Japanese Animated Film Classics / 日本アニメーション映画クラシックス

Japanese Animated Film Classics / 日本アニメーション映画クラシックス

http://animation.filmarchives.jp

The National Film Center in Tokyo is celebrating the centenary of Japanese animation this year.  While the exact date that the first animation was made in Japan is uncertain as many people were experimenting privately with cinematic technology in the early years, 1917 is the year that the first commercially produced Japanese animated films were publicly screened.  This included short works by Ōten SHIMOKAWA (下川凹天, 1892-1973), Seitarō KITAYAMA (北山清太郎, 1888-1945), and Jun’ichi KŌUCHI (幸内純一, 1886-1970).

Thanks to funding from Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs as part of the National Project for the Sustainability of Born-Digital Cinema, the NFC has selected 64 works released between 1917 and 1941 and made them available for screening online complete with fresh subtitles by Dean Shimauchi (Rosemary Dean and Tetsuro Shimauchi).  Other subtitling was done by Masa Yoshikawa (Burglars of Baghdad Castle, Nonsense Story) and Ayako Kawakita and Tim Olive (The Nation of Fish, A Wolf is a Wolf, Rascal Raccoon).   and Many of these works have never before been available on DVD with English subtitles, let alone in a digital online format. Several films, particularly the abstract works of Shigeji Ogino, have no titles.

The most exciting of these are the two earliest extant anime The Dull Sword (Namakura Gatana, 1917) and Urashima Tarō (1918) – films which were considered lost until copies were miraculously discovered in an antique shop in Osaka in 2008.  As the vast majority of pre-war films have been lost due to natural disaster, war, and general neglect, each of these 64 films is an important glimpse into early anime history and early 20^th century Japanese culture.  They represent a wide variety of genres including slapstick comedy, record talkies, documentary, propaganda, and experimental. 

As these films were made for the domestic market, they do not have official international titles.  Several titles have been translated in various ways over the years.  I have left the English titles as posted by the NFC.  On the Japanese Animation Filmography Project, I list alternate titles.  Some of the animations are of completely unknown origin as the films do not have credits.  Very little is known about the animator Hakusan Kimura apart from his films. 

The website information is currently mainly in Japanese only, but the NFC assures us that they are working on an English version that they hope will be available sometime in the next two months.  In the meantime, to help you negotiate the website, I have created links to the profiles of animators and a chronological list of the 64 films.  This is by no means all of the extant pre-war Japanese animation works, but it is a tremendous start and I hope that the NFC will be able to extend this project in the coming years. 

The website features profiles of the following early anime pioneers:

Ikuo OISHI (大石郁雄, 1902-1944), 1 film available

Shegeji OGINO (荻野茂二, 1899-1991), 7 films available

Hakusan KIMURA (木村白山, ????-19??), 2 films available

Mitsuyo SEO (瀬尾光世, 1911-2010), 4 films available

Yasuji MURATA (村田安司, 1898-1966), 23 films available

Noburō ŌFUJI (大藤信郎, 1900-1961), 11 films available

Seitarō KITAYAMA (北山清太郎, 1888-1945), 1 film available

Jun’ichi KŌUCHI (幸内純一, 1886-1970), 2 films available

Kenzō MASAOKA (政岡憲三, 1898-1988), 2 films available

Sanae YAMAMOTO (山本早苗, 1898-1981), 9 films available

In addition, the website features an extensive virtual exhibition of the career of Ōfuji, who was one of the first Japanese animators to achieve international recognition.

 

The available films in order of release are:

1917 The Dull Sword / なまくら刀 / Jun’ichi KOUCHI

1918 Urashima Taro / 浦島太郎 / Seitarō KITAYAMA

1924 The Hare and the Tortoise / 教育お伽漫画　兎と亀 / Sanae YAMAMOTO

1925 Ubasuteyama / 教育線画 姨捨山 / Sanae YAMAMOTO

1925 The Pot / 線畫 つぼ / Sanae YAMAMOTO

1926 A Story of Tobacco / 煙り草物語 / Noburō ŌFUJI

1926 Burglars of “Baghdad” Castle / 馬具田城の盗賊 / Noburō ŌFUJI

1926 The Story of the Monkey King / 切紙細工 西遊記 孫悟空物語 / Noburō ŌFUJI

1926 Film Address "Ethicization of Politics" by Shinpei Goto, 1926 / 映画演説 政治の倫理化 後藤新平 1926 / Jun’ichi KOUCHI

1926 Diseases Spread / 病毒の伝播 / Sanae YAMAMOTO

1927 A Ship of Oranges / みかん舩 / Noburō ŌFUJI

1927 Monkey and the Crabs / 猿蟹合戰 / Yasuji MURATA

1928 The Nation of Fish / 漫畫 魚の國 / Hakusan KIMURA

1928 The Blossom Man / 漫画 花咲爺 / Yasuji MURATA

1928 The Animal Olympics / 動物オリムピック大會 / Yasuji MURATA

1928 Momotaro, Japan's No.1 / お伽噺 日本一 桃太郎 / Sanae YAMAMOTO

1929 The Golden Flower / こがねの花 / Noburō ŌFUJI

1929 Taro’s Train / 太郎さんの汽車 / Yasuji MURATA (review)

1929 Two Worlds / 漫画 二つの世界 / Yasuji MURATA

1929 The Lump / 漫画 瘤取り / Yasuji MURATA

1930 At the Border Checkpoint / お関所 / Noburō ŌFUJI

1930 Nonsense Story, Vol.1: Monkey Island / 難船ス物語 第壱篇 猿ヶ嶋 / Kenzō MASAOKA

1930 My Ski Trip / 漫画 おい等のスキー / Yasuji MURATA

1930 The Donkey / 漫画 驢馬 / Yasuji MURATA

1931 National Anthem, Kimigayo / 國歌 君か代 / Noburō ŌFUJI (review)

1931 Spring Song / 春の唄 / Noburō ŌFUJI (review)

1931 Will Power / 心の力 / Noburō ŌFUJI

1931 Electrical Telegraphy, Electric Bells and Telephones / 電信 電鈴 電話 / Yasuji MURATA

1931 Animated Revue "Spring" / 漫画レビュー 春 / Yasuji MURATA

1931 A Wolf is a Wolf / 漫画 狼は狼だ / Yasuji MURATA

1931 Momotaro in the Sky / 漫画 空の桃太郎 / Yasuji MURATA

1931 At the Circus / 漫画 見世物見物 / Yasuji MURATA

1931 Old Man Goichi / 五一ぢいさん / Sanae YAMAMOTO

1931 The Candy Man’s Raccoon Dog Dance / 漫画 あめやたぬき / unknown

1932 Detective Felix in Trouble / FELIXノ迷探偵 / Shigeji OGINO

1932 ?/Rhythmic Triangles/Fighting Cards / ? 三角のリズム トランプの爭 / Shigeji OGINO

1932 Momotaro Under the Sea / 海の桃太郎/ Yasuji MURATA

1932 Tonpei and Sarukichi / 漫画 豚平と猿吉 / Yasuji MURATA

1932 Sports Day / 体育デー / Yasuji MURATA

1932 The Ugly Duckling / あひるの子/ Yasuji MURATA

1932 The Development of the Train / 汽車の發達 / Yasuji MURATA

1932 The Cat Purr Dance / ニヤゴダンス/ Yasuji MURATA                                          

1932 The Bear Brothers / 兄弟こぐま / Sanae YAMAMOTO

1932 Armies of the World / 漫画の列国陸軍 / unknown

1933 The Three Fearless Frogs / 蛙三勇士 / Noburō ŌFUJI

1933 A Day after a Hundred Years / 百年後の或る日 / Shigeji OGINO

1933 Yoshichiro Salutes / まんが劇 與七郎の敬禮 / Hakusan KIMURA

1933 Rascal Racoon / 漫画 紙芝居 いたづら狸の卷 / Yasuji MURATA

1933 Private Norakuro in Boot Camp / Private Norakuro in Training / のらくろ二等兵 教練の卷 / のらくろ二等兵 演習の卷 / Yasuji MURATA

1933 Preventing Tuberculosis / 結核豫防 / unknown

1934 Spring Comes to Ponsuke / ポン助の春 / Ikuo OISHI

1934 Sankichi and Osayo: A Genroku Romance / 元禄恋模様 三吉とおさよ / Mitsuyo SEO

1934 Corporal Norakuro / のらくろ伍長 / Yasuji MURATA

1934 Kamishibai Kintaro / 漫画 紙芝居 金太郎の卷 / Yasuji MURATA

1935 An Expression / AN EXPRESSION(表現) / Shigeji OGINO

1935 Rhythm / RHYTHM(リズム) / Shigeji OGINO

1935 Propagate / PROPAGATE(開花) / Shigeji OGINO

1935 The Hare in Inaba / いなばの国の兎さん / Mitsuyo SEO

1936 My Big Emergency / おいらの非常時 / Sanae YAMAMOTO

1937 The Making of a Color Animation / 色彩漫画の出來る迄 / Shigegi OGINO + Noburō ŌFUJI

1939 Monkey and Crabs / マングワ 新猿蟹合戰 / Kenzō MASAOKA

1940 The Quack Infantry Troop / あひる陸戰隊 / Mitsuyo SEO

1941 Ari-chan the Ant / アリチャン / Mitsuyo SEO

1941 The Lazy Fox / なまけぎつね / Sanae YAMAMOTO

Cathy Munroe Hotes 2017

Annecy 2016: P'tits Déj du court / Shorts & Breakfast - Ryo ORIKASA

“Yoshiro Ishihara (1915-1977) was a poet of silence. He said that a poem is an impulse to resist writing. This is an attempt to seek out a landscape from his poems.” – summary of Datum Point

