The Hyuga
episode of Kojiki (古事記 日向篇/ Kojiki Hyūgahen, 2013)
In 2012,
Japan’s oldest extant chronicle the Kojiki,
or Record of Ancient Matters (712),
celebrated its 1300th anniversary.
The publicity surrounding this anniversary triggered a marked increase
in tourists travelling to the mystic places related to the Kojiki, such as the sacred Takachiho Gorge, home to Yaoyorozu no Kamigami (八百万の神々) and Aoshima Shrine, where the love story between Yamasachihiko
and Princess Toyotama takes place.
In March
2013, the NHK aired a documentary called "Kojiki" Girl Travelogue (古事記ガール 日向路を旅する,
59 min., 2013) that follows the actress Tomoka
Kurotani (Shinobi: Heart Under Blade,
Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog) as
she travels to Miyazaki Prefecture to visit some of these mystic places in and
around the city of Hyūga. Instead of
just hiring a narrator to recite the relevant passages from the Kojiki, the NHK engaged the services of
Oscar-nominated animator Kōji Yamamura
to bring these much-admired mythological stories to life.
Yamamura has
a long history of collaboration with the NHK dating back to his wonderfully
imaginative series for children Karo and
Piyobupt (カロとピヨブプト, 1993) – which was recently released on
DVD in France. Other NHK projects
include the Karo and Piyobupt spinoff Pacusi (パクシ, 1991),
which was a series of short-shorts, and more recently Prekiso English (プレキソ英語, 2011-12), a series of
micro-stories designed to teach preschoolers English vocabulary.
The four
animation sequences written and directed by Yamamura are set in Hyūga and concern themselves with the Shinto creation myth and the emergence of gods.
After screening on TV and NHK on Demand,
the sequences were edited into a festival version under the title The Hyuga episode of Kojiki (古事記 日向篇/
Kojiki Hyūgahen, Japan, NHK, 2013) and in French, Récit des temps anciens : épisodes de Hyûga. The festival edition competed at Ottawa,
MONSTRA, and Animafest. It also made the
Jury Selection at the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival. The festival cut will screen at Nippon Connection as part of their Koji
Yamamura Retrospective.
Episode summaries:
The Cleansing (禊/ Misogi, 3’17”)
This the
myth of how Japan was created. Yamamura
depicts a couple formed of clouds embracing and resulting in the birth of
Izanagi-no-Mikoto and Izanami-no-Mikoto.
The cloud forms of Izanagi, holding a spear, and Izanami look down upon
the islands of Japan. Burned giving
birth to Kagu-tsuchi, the god of fire, Izanami descends to the underworld. Izanagi misses his wife and tries to visit
her, but she demands that he look away. Before
he can do so he sees that she is covered with maggots and eight gods of
thunder. Izanami sends demons to chase
Izanagi but he manages to escape the underworld and seeks to cleanse
himself. He goes to Awakihara, Himuka in
Tsukushi country. There he strips in
order to bathe, and this cleansing process results in the birth of twelve
gods. Two gods are born from the
impurities of the netherworld, three to clean the first two, and six sea
gods. Then, Izanagi washes his left eye
and the sun goddess Amaterasu is born.
The moon god Tsukuyomi is born from his right eye and Susanoo, the god
of sea and storms, from his nose.
Delighted by the birth of these three holy figures, Izanagi gives
Amaterasu the heavens to reign over, Tsukuyomi is given the night, and Susanoo
the ocean. However, Susanoo neglects his
duties and cries until his beard grows long.
Trees die, rivers and seas dry up and evil descends on the world. Izanagi asks him why he cries and neglects
his domains. Susanoo explains that wants
to see his mother Izanami in the underworld.
This episode ends with Izanagi sending Susanoo to sea on a boat in exile.
Sun Goddess Amaterasu (天照大御神/ Amaterasu Ōkami, 2’11”)
This episode
begins with the exiled Susanoo going on a rampage in the heavens, which are the
domain of Amaterasu. Amaterasu is frightened
by Susanoo’s behaviousr and hides herself in a cave. Darkness descends upon the world and brings
evil with it. The gods of all the
elements gather by the river near the cave and come up with a plan. Ame-no-uzume, the goddess of dawn, mirth, and
revelry, overturns a tub and does an amusing dance in which she exposes herself
while the other gods cheer her on.
