kamishibai

[Gerard Kraus]

Considering Richard's question about kamishibai being exclusive to Japan I
can nt add a definitive answer. There are, however, young children's
textbooks in continental Europe that use Panels to tell stories. These
panels are blown up to bigger sizes and used for classwork. I believe
those are included in the Teacher Pack of those books. It is up to the
teacher, or pupils, to point out what is happening in the pictures and
relate them to the bigger story.
It would be interesting to know whether there is any connection or whether
it is just a separate development.




> 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**
>


-- 
G?rard Kraus (ggk05 at aber.ac.uk)
Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
http://www.aber.ac.uk/tfts