Youji Kuri

Dog leavings become a growing problem for Tokyo and its residents.

A series of 16 "short stories" created by the creator's group Images Forum.

Winter Days is a 2003 animated film, directed by Kihachirō Kawamoto. It is based on one of the renku (collaborative linked poems) in the 1684 collection of the same name by the 17th-century Japanese poet Bashō. The creation of the film followed the traditional collaborative nature of the source material – the visuals for each of the 36 stanzas were independently created by 35 different animators. As well as many Japanese animators, Kawamoto assembled leading names of animation from across the world. Each animator was asked to contribute at least 30 seconds to illustrate their stanza, and most of the sequences are under a minute (Yuriy Norshteyn's, though, is nearly two minutes long).

Short animation by Yoji Kuri

Short animation by Yoji Kuri

A series of mini-stories satirising our world in the 20th Century.

The train just runs. A collage of various images, including cel animation and drawing, animates smoke emitted from trains. The title comes from both the sound of a passing train and Pop Art (Yōji Kuri).

The train just runs. A collage of various images, including cel animation and drawing, animates smoke emitted from trains. The title comes from both the sound of a passing train and Pop Art (Yōji Kuri).

An interview with artist Ushio Shinohara.

A work that incorporates live-action fast-forwarding, live-action stop-motion animation, and a few cel animations. A number of strange events that occur in a room. I left the camera in the empty room after moving and took a month to shoot.

A night when parasites of various green forms devour humans. A cruel food chain that never ceases, and an eternal repetition of life and death. A grotesque and strange parable drawn by Yoji Kuri. Isao Tomita's synthesizer music echoes quietly and eerily.

A work in which Yoji Kuri added animation to Toshi Ichiyanagi's music. CG is used, which is rare in Yoji Kuri's work. In addition, detailed furniture such as those drawn in copperplate prints and illustrations of unknown machines are used to create a Gothic atmosphere.

An absurd film by Kuri Youji.

A man is continually stalked by a small woman named Kemoko who is utterly in love with him.

Remake of the 1960 film with the same name in color that tells the story of a man and a woman who go by raft to a remote desert island with chickens and a dog. At first, it is a kind of paradise for them. They farm and fish following the same routine every day, feasting on grilled sanma that they roast out in the open. One day, their harmony gets interrupted by a mustachioed scientist on a raft powered by an abused pig. This unwanted visitor constructs a robot which begins the process of industrialization on the island. The couple are disgruntled but decide to put up with the man and his technology.

A small white box. Everything happens in that little world. A woman's face comes out from the side of the room and roars, birds peck at human flesh, trains run through, and a couple quarrel begins. When the billiard ball penetrates the room, the billiard ball changes into various shapes ... Each room is a world, and what happens there is a microcosm of modern times.

The original version is monochrome, but in 1967 it was remade in color as an international version. In the international version, the first and twelfth episodes and the fake commercials have been omitted.

A short film by Kuri Youji. A man plants a flower and waits for it to bear fruit...

A night in the life of an apartment building features interesting occurrences, as seen through its lit windows.

Satire on those who interrupt other peoples' peace and quiet.

Short experimental animation film from 1966 from pioneer Kuri Yoji. A series of shorts pointing out the various ways that people meet their death through their own stupidity. The original monochrome version.

Short animated film by Yoji Kuri

A short experimental anime about a woman desperately in love. Made by Yoji Kuri, a well-known Japanese indie animator.

An abstract animation about people and organs of the body in and out of drawers.

Interesting conceptual film where people of various ages and professions are asked to sit on a chair for 15 minutes with nothing to do. We see how bored and uneasy modern people start to feel when wasting time.

Short animated film by Kuri Youji.

Short animated film by Yoji Kuri.

A montage of scenes that describe how people can be as bad as animals.

A montage of scenes that describe how people can be as bad as animals.

Along with graphic designer / ad-man Ryohei Yanagihara (柳原良平) and renowned book cover designer Hiroshi Manabe (真鍋博), Kuri formed the Animation Sannin no Kai (Animation Group of Three) in 1960. In doing so the three animators followed the footsteps of the 1950s Sannin no Kai composers (Yasushi Akutagawa, Ikuma Dan & Toshiro Mayuzumi) who banded together to stage performances of their avant-garde style of music. The Animation Group of Three showcased their work at three events: November 1960, December 1962, and April 1963. After 1964 this event expanded into a wider Animation Festival, that annually showcased the experimental fare of such artists as Taku Furukawa, Sadao Tsukioka, Goro Sugimoto, Keiichi Tanaami, and even Osamu Tezuka until 1971. Stamp Fantasy was introduced at the first Animation Group of Three screening on November 26, 1960 in the Sogetsu Art Center.

Here and There (1961) fuses live-action and animation and was screened at Three-Person Animation 2. Musique concrète and electronic sounds made by modulating everyday noises such as flush toilets are interspersed throughout the work. Contrasts between opposites, as encapsulated by the title – between live-action space and animated space, between mundane sounds of daily life and bizarre noises – and the war between the sexes, a signature theme in Yōji Kuri’s work, are also palpable in the juxtaposition of musique concrète and scat singing. (CJC).

The original black and white version that tells the story of a man and a woman who go by raft to a remote desert island with chickens and a dog. At first, it is a kind of paradise for them. They farm and fish following the same routine every day, feasting on grilled sanma that they roast out in the open. One day, their harmony gets interrupted by a mustachioed scientist on a raft powered by an abused pig. This unwanted visitor constructs a robot which begins the process of industrialization on the island. The couple are disgruntled but decide to put up with the man and his technology.

Experimental anime from animation pioneer Yoji Kuri from 1960.

An interview with artist Shūsaku Arakawa.