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A Core Topic of Modern Japan. Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Kamishibai, literally “paper theater” in Japanese, is a form of storytelling that combines a set of standard-size illustrated paper cards paired with a scripted performance by a narrator.
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Kaoru (Kay) Ueda. Kaoru (Kay) Ueda is the curator of the...
- Collection Highlights
Kamishibai. Kamishibai are Japanese paper plays that gained...
- Digital Stories
A look into the adaptation of the popular Kamishibai (paper...
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- Hira-E: The New Kamishibai
- Published Educational Kamishibai
- Kokusaku (Government Policy) Kamishibai
- Post-War Kamishibai
- The Globalization of Kamishibai
Because of their often sensationalistic content, street performances of all kinds were subject to frequent bans by the authorities, and kamishibai was no exception. In 1929, when tachi-e was undergoing a ban, three street performers in Tokyo (Takahashi Seizō, Gotō Terakura, and Tanaka Jirō) put their heads together to develop a new form of picture-...
In the early 1930s, Japan was suffering from a world-wide depression that sent the unemployed from all walks of life into the streets. With few other options, many became gaitō kamishibai performers. The new hira-estyle of kamishibai did not require extensive training, and almost anyone with a bicycle, a stage, and a voice could set up in the trade...
Without this increase in publishers of educational kamishibai, it is unlikely that Japan’s militaristic government would have called upon kamishibai to play such a pivotal role as a media for propaganda in the build up to World War II. By the beginning of World War II (1941-1945) and middle of the second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), published kam...
The use of kamishibai for propaganda during World War II made it an object of particular scrutiny when the war ended. General Douglas MacArthur and the Allied Powers were anxious to purge Japan of its former Imperialist ambitions, and kamishibai performers after the war had to get their stamp of approval. Nonetheless, people turned once again in dr...
Perhaps the biggest growth in interest in kamishibai as a format is happening outside Japan. Artists and kamishibai practitioners involved in the tezukuri kamishibai movement have actively been transporting kamishibai to countries throughout Asia and the middle-east to encourage local artists to create their own stories. Gaitō street performance ar...
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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).
Jun 28, 2018 · Meet kamishibai – from kami, meaning paper and shibai, meaning play or theatre – the ancient Japanese storytelling tool that many librarians, nursing-homes and schools use in several countries...
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.
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).
During the early 20th century, picture storytelling, then known as kamishibai became a way to escape from the hardships of war and economic depression. A kamishibai storyteller would typically ride on a bicycle from town to town and tell stories using picture cards in a small theater on his bicycle.
