The Roots of Japanese Movies as Seen in the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum Collection
Michiko Usui, Research Associate
Waseda University Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum
Using material to trace back to the early period of Japanese movie culture
The “Japanese Media: Utsushi-e (Transfer Pictures), Katsudo-Shashin (Movies), and Benshi (Narrators)” exhibition will be held at the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum until August 3rd (Sunday). This exhibition focuses on movies in a period when they were called utsushi-e and katsudo-shashin. Western technology and equipment was the starting point of these precursors to the modern movie, but they also showed developments that were unique to Japan.
katsudo-shashin “Ninin-Dojoji”
utsushi-e were Japanese-made stereopticons, or magic lanterns, that were created based on Western stereopticons. utsushi-e were popular among the general public from the end of the Edo Period to the Meiji and Taisho Periods. A furo (wooden stereopticon), tane-ita (slide), and a screen made of Japanese paper were used to project images upon a screen. These images moved in accordance with a narration or a musical performance. utsushi-e were used to stage plays at locations such as vaudeville theatres. Then, in 1897 (year 30 of the Meiji Period), projector-type movie equipment was imported from the West. In Japan, this resulted in the birth of an occupation known as benshi, or narrator, so that movies could be enjoyed using the narration and musical performance found in utsushi-e.
In the exhibition, the early period of media culture is explored through items such as utsushi-e tools and actual articles used by the benshi. The collection of the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum composes the core of the exhibition. (236 words)
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