kamishibai

[Melek Ortabasi]

It seems that kamishibai is not just for kids, that is if one has 
watched "Enta no kamisama" (God of Entertainment") on Saturday nights 
recently (OK, now you know what I do Saturday nights. Well, some 
Saturday nights). It's a stand-up comedy show that features the usual 
manzai teams, etc. One of the most interesting, and popular acts is a 
"schoolgirl" (actually a crossdressing guy in his mid-twenties) who 
calls himself "Yakkun." He shows up every week with a hand-drawn set 
of kamishibai cards that often parody some recent movie or TV drama, 
and asks members of the audience to "fill in the blanks" of the story 
by guessing what the characters might be saying. Of course, there is 
huge potential for double entendre, but most of the dialogue he 
finally reveals written on the cards (by pulling off post-its cut to 
size, an ever-popular tension-building technique on Japanese TV) is 
squeaky clean. He then berates the hapless audience member (who are 
all young women and girls, it seems) for having her mind in the 
gutter.

I think it's interesting that the kamishibai would make a 
(re)appearance in such a popular and adult-oriented forum. But not 
that odd, considering that most Japanese schoolchildren (as Greg 
points out) are familiar with this method of performance from early 
childhood. Yakkun is all the more funny, then, for subverting the 
innocent and childish aura attached to it.

Yes, he's on Youtube of course: just type in "Yakkun" and you'll get 
a bunch of clips.

Cheers,
Melek

>There seems to be some connection between kamishibai and emakimono (picture
>scrolls with accompanying narratives. Emakimono were apparently used
>initially in the dissemination of Buddhism but came to carry secular
>entertainment purposes as well by the mid Heian period.) Kamishibai use
>hasn't completely died out.  One can see kamishibai performances on Japanese
>children's TV programs.  Story card sets with picture on one side and script
>on the other are available in Japanese public libraries. My kids check them
>out and bring them home like they would books. They are still used in
>nurseries, kindergartens, and primary schools. My primary school son and his
>classmates sometimes make them when their turn comes to perform at a school
>assembly or just for a lark to entertain kids in lower grades.
>
>Greg Johnson
>
>>  Does anyone know more about this practice in Japan?
>>  Or similar examples of a kamishibaiya-like business elsewhere
>>  in the world?
>>  Is this a unique piece of Japanese visual culture?
>>
>>  Many thanks for any leads,
>>  Dick Chalfen
>>  Emeritus, Anthro. Temple U.


-- 
Melek Ortabasi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Comparative Literature
Hamilton College
Clinton, NY

**Visiting Researcher at The University of Tokyo, 2006-2007**