Rocky Aoki, who founded the theatrical Benihana chain of steakhouses, where Japanese chefs with flashing knives double as performers, died Thursday night in Manhattan. He was 69.

The cause was pneumonia, said Nancy Bauer, a spokeswoman for the family.

In 1964, when Mr. Aoki opened his first Benihana steakhouse, on West 56th Street in Manhattan, he introduced New Yorkers to dining as theater, and chefs as culinary acrobats. Seated around a flat steel grill, customers watched chefs sharpen their knives, toss them in the air, drizzle the grill with oil, sizzle the chicken, shrimp or steak on the grill, and flip the food onto the plates. Children stared goggle-eyed.

Benihana’s style of food is called teppan-yaki. Eating there is “equal parts restaurant, magic show and performance art,” said David Rockwell, the founder of the Rockwell Group, a Manhattan architecture firm that has designed more than 75 restaurants, including Nobu. “It was way ahead of its time.”

Image Rocky Aoki in 2000. Credit... Edward Keating/The New York Times

Mr. Aoki also introduced many Americans to Japanese food. “He was the first one who made it accessible for non-Japanese people to enjoy the Japanese experience,” said Drew Nieporent, whose Myriad Restaurant Group runs a number of restaurants including Tribeca Grill and Nobu. “The key thing was he made it fun,” he said.