Yokohama Tale (ヨコハマテイル, 2011)

This animated short is an homage to the port of Yokohama by three artists who love the city: the stop motion animator Yūichi Itō (I.TOON), the photographer Hideo Mori (amano studio), and the composer Miyuki Onitake (onitake).  The film consists of three vignettes: “Chat”, “Once Upon a Time in Red Brick Warehouse”, and “The White Seamew”.

“Chat”

With his animated short Harbor Tale (2011), Yūichi Itō brought the buildings of Yokohama to life with his unique mixture of stop motion and computer animation, a technique he dubs Neo Craft Animation.  This follow-up film features the star of Harbor Tale, Mr. Brick, and some of Yokohama’s most famous architectural landmarks.  The Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse (横浜赤レンガ倉庫) historical landmark site is comprised of two red brick warehouses built in 1911 and 1913.  In this first vignette, Mr. Brick watches as the two warehouse anthropomorphise, with windows for eyes, and greet each other. 

“Once Upon a Time in Red Brick Warehouse”

This vignette opens with an aerial shot of the pier with the red brick warehouses.  As in Harbor Tale, the ships in the harbour anthropomorphise and greet each other as the pass by.  A red brick motif acts as a break between short montages of Mori’s photographs of Yokohama.  Itō’s animation adds surreal touches to the urban seaside landscape such as a shipping container who opens his eyes to look at a passerby and a fish that flies through a rainy sky.  Onitake’s jaunty music keeps the atmosphere light and playful.  Mr. Brick runs through the puddles outside Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse past “K”LINE shipping containers, and inside the warehouse buildings. 

“The White Seamew”

Seamew (also spelled sea mew) is another name for the common gull or mew gull – what the Japanese call kamome.  In Harbor Tale, such a gull played an important role in rescuing Mr. Brick from a precarious situation.   This vignette opens with a wide shot of Yokohama Marine Tower (横浜マリンタワー).  As a gull flies towards the tower, the tower comes to life.  A flock of gulls flies by the tower, transforming from clay figures into white, transparent shapes.    A lone gull flies over the cityscape of Yokohama and them through beautiful photographs by Mori of the harbourfront area.  Onitake’s lyrical music combined with the repeated close up on the “face” of the anthropomorphised Yokohama Marine Tower suggest that this is the tower’s dreamy, romantic vision his surroundings.  Fireworks appear in the skyline and the film ends with a beautiful shot of Yokohama at night.

The screening of this film at Nippon Connection 2015 was sponsored by the Yokohama City Frankfurt Representative Office, with additional support from the Department of International Affairs of the City of Frankfurt, JFE Engineering Europe GmbH and the ramen restaurant Muku in Frankfurt.

2015 Cathy Munroe Hotes

Japan in Germany 13: Eine Fotoreise durch das alte Japan (1985)

Eine Fotoreise durch das alte Japan (A Photographic Journey through Old Japan) was published by Harenberg in 1985.  The author, Ludwig Hoerner (b. 1919), claims that the photographs were taken by an unknown European traveller to Japan in the late 19^th century.  The 70 hand-tinted black and white photographs are from the author’s own collection and from the Niedersächsische Landesbibliothek (the public library of Lower Saxony), known today as the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek (GWLB) after the 17^th century polymath and philosopher whose manuscripts and correspondence are held in their archive.  Ingrid Siegmund-Rux wrote an afterword to the book that provides readers with the historical context of the rapid modernisation of Japan during the Meiji Era.

Hoerner is an autodidactic researcher and author with a passion for 19^th century photography: both the photographs themselves and the history of the photographic industry.  He has published a number of books on the subject, most notably Das photographische Gewerbe in Deutschland 1839–1914 (The Photographic Industry in Germany, 1839-1914, GFW-Verlag, 1989).  At the time of the book’s publication, Ingrid Siegmund-Rux appears to have been a librarian.  I have found little biographical information about her online apart from the minutes of the European Association of Sinological Librarians annual conference in 1986, which lists her as representing the Universitätsbibliothek und Technische Informationsbibliothek  Hannover (German National Library of Science and Technology / University Library Hannover).  