Amaterasu is overcome with curiosity about the sounds of
celebration. She wonders if a god more
divine than herself has descended from the heavens. When she opens the cave to peek out, she sees
her own reflection on a mirror placed in front of her. Ame-no-Tajikarawo dashes to close the cave behind
her while another god seals the entrance to the cave with a magic shimenawa rope. Amaterasu is thusly returned to her rightful
place bringing sunlight to the heavens and the earth. The gods tell Susanoo that he must bring
offerings in order to be redeemed. They
cut his fingernails and his beard and exile him from the heavens.
Flowering Tree (木花之佐久夜毘売/ Konohananosakuya-bime,
2’31”)
Amaterasu
and Takaki-no-kami command the god Ninigi, the grandson of Amaterasu, that he
should descend to Earth and govern for them.
At Cape Kasasa, Ninigi meets a beautiful girl. She tells him that her father is the great
mountain god Kamu-Atatsu (also known as Ōyamatsumi). She is known as Kono-hana , or “Flowering
Tree”. Ninigi is impressed by her and
asks her to marry him. She cannot give him and answer and bids him to ask her
father for permission. The great
mountain god is happy to accept Ninigi’s proposal and also offers up his other
daughter Iwa-Naga (Eternal-as-a-Rock), but Ninigi only wants Konohanasakuya-hime
(Kono-hana / Flowering Tree). He sends
back the ugly Iwa-Naga. If Ninigi had
accepted Iwa-Naga, the great mountain god would have blessed him and his
descendants with prosperity and longevity (as strong as a rock in a
blizzard). But since Ninigi only
accepted Kono-hana, his descendants’ lives will be fleeting (as long as the
leaves on a tree). Princess Kono-hana
gets pregnant that night but Ninigi is suspicious. In order to prove her innocence, she gives
birth to three sons in a burning shack.
Her first son is Umisachi (he who harvests from the sea). Her second son
is called Hosuseri, while her third son is Yamasachi (he who harvests from the
land).
Umisachi and Yamasachi (海佐知山佐知/ Umisachi Yamasachi, 3’30”)
Umisachi
harvests from the sea and his brother Yamasachi from the land. Yamasachi wants to borrow his brother’s
fishing rod and offers to trade him for his bow and arrows. Umisachi turns his brother down three times
before relenting. Yamasachi fails to
catch any fish and even loses the hook.
To make it up to his brother he makes thousands of replacement hooks out
of his own sword. But Umisachi is not
satisfied. He wants his own hook
back. Yamasachi cries in despair. The god of the tides tells Yamasachi he
should visit the god of the sea, Ōwatatsumi, for advice. Ōwatatsumi tells him to marry his daughter
Princess Toyotama. After three carefree
years of marriage to Princess Toyotama, Yamasachi remembers his debt to his
brother. He tells his wife about what
happened. Her father summons the fish
and asked them if they have the lost hook.
They tell him that it was caught in the throat of a fish. Ōwatatsumi gives Yamasachi the hook and says
that when he gives it to his brother, he should keep his back turned away from
his brother and chant “Obochi, Susuchi, Majichi, Uruchi”. He advises him that if his brother plowed
the upper rice paddy, then Yamasachi should plow the lower one. On the other hand, if he plowed the lower
rice paddy, then Yamasachi should plow the upper one. He will limit the water so that after three
years, Yamasachi will prosper while his brother will struggle. If Umisachi’s grudge leads to war, the Sea
God tells Yamasachi to drown his brother using a flood-inducing charm. If Umisachi apologizes, the ebb-inducing
charm can be used to rescue him. He must
ensure that his brother suffers.
Yamasachi does as the father-in-law suggests and eventually Umisachi
falls at his brother’s feet to beg forgiveness.
Umisachi swears eternal fealty to his brother.
The animation style:
Atsushi Makino and Yutaro Kubo assisted Yamamura with the animation for this
documentary (see their profiles below).
Both studied under Yamamura at Tokyo University of the Arts, with Makino
graduating in 2011 and Kubo this spring.
