Original Music Composer
Samurai Assassin
Original Music Composer
- 1964
Juvenile Delinquents
Original Music Composer
Raised in a Palace
Original Music Composer
間諜
Original Music Composer
Could I But Live
Music
The Desperate
Original Music Composer
Oh, Bomb!
Original Music Composer
- 1963
The King 2
Original Music Composer
The Elegant Life of Mr. Everyman
Original Music Composer
Okashina yatsu
Original Music Composer
Samurai Pirate
Original Music Composer
Tale of Army Brutality
Original Music Composer
Life of Hishakaku 2
Original Music Composer
Legacy of the 500,000
Original Music Composer
Warring Clans
Original Music Composer
Modern Children
Original Music Composer
- 1962
Anything For Success
Original Music Composer, Music
Operation Enemy Fort
Original Music Composer
Our Failures
Original Music Composer
The Ambitious Youth
Original Music Composer
Operation Sewer Rats
Original Music Composer
Ano sora no hate ni hoshi wa matataku
Original Music Composer
Burūtaun aoi machi no ōkami
Original Music Composer
The Crimson Sky
Original Music Composer
Otoko no Uta
Original Music Composer
- 1961
Run, Genta, Run!
Original Music Composer
Sanctuary
Music
Procurer of Hell
Original Music Composer
Blood on the Sea
Original Music Composer
Lord Mito: Struggle of Suke and Kaku
Original Music Composer
Challenge to Live
Original Music Composer
Shokei zen'ya
Original Music Composer
Yabure Kabure
Original Music Composer
Blueprint of Murder
Original Music Composer
- 1960
Man at the Bullfight
Original Music Composer
Chikuhō no kodomotachi
Original Music Composer
Westward Desperado
Original Music Composer
Sixteen years old
Original Music Composer
Man Against Man
Original Music Composer
University Bandits
Original Music Composer
Ôana
Original Music Composer
The Happicoat Comedian
Music
The Gambling Samurai
Original Music Composer
Intimidation
Original Music Composer
The Curio Master
Music
I'm a Single Salaryman
Music
The Last Gunfight
Original Music Composer
1950s
- 1959
The Spear Master
Music
The Age of Our Own
Original Music Composer
Desperado Outpost
Original Music Composer
Someday I'll Know
Original Music Composer
Work Hard, Happy Girls!
Music
Otome no inori
Original Music Composer
Gigantis, the Fire Monster
Original Music Composer
I Want to Be a Shellfish
Original Music Composer
We Live Today
Original Music Composer
The Stream of Youth
Original Music Composer
- 1958
Crimson Wings
Original Music Composer
The Man Who Rode the Typhoon
Original Music Composer
Oban kanketsu hen
Original Music Composer
Vice
Original Music Composer
Song for a Bride
Original Music Composer
- 1957
Zokuzoku Ôban: Dotô hen
Original Music Composer
The Lower Depths
Original Music Composer
The Living Koheiji
Original Music Composer
Zoku Ôban: Fûun hen
Original Music Composer
Last Days of the Samurai
Original Music Composer
Half Human: The Story of the Abominable Snowman
Original Music Composer
Muhō Ichidai
Original Music Composer
Ôban
Original Music Composer
- 1956
Eacape of Fear
Original Music Composer
Phoenix
Music
Vampire Moth
Original Music Composer
Runaway Bride
Original Music Composer
Beyond The Stars
Music
Cell No. 8
Original Music Composer
- 1955
We Never Let You Go
Music
Tactics of Love
Original Music Composer
The Samurai of Edo
Original Music Composer
Taira Clan Saga
Original Music Composer
Beast Man Snow Man
Original Music Composer
New Tengu Kurama: Samurai in the Pouring Rain
Original Music Composer
Ootone no Taiketsu
Original Music Composer
- 1953
Secret Mother
Music