Most of the photographs in this collection were taken in and around Tokyo and Yokohama including tourist destinations for Tokyoites such as Mt. Fuji, Nikko and Hakone.  There are a few images from Kansai (Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Lake Biwa), as well as images of Nagoya, Nagasaki, and Tomioka (a ghost town today as it is the epicentre of the Fukushima Daichi nuclear disaster).  There are also a large number of posed photographs clearly designed to educate Europeans about the customs of Japan (tea ceremony, music and dance, ikebana, etc) and the occupations of people from all strata of Japanese society (silk traders, acrobats, a pipe-maker, sumo wrestlers, a shoemaker, a Buddhist priest, samurai, etc.).

Here are some of the highlights (clock on photos to view larger / as a slideshow):

Cover of one of Hoerner's photo albums

Yokohama/Mississippi Bay

Theatre in Yokohama

Tokyo

Hakone

Tomioka, Fukushima

Girls having a party - the author is amused by the girl in the middle with the bowler hat

travelling gardeners

This book is out of print and can be ordered from second hand bookstores.

2015 Cathy Munroe Hotes 

RongRong & Inri’s "Tsumari Story" at Mizuma Art Gallery

Mizuma Art Gallery (Ichigaya Tamachi)

June 11 (Wed.) - July 12 (Sat.) 2014/ 11:00-19:00

closed on Sun. Mon. and Holidays

Opening this evening, Mizuma Art Gallery is presenting a solo exhibition of the Chinese-Japanese artistic team RongRong & Inri (荣荣和映里). 

RongRong (b. 1968) is a Chinese photographer from Fujian Province who made a name for himself in the 1990s for his portraits of life in the East Village of Beijing.  Inri (b. 1973), who is from Kanagawa, began her career as a portrait photographer for a Japanese newspaper before pursuing an independent career starting in 1997.  Since meeting in 2000, this husband and wife team have become known for their collaborations together. 

RongRong & Inri are based in Beijing but have exhibited their work together worldwide. In 2007, they established the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in Beijing’s Caochangdi District - the first private art centre in China dedicated to photography. They continue to be at the centre of Beijing’s photographic art world.  For example, since 2010 they have been organizers of the Caochangdi PhotoSpring Festival in collaboration with Arles International Photography Festival in Southern France. In recent years they have also held numerous exhibitions in Japan: they held a solo show at Shiseido Gallery (2011), participated in the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (2012), and their works have also been acclaimed as part of last years ‘LOVE’ exhibition at the Mori Art Museum and in the collection exhibition of Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.

This exhibition will revisit work shown in 2012 at Echigo-Tsumari, with the addition of new pieces created this year. In Tsumari Story they will use experimental forms of prints to exhibit their work. If one compares the location of Tsumari in Niigata Prefecture, adjacent to the Sea of Japan, this is a region markedly different to the Pacific Ocean side of the country. Perhaps because its transport network was comparatively late to upgrade, it has somewhat escaped the homogenization effected by globalization. Even today, the unique characteristics of its culture remain prominent. During its long winters, large volumes of white snow may totally cut off road access. There, time flows according to its own rhythm, allowing for the creation of unique stories.

It has been suggested that the origin of the name of this mountainous region of Niigata lies in the phrase “dontzumari” (meaning ‘dead end’, or ‘impasse’), which takes it beyond a place name to being an aspect of Japanese culture - or possibly a symbol for the whole of Japan, existing as a chain of islands surrounded by the sea. “It is only once you have escaped everything and you reach the final impasse, that you find the love you were searching for”: this artwork was created in a place in which such folklore as this remains.  As such, in today’s ever-shrinking world of increasing homogenization, perhaps this work bears the power to leave behind a unique and deep impression.

