Yasuji Murata

A rare glimpse of early Japanese sound anime and prewar Japanese culture, The Roots of Japanese Anime features the masterworks of such pioneers of Japanese animation as Noburo Ofuji, Yasuji Murata, and Kenzo Masaoka, in addition to Mitsuyo Seo’s Momotaro’s Sea Eagle, the notorious war cartoon billed as Japan’s first feature anime. These movies represent the brilliance and variety of anime, ranging from beautiful Japanese paper animation to powerful multiplane cel cartoons. They also evoke the fascinating complexity of Japan, a nation that is then both marching towards war, enlisting kids in militarist nationalism, yet also delighting in a mixture of modern popular culture, ancient folk tales, irreverent comedy, and the everyday life of prewar Japanese children.

An unemployed man picks up a flyer which happens to be a notice asking for investors to put up capital for raising a sunken ship. The sum is 10 yen each. To the man, who cannot even scrape together enough money to buy a 10-sen shochu (cheap distilled spirits), this notice seems to be completely beyond his realm. That evening, the man passes by a bar and is enticed inside where he drinks himself to sleep. When he comes to, he realizes that he is at the bottom of the sea. The man meets a samurai who is suspicious of him at first, but when he realizes that the man is Japanese, they cooperate to hunt for treasure. Almost immediately, they come upon the sunken ship of Mononai-go. What will become of them?

When a poor, yet honest, man rescues an old man who has fallen off a log bridge, the little people of the forest give him a "Mortar of Treasures" that will grant any item that a person desires. The man uses the mortar to become the richest person in the village. But the man's greedy brother steals the mortar and, determined to enjoy all the luxuries by himself, climbs into a rowing boat and heads for an isolated island. On the way, however, he asks for salt from the mortar, but then cannot figure out how to stop it. Finally, the boat sinks under the weight of all the salt, and the mortar sinks to the bottom of the sea where it is pouring out salt to this day.

When a young princess is kidnapped by an evil toad, her salvation is in the hands of a brave villager.

Norakuro is now a corporal. On his day off-duty, he goes to eat chicken on the stick. On his way home, he falls into a slumber and dreams of fighting with the Monkey Corps, his enemy.

Kintaro, gentle and strong, is popular in the forest. He eventually becomes a great samurai with the name Sakata no Kintoki.

Short animated film by Yasuji Murata

Norakuro keeps getting his allies and enemies mixed up during training.

The Larks' Moving Day. Early Japanese animation.

Private 2nd Class Norakuro is having the training for recruits, but makes so many mistakes.

This early Japanese animation opens with a festival of sorts...

A picture-story showman is reading a story about a troublemaking tanuki on the street to children. A starving tanuki with nowhere to go plots to steal offerings from Mangokuzan Temple, which has a lot of offerings. The raccoon sneaks into the temple. While he is eating bean-paste buns, a child bonze comes. So, the tanuki turns himself into a statue of Buddha. A shortened and revised version of The "Enchanted Kettle". According to The History of Japanese Animation written by Katsunori Yamaguchi and Yasushi Watanabe, the picture-story scene at the beginning of the film and the scene of the raccoon dog dancing at the end were added in this version.

A family of mice dance to entertain a cat that disrupted their festivities after returning home early. (Source: MyAnimeList.net)

An adaptation of the The Ugly Duckling.

Documentary on the development on trains, with animated sequences.

Documentary on the development on trains, with animated sequences.

A early Japanese animation short.

Sports Day at Animal Village. Japanese animation short.

The lazy Tompei is still asleep past 10 o'clock and even at 11 o'clock. He finally wakes up at 12 o'clock at the deafening sound of the angry clock. Hungry, Tompei walks to Sarukichi's house and grabs food Sarukichi has harvested. The next day, while Sarukichi is working in the hills, Tompei beats Sarukichi's two children who are staying at home and tries to steal things from Sarukichi's house. Sarukichi, who is alerted of the situation via telephone from his children races home, is infuriated at the cruel Tompei and punches him so hard he falls down.

Two girls were watching a street performer. The girls sang out loud and the performer brought them up front so that they could sing for the audience. (Source: MyAnimeList.net)

Haru is a Japanese word that means spring (season). A lighthearted anime about spring time. It was originally set to an elementary school song. The film features several vignettes.

Very early animated short from Japan featuring a cast of anthropomorphic animals.

A group of animals want to end the violence of the wolf.

When copper wire is wrapped around an iron rod and connected to a battery, it becomes an electromagnet. A science teaching material movie that explains the principle and structure of electric bells and telephones by applying the principle of an electromagnet through a fusion of live action and animation.

During the late Kamakura period, there lived a famous swordsmith known as Masamune whose renown as a swordsmith was so great that even long after his passing the term “Masamune” was used to describe any fine sword. Even today, the Masamune Prize is awarded to swordsmiths of outstanding skills in their craft. In Yasuji Murata’s cutout animation The Monkey Masamune a humble messenger is rewarded with the gift of a Masamune sword when he saves the life of a monkey and her child.

Once upon a time, the birds and the beasts fought each other in a war. It was a terrible conflict, and the clever bats would side with the birds when the birds were looking victorious, and then they would become allies of the beasts when that side was winning battles. At last the war came to an end, the two parties reached an amicable settlement, and a great party of friendship was held. But when it came to the turn of the bats to perform in the program, their fence-straddling tactics were exposed, and everyone refused to associate with them. Since that time, the bats have been too ashamed to show their faces during the day, coming out only at night to flit silently around.

A man and his young son travel through the countryside to take their donkey to a horse auction. Unfortunately every person they pass has a different opinion on how this should be accomplished, leading to disastrous results when the dim-witted father abandons common sense in an attempt to please everyone.

oira no ski

A baseball game between the rabbits and tanuki (raccoon dogs).

A train conductor goes about his duty. All the characters are animals in human form. Hippo ladies in dresses try to jam into cars and other passengers pull jokes and cause havoc.

A train conductor goes about his duty. All the characters are animals in human form. Hippo ladies in dresses try to jam into cars and other passengers pull jokes and cause havoc.

An adaptation of Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper but with a slight change. We have a diligent family ants versus a drunken lazy frog, a bourgeois butterfly and grasshopper couple. As winter comes, the frog, butterfly, and grasshopper are ill and starving.

An old man with a huge lump on his face encounters a band of Tengu in the mountains.

Adaptation of Japanese fairy tale Hanasaka Jiisan.

A group of animals take part in Olympic sports.

The story is based on the traditional, Japanese myth of Urashima Taro; in which a fisherman is transported from the seashore into a fantastic underwater world on the back of a giant turtle.

A Yasuji Murata version of the classic Japanese story Saru Kani Gassen.