Ryo Orikasa’s latest short film Datum Point (水準原点 / Suijungenten, 2015) competed in the short film competition at Annecy last week.  It was Orikasa’s first time being nominated for this prestigious competition, which was won last night by the French animator Franck Dion for his NFB co-production The Head Vanishes (Une tête disparaît, 2016).  Datum Point has received much acclaim in Japan, winning earlier this year the Ōfuji Noburō Award for 2015 at the Mainichi Film Awards in January, as well as the Terayama Shūji Award at the Image Forum Festival 2016.  Last month at Animafest Zagreb, Datum Point won the Golden Zagreb Award for creativity and innovative artistic achievement.

After getting a degree in Education from Ibaraki University in his native prefecture of Ibaraki, Orikasa (折笠良, b. 1986) was in the second graduating class of the MA program in animation at Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai) in 2011 where he made the project Scripta Volant (Writings Fly Away, 2011).  He currently lives and works in Montréal as part of the Fellowship Overseas Study Program for Artists by the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs. 

All of the filmmakers in the Annecy shorts competition are invited to a breakfast chat with the festival’s artistic director Marcel Jean called P'tits Déj du court (Shorts + Breakfast) to “talk about the genesis of their films” as well as “the development and the artistic and technical choices.”  Yamamura’s breakfast occurred Saturday, June 18^th.  Ilan Nguyen was on hand to interpret between French and Japanese for Orikasa.   

The following is an approximate English translation of the French / Japanese proceedings:

Jean:  I’d like to introduce the director of Datum Point, Ryo Orikasa.

           Good morning, Ryo.  Datum Point is your third film?

Orikasa: Yes

Jean:  In each of your films you use text.  Text is at the heart of things – written text, handwritten – is at the heart of your work.  I would love it if you could talk to us about this interest that you have in words, and also in graphic denotations.

Orikasa:  Before these text-based works, I had made works that were more orthodox: characters [people with a narrative] drawn on paper.  Even in those animated works, I had characters that would keep a diary or the main character would, for example, be a novelist.  So even in these early works, writing played a role and I soon came to realize I had an interest in expanding upon writing as a visual motif.  

Jean: You have created a film that is truly a performance of technique.  I saw your previous film, and I believe this is the first time you have used modelling clay.  [Datum Point] is a film that is extremely impressionistic in the manner in which you have created movement – these waves have an energy that has been created through the manipulation of the materials.  I’d like you to talk about your relationship to your medium in this film, because one has the impression when watching this film that one is watching a true performance and that this must have been very difficult to achieve.

Orikasa:  The production for this film lasted one year.  I did all of the manipulation of the material [the clay] myself by hand.  As to the selection of the plasticine, as you rightly point out this was my first time using this medium.  The film is based on a Japanese poem.  I was interested in this film in the idea of a resistance to writing, of a resistance to something physical.  In order to convey this motif of resisting the physical, in this case the physical act of writing, it seemed to me that the plasticity of clay could manifest this resistance to the physical more effectively than the act of writing on paper. 

Jean: Datum Point also had a very interesting and radical sound design.  Was the sound design created at the end of the animation process?

Orikasa:  The soundtrack was designed at the end of the animation process.   At first, I had a different concept for the sound in my head – a piece of music by a Japanese composer.  I was interested in the way the Japanese song expressed the idea of “the sea without water” which I felt suited my film exactly.  [The final soundtrack was composed by the Tokyo-based sound artist Shun Owada (大和田俊)].

Jean:  Are there any audience questions for Ryo Orikasa?

Audience member:  Fully stunning work.  .  .   I was talking with some other people – I’m from Germany – and they said it reminded them of [Buddhist] gardening very much, which was interesting for me to hear.  But I’m not sure, how would you approach this thinking?

Orikasa: Thank you for your question.  This was my first time to hear that someone has made this comparison.  It’s a very new idea for me.  I can only say that when I was making this film I was never conscious that such a correlation could be made, but I can see how one might make such a comparison.

Jean:  Thank you Ryo Orikasa and thank you Ilan Nguyen for the translation.