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Popular during the 1930s, Kamishibai storytellers would use illustrated boards placed inside a Kamishibai theater to tell a story. They would travel, sometimes on bikes, from place to place bringing their stories to people who would gather around to listen.
It became especially popular during the 1920s because of the growth of the silent film industry, which was actually narrated in Japan, and took on the characteristics of silent film dialogue and stage set aesthetics. Kamishibai became so popular that television was first called “electric kamishibai.”
Jun 14, 2023 · A traditional Japanese Storytelling art Kamishibai. 06/14/2023. Kamishibai means paper play in Japanese and is a traditional storytelling art that was popular during the 1930s and post-war period in Japan but is still performed today.
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What is kamishibai?
From the 1930s until the 1950s, kamishibai was the most popular form of entertainment for children, so much so that when television came to Japan in the 1950s, it was referred to as “denki kamishibai” (electric kamishibai).
During the 1930s, Ogon Batto (The Golden Bat) enjoyed phenomenal popularity. Resembling a caped Phantom of the Opera with a grimacing skeleton head and holding aloft a gold sword, the Golden Bat fought for peace and justice. His superhuman powers included the ability to fly through the air.
When first introduced to kamishibai, most Americans hear about the street-performance artists who typically sold candy or treats to crowds of children on busy urban street corners in Japan from the early 1930s until the 1950s when the arrival of television all but extinguished this unique form of popular culture.
Kamishibai may be best known today as one of the direct precursors of postwar manga and anime, 3 but over its forty-year heyday it enjoyed enormous popularity, at times eclipsing rival entertainment media for children such as movies or radio (in the 1930s and early 1940s) and manga (in the 1950s).
