Studio: Ofuji Noburo Production / Chiyogami Eigasha
Short Synopsis
The film is based on a legend about Kinokuniya Bunzaemon, a merchant of the Edo period who made his fortune by shipping oranges from the Kishu region to Edo when no one else dared to make the voyage. Plot documentation is limited and the surviving print is worn, so this summary combines the source legend with what can be seen in the film. The story takes place in a world of cut-out figures in Edo-period dress, set against patterned foliage. Horned oni, the demons of Japanese folklore, appear and confront a woman in a decorated kimono, and one demon is seen in a circular frame clutching a glowing round object, which may stand in for the fruit at the heart of the story. Exactly how the demons fit into the merchant's journey, and how the story ends, is not described in any source this book could check.
Why It Matters
- The textures are the attraction. Ofuji cut his figures and backgrounds from chiyogami, decorated Japanese paper, so leaves, kimonos and even the demons carry printed patterns, and the screen looks like a moving wood-block print rather than a cartoon.
- Noburo Ofuji is one of the founders of Japanese animation as an art form, and his chiyogami films are an important early example of a distinctly Japanese animated style. The Mainichi Film Awards' Ofuji Noburo Award, given since 1962, is named after him.
Notes and Trivia
- The surviving print carries the logo of Japan's National Film Center (now the National Film Archive of Japan), which preserves it.
- Ofuji called his company Chiyogami Eigasha, "Chiyogami Film Company", after the paper that defined his work.
- He later experimented with coloured cellophane silhouettes; his Kujira (The Whale, 1952) won recognition at Cannes.
- See also: The Dull Sword (1917).