was a pioneering

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

who helped develop the art of

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

in Japan. Studying the animation techniques of Sanae Yamamoto, Murata produced dozens of mostly

educational Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...

films at the Yokohama Cinema studio featuring such characters as

Momotarō is a Folk hero, popular hero of Japanese folklore. His name is often translated as ''Peach Boy'', but is directly translated as ''Peach + Tarō (given name), Tarō'', a common Japanese given name. ''Momotarō'' is also the title of various books, ...

and

Norakuro is a Japanese manga series created by Suihō Tagawa, originally published by Kodansha in '' Shōnen Kurabu'', and one of the first series' to be reprinted in tankōbon format. The titular protagonist, Norakuro, or Norakuro-'' kun'', i ...

. Along with

Noburō Ōfuji was a Japanese film director and animator. One of the most notable auteurs of anime (one of the industry's most prestigious awards, the Mainichi Film Awards' Ōfuji Noburō Award, is named after him), he worked primarily with cutout and silho ...

, he was renowned as a master of

cutout animation Cutout animation is a form of stop-motion animation using flat characters, props and backgrounds cut from materials such as paper, card, stiff fabric or photographs. The props would be cut out and used as puppets for stop motion. The world's ea ...

.Official booklet, ''The Roots of Japanese Anime'', DVD, Zakka Films, 2009. Among his students were such animators as Yoshitarō Kataoka.

Selected filmography

*'' Dōbutsu Orinpikku taikai'', 1928 nimal Olympics*''Tarō-san no kisha'', 1929 aro's Train*''Saru Masamune'', 1930 he Monkey Masamune*''Oira no yakyū'', 1930 *''Sora no Momotarō'', 1931 *''Norakuro gochō'', 1934

References

External links

* * 1896 births 1966 deaths Japanese film directors Japanese animators Silent film directors Articles containing video clips {{animator-stub