In the encounter of a man and woman and their children, RongRong & Inri’s photographs have at the centre of their creative process “the circle of life”.  Within their tales, perhaps we may feel a premonition of the future that is to come. In this age of growing awareness of the land on which we live, the Mizuma Art Gallery warmly invites you to view the exhibition of RongRong & Inri’s story.

This post is an edited version of a press release by Mizuma Art Gallery.  For more on Rong Rong & Inri see their profile on Art Speak China.

cmmhotes 2014

Ichi-gwankoku: The One-Eyed Country (一眼国, 2009)

Children watch the freak show.

The animator Ryo Hirano has a love of the grotesque and the absurd, from the yōkai manga of Shigeru Mizuki to the independent animation of Igor Kovalyov (see his interview with Public Image)  Hirano’s animated short Ichi-gwankoku (The One-Eyed Country, 2009) was inspired by the rakugo story of the same name Ichigankoku (一眼国 --- Hirano just chose a different Romanization method for the title). 

Rakugo (落語) is a traditional art of comic storytelling which dates back many centuries.  Many of the classic rakugo tales contain elements of the grotesque.  One well known example to fans of indie animation is Atama Yama (Mt. Head), which Kōji Yamamura adapted in 2002 and tells the tale of a stingy man who has a cherry tree grow out of his head. In the popular story Ichigankoku, the owner of a freak show hears from a travelling priest about the existence of a country of one-eyed people.  He sets out immediately for this land in the hope of capturing a one-eyed child to bring back and use in his show.  However, the tables are turned against him when he comes to the land of one-eyed people, for he himself is captured because he has two-eyeds and is caged and put on display as a freak himself.

Hirano captures the absurdity of the story right from the get-go with a one-eyed chicken who is almost run over by the freak show vehicle and the stampede of children that follow in its wake.  The caged two-eyed man is humiliated even further in his cage because he is naked and shivering.  Not only do the one-eyed children stare at the man in shock, but they also cruelly throw things at him and laugh at his plight.  In a further act of violence, the freak show owner whips the naked man

Collage of drawn and photographic elements

In contrast to this dark, violent scene, a priest and a caged tanuki are sleeping at a roadside shrine.  The tanuki –creatures famed for their powers of transformation – delightedly captures a falling ginkgo leaf and uses his magic to escape from the cage.  From his covered cage, the two-eyed man peaks through a crack in the curtain to observe the one-eyed world around him and spots the tanuki walking by with a leaf on his forehead.   

The man’s view abruptly comes to an end when he is further abused by passersby.  He is knocked unconscious by a can to the head and has a vision of a terrifying giant three-eyed creature.  He runs from this giant but is easily captured and the giant pulls one of his eyes out of its socket.  When the man awakes, he discovers that he now has only one eye.  His eye, with an odd tail wiggling like a fish out of water, stares at him from the other side of his cage.  He tries to capture the eye, but it escapes.  He looks out the window and sees the tanuki with the gingko leaf has captured his wayward eye on stick and is licking it like a lollypop.  The poor naked man sits in disbelief at his fate, scratching his head.

A mix of European and Japanese cultural influences - but they somehow seem to fit this strange land.

If it weren’t for the Japanese elements to this story (tanuki, the Jizō bodhisattva statues, etc.), I might have thought it was by an Eastern European animator because of the look and feel of the piece.  What really makes Hirano’s work stand out from other young animators is his fearless use of collage and mixed media.  Photographic images are layered with drawn images in unexpected and interesting ways. 

Whereas the original rakugo story is amusing because of the irony of the fate of the freak show owner, Hirano shows a different side to the story that shows the value of the story to modern audiences.  We as an audience can scratch our own heads along with the old man and wonder if it is better to be one-eyed and fit in with the others or to remain oneself in the face of violence and cruelty. 

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2012

Watch the film for yourself on Hirano's official Youtube channel.

Learn more about Ryo Hirano on his official website.

