Saito graduated from Waseda University Faculty of Letters in 1948. Then, he joined the Ofuna Film Studio as an assistant director. He studied under . In 1954, filmmaker asked Saito to move to with and . In 1956, he directed his first movie, ""My Sister's Wedding"". It was not good at the box office. He continued to make high-quality literary movies that followed Ozu's style. In 1959, Saito directed "Farewell to the Southern Tosa", starring . It became a big hit. His most well known movie with Kobayashi was The Rambling Guitarist, which became popular with music. It was serialized as the "Rambler Series" and established himself as an director of entertainment movies. In 1970, he left Nikkatsu and joined to directed television series.