In the documentary, the NHK includes footage of Yamamura on location in
Hyūga taking sketches of the reputed locations for the events that unfold in
the stories.
The
character design is distinctly that of Yamamura. Viewers familiar with his work will notice
similarities to characters in films like Mt.
Head (2002), Franz Kafka’s A Country
Doctor (2007), and Muybridge’s
Strings (2011). However, the overall
look each of Yamamura’s films is uniquely grounded in the subject matter. For the Kojiki,
Yamamura has chosen a colour palette similar to that of a sumi-e (ink wash painting): blacks and greys with red used for
Amaterasu, the spring blossoms of Kono-hana and other scenes where a pop of
colour is needed (the sun, flames, to distinguish the fish that swallowed the
hook from the other fish, etc.). The
background colour is sepia like that of an aging scroll. In order to facilitate the episodic nature of
these tales, Yamamura transitions from scene to scene by panning the camera
from one illustrated vignette to another.
He gives a nod to the fact that these are based on stories that have
been passed down from generation to generation on ancient scrolls by incorporating the characters’ names
in Chinese characters into the scenes.
Yamamura’s tendency toward the surreal and absurd in his films is a
perfect match for the oddities of the stories – from Amaterasu’s flaming crotch
due to the birth of the fire god to depicting the relationship between the gods
and the natural world. The NHK really
ought to produce a book of these stories with Yamamura’s illustrations.
The Animators:
Kōji Yamamura (山村浩二, b. 1964) is from
Nagoya. He studied painting at Tokyo
Zokei University (1987). He founded his
own animation studio, Yamamura
Animation, with his wife Sanae Yamamura in 1993. Yamamura has received numerous awards in his
career including Grand Prix at prestigious festivals (Annecy 2003, Zagreb 2004,
Hiroshima 2004, et al.) and an Oscar nomination (2003). In addition to making his own films, Yamamura is professor of animation
at Tokyo University of the Arts (aka Geidai). He is currently vice-president of the Japanese
Animation Association
and a member of the board of the Japanese branch of ASIFA.
Yamamura recently opened an animation store and gallery called Au Praxinoscope in Jiyugaoka. The gallery is
currently holding an exhibition on Pritt Pärn which runs until May 31st
and will be followed by an Igor Kovalyov solo exhibition.
Atsushi Makino (牧野惇, b. 1982) is from the city
of Echizen in Fukui Prefecture. He has a
degree in Graphic Design from UMPRUM
(Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, 2009) which he followed up
with an MA in Animation from Tokyo University of the Arts (2011). Makino’s
graduation film was Specimens of
Obsessions (標本の塔, 2011). He
works as an animation director for Eallin
Japan.
Yutarō Kubo (久保 雄太郎, b. 1990) is from Ōita.
He did his BA in Animation at Tokyo Polytechnic University (2012) where
he made the film crazy for it (watch on vimeo). He continued his study of animation in the MA
programme of Tokyo University of the Arts (2014). At Geidai, Kubo made the films Kicking Rocks (石けり/Ishikeri, 2013) and 00:08 (2014). Check out his
website or follow him on twitter
to learn more.
"Kojiki" Girl Hyugaji Travelogue
(古事記ガール 日向路を旅する,
59 min., 2013)
Reporter:
Tomoka Kurotani
Original
airdates:
- Saturday,
March 16th, 11:00 - 11:59 am, NHK BS Premium
- Sunday,
March 24th, 10:05 - 11:04 am, NHK World Premium
- NHK on
Demand
Animation Cast and Crew:
Narration:
Isamu Akashi, Fukiko Endo
Music: Koji
Ueno
Sound
Design: Koji Kasamatsu
Animation: Atsushi
Makino (Eallin Japan), Yutaro
Kubo
Script, Animation,
Direction: Koji Yamamura
English
subtitles: Dean Shimauchi (Rosemary
Dean and Tetsuro Shimauchi)
Production: NHK Enterprise
French title: Récit des temps anciens :
épisodes de Hyûga
Festival
edition（12’07”, 2013）
© 2013 Koji Yamamura / NHK Enterprises
The Hyuga episode of Kojiki will screen
at Nippon Connection 2014 as
part of the Koji
Yamamura Retrospective.