Filmography

2007  udara udara (うだらうだら)

2008  Future Man (蟻人間物語/Ari Ningen Monogatari)

2008  Midnight Zoo (深夜動物園/Shinya Dōbutsuen)

2009  music video orchestra (collaborative work for Omodaka)

2009  The Kappa’s Arms (河童の腕/Kappa no Ude)

2009  Ichigwankoku / One-Eyed Country (一眼国/Ichigankoku)

2009  Guitar (ギター)

2010  Kensaku Shōnen (検索少年, Tabito Nanao music video)

2011  Hietsuki Bushi (ひえつき節/Omodaka music video)

2011  Space Shower TV Station ID

2011  Holiday (ホリデイ)

Norihito Iki’s Kaidan (怪談, 2003)

It is the height of a Japanese summer in Norihito Iki's animated short Kaidan.  The time of year when the cicadas are singing their song.  A young girl is kneeling over the remains of a frog, lamenting its death. As she peers down at the frog, one of her own eyes transforms into the dead eye of the frog. She goes to pay her respects at a Shinto shrine, where an image of the frog appears in the shrine’s divine mirror (yata no kagami / 八咫鏡). This startles the girl, who runs through the countryside with images of a fish, an eel, and the frog appearing like ghosts in the landscape.

The girl returns to her home, where the sound of the frog’s song seems to haunt her and she karate-kicks into the air as if to try to ward off the ghost of the frog. “Atsui,” she exclaims as the summer heat overwhelms her and she gets something to drink in the fridge. The frog’s ghost teases her, first appearing to slide out of the crack between the refrigerator doors, then hopping out of the table as if it were a pond surface. The frog ghost then drops onto her back like a heavy blanket.

The spirit of the frog seems to enter the girl and the film ends with a photograph of a real girl’s face with a frog eye – suggesting that this tale may have been the experience of a real girl. The image dissolves into an animation of the frog, singing with the girl’s voice: “Kaeru. . . kaeru. . . kaeru. . .”

The conceit behind this animation is the double meaning of the word “kaeru” in Japanese. As a noun kaeru (カエル/蛙) means frog, but as a verb kaeru (かえる/帰る) means to return / come back. On a simple level, one could interpret this as the girl’s desire for the return of her beloved frog. The use of the Shinto shrine, however, is no accident for the frog’s association with the idea of returning has meant that frogs are sold as good luck charms at many Shinto shrines as a symbol of the need to return to the hold place, or to give good fortune to the bearer.

As the girl herself appears so ghostly in Kaidan and the settings are devoid of other people, I wondered if the girl herself were a ghost looking for a way back to the land of the living. The title Kaidan is usually used in Japanese to refer to ancient ghost stories, such as those translated to English by Lafcadio Hearn under the title Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things.  The kaidan that I have read or seen in films (ie Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan or Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugestu) are best described weird and wonderful - and Iki's animation certainly meets both of these criteria.

The unique look of the film is created by overlaying the animation onto black and white photographs. For the landscape scenes, Iki has found wonderful locations on which to draw the ghostly forms of animals. The dark interiors of a Japanese-style house are naturally very suited to a ghost story and Iki uses this to his advantage. This film charmed me from the first moment I saw it because of its playful mixture of photographic (fish eye lens / playing with exposures), experimental (rapid montage/flickering), and animation techniques both old and new.

Order Thinking and Drawing Now

I first saw this film when I acquired Image Forum’s Thinking and Drawing: Japanese Art Animation of the New Millennium in January 2007 (read my review at Midnight Eye) and it has haunted me (in a pleasant way) ever since.  In addition to animation, Norihito Iki – a graduate of Musashino and Tamabi – is a professional photographer. Check out his official website or his new Facebook page to learn more about him and see samples of his recent work.

Music: Atsuko Sato

Voice acting: Momoka Fujita

Created and Directed by: Norihito Iki

text © Catherine Munroe Hotes 2011