Buichi Saito
Buichi Saitō (1927–2015) was a Japanese filmmaker associated with the Nikkatsu studio in its 1950s and 1960s heyday. A Waseda University graduate, he began at Shōchiku as an assistant to Yasujirō Ozu and Kōzaburō Yoshimura before transferring to Nikkatsu in 1954 and making his directorial debut with Anesan no Oyomeiri (1956). He became a workhorse director on Nikkatsu's youth films and "Diamond Guys" pictures featuring the studio's top male stars, and worked across yakuza films and the Red Peony Gambler series. His best-internationally-known film is Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril (1972), the fourth entry in the celebrated samurai chambara series starring Tomisaburō Wakayama, taking over from Kenji Misumi who had directed the first three. He continued directing in Japan into the 1980s.