was a Japanese
film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
and
animator
An animator is an artist who creates 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 games. Animat ...
. One of the most notable auteurs of
anime
is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
(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
silhouette animation. He also made a number of films in
traditional animation
Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawing, drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation of the 20th century, until there wa ...
, using then-expensive, imported
cels, while his earliest work known to have survived is a
live-action/animated film. He trained under
Jun'ichi Kōuchi before starting his own company. He is known for his employment of ''
washi
is traditional Japanese paper processed by hand using fibers from the inner bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub (''Edgeworthia chrysantha''), or the paper mulberry (''kōzo'') bush.
''Washi'' is generally tougher than ordinary ...
'', especially the coloured and patterned
Edo ''chiyogami'', which gives his films a distinctively Japanese appearance. He was one of the first Japanese animators to earn international recognition for his work.
Filmography
* ''Hanamizake'' (1924)
* ''Noroma no oyaji'' (1924)
*
Kemurigusa monogatari' (煙り草物語)
Story of Tobacco(1926)
*
Kirigami zaiku Saiyuki: Songoku monogatari' (切紙細工 西遊記 孫悟空物語)
he Story of the Monkey King(1926)
*
Baguda-jō no tōzoku' (馬具田城の盗賊)
urglars of "Baghdad" Castle(1926)
* ''Kujira'' (鯨) (1927)
*
Mikansen' (みかん舩)
Ship of Oranges(1927)
* ''Yaji-Kita jigoku gokuraku'' (1927)
* ''Chinsetsu Yoshida goten'' (珍説吉田御殿) (1928)
* ''Hoshi'' (1928)
* ''Kirinuki urashima'' (1928)
*
Kogane no hana' (こがねの花)
he Golden Flower(1929)
* ''Usotsuki-jō'' (1929)
* ''Kuronyago'' (1929)
* ''Jidō shōka eiga: Muramatsuri'' (村祭)
he Village Festival(1930)
* ''Komainu no me'' (1930)
*
Osekisho' (お関所)
t the Border Checkpoint(1930)
*
Kokka kimigayo' (國歌 君か代)
ational Anthem, Kimigayo(1931)
*
Haru no uta' (春の唄)
pring Song(1931)
*
Kokoro no chikara' (心の力)
ill Power
ILL, or Ill, or ill may refer to:
Places
* Ill (France), a river in Alsace, France, tributary of the Rhine
* Ill (Vorarlberg), a river in Vorarlberg, Austria, tributary of the Rhine
* Ill (Saarland), a river of Saarland, Germany, tributary of ...
(1931)
* ''Musashiyama to Asashio no chin-zumō'' (1931)
*
Kaeru san-yushi' (蛙三勇士)
he Three Fearless Frogs(1933)
* ''Numa no taisho'' (1933)
* ''Saiyuki'' (1934)
* ''San-ba no chō'' (1934)
* ''Tengu taiji'' (1934)
* ''Chinkoroheibei tamatebako'' (ちんころ平平玉手箱)
hinkoroheibei and the Treasure Box(1936)
* ''Dosei'' (1936)
* ''Dango no yukue'' (1937)
* ''Katsura hime'' (1937)
*
Shikisai manga no dekiru made' (色彩漫画の出來る迄)
he Making of a Color Animation(1937)
* ''Sora no arawashi - Sensen manga'' (1938)
* ''Warae yamaotoko'' (1938)
* ''Yakko no Takohei: Otomo wa tsuyoi ne'' (1938)
* ''Umi no arawashi'' (1939)
* ''Kodomo to kōsaku'' (1941)
* ''Mare-oki kaisen'' (1943)
* ''Kumo no itō'' (1946)
* ''Yuki no yo no yume'' (1947)
* ''Kuma ni kuwarenu otoko'' (1948)
* ''Shaka'' (釈迦) (1948)
* ''Taisei shakuson'' (1949)
* ''Seisho genso-fu: Adam to Eve'' (1951)
* ''Kujira'' (くじら) (1952)
* ''Taisei shakuson'' (1952)
* ''Hana to chō'' (1954)
* ''Kojiki sho: Amano iwato-biraki no maki'' (1955)
* ''Yūreisen'' (幽霊船) (1956)
* ''Kojiki monogatari dai nihen: Yamatano-orochi taiji'' (1956)
* ''Kojiki monogatari: Okuni no mikoto to inaba no usagi'' (1957)
* ''Kojiki monogatari: Tenson korin no maki'' (1958)
* ''Kojiki monogatari: Koson-ke no mittsuno takara'' (1959)
* ''Shaka no shogai'' (釈迦の生涯) (1961)
See also
*
History of anime
*
Kenzō Masaoka
References
External links
Author pageat the Japanese Animated Film Classics website by the Japanese National Museum of Modern Art
Ofuji, Noburoat the Japanese Animation Filmography Project
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1900 births
1961 deaths
Anime directors
Japanese animators
Japanese film directors
Articles containing video clips
{{Anime-bio-stub