Kōichi Saitō

is a Japanese cinematographer. At the beginning of his career, he often worked with pink film directors Takahisa Zeze and Hisayasu Satō. Saitō also worked with all nearly every director of the post-Heavenly King generation at Kokuei studio. Now working mostly in mainstream film, he still often teams up with Zeze.

Career In his Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema, Jasper Sharp writes that Saitō is probably the best cinematographer working in the pink film genre. and Sharp credits Saitō with helping the director bridge the gap between pink and mainstream film.

Sharp judges that Saitō's work in Zeze's is his "crowning achievement". Bashing, a film Saitō photographed, was shown in the competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

Awards He won the award for best cinematography at the 2016 Mainichi Film Awards for his work on 64: Part I and 64: Part II.

Filmography Anarchy in Japansuke (1999) Bashing (2005) Heaven's Story (2010) 64: Part I (2016) 64: Part II (2016) The 8-Year Engagement (2017) Threads: Our Tapestry of Love (2020)