Saigō made his debut in 1964 with the song "Kimi Dake o", for which he won a Japan Record Award for best new artist.

[1] As an actor, he has portrayed people as varied as 20th century Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka (in the 1983 film Shōsetsu Yoshida Gakkō) and 16th century samurai Katakura Kagetsuna (in the 1987 NHK Taiga drama Dokuganryū Masamune).

A native of Kagoshima, he has played the roles of native sons such as Kuroda Kiyotaka and Saigō Tsugumichi, but his characters also include Tokugawa Ieyasu, Yagyū Jūbei and Hattori Hanzō.

Among them are Mōri Hiromoto (in Mōri Motonari, 1997), Sanada Yukimura (Aoi Tokugawa Sandai, 2000), and Honda Masanobu (NHK's Taiga drama Musashi, 2003) in addition to Katakura Kagetsuna.

Other NHK roles have included the contemporary daytime drama Niji no Sekkei (1964) and the uncle of the title character in the asadora Wakaba (2004–05).