Kōuchi Jun'ichi

Kōuchi Jun'ichi ( Japanese 幸 内 純一 ; * 1886 in Okayama Prefecture ; † October 1970 ) was a Japanese cartoonist , illustrator and animator .

biography

Kōuchi moved with his family to Tokyo and studied watercolor painting at the Pacific Art Association ( 太平洋 洋 画 会 , Taiheiyō yōga kai ). Around 1908 he published his first illustrations in Kitazawa Rakuten's magazine Tōkyō Puck and from 1912 created political caricatures for a newspaper.

From Kobayashi Shōkai ( 小林 喜 三郎 ) he was hired in 1916 for his company to turn animated films. Kōuchi's first animation, Hanawa Hekonai meitō no maki ( Hanawa Hekonai's famous sword ), one of the first Japanese animated films ever, was made in June 1917.

When Kobayashi got into financial difficulties, Kōuchi founded his own animation company Sumikazu Eiga ( ス ミ カ ズ 映 画 ) in 1923 . With this he directed propaganda films , the first of which was a 1924 advertising film for the politician Gotō Shinpei . Kōuchi created his last cartoon in 1930 with the sound film Chongire hebi , after which he turned back to illustrations and caricatures.

Kōuchi drew his first attempts at animation directly on paper. Later he worked with paper clippings which he could edit more easily and which made animation easier; with this technique he was ahead of his contemporaries in Japan. Of Kōuchi's around 15 films, only Hanawa Hekonai meitō no maki (1917) and Hyoroku musha shugyō (1920) have survived . Hanawa Hekonai meitō no maki is also the oldest surviving Japanese cartoon.

Filmography

• 1917: Hanawa Hekonai meitō no maki ( 塙 凹 内 名刀 之 巻 , "Hanawa Hekonai's famous sword")
• 1917: Chamebō kūkijū no maki ( 茶 目 坊 空 気 銃 の 巻 )
• 1917: Hanawa Hekonai kappa matsuri ( 塙 凹 内 か っ ぱ ま つ り )
• 1920: Hyoroku musha shugyō ( 兵 六 武 者 修行 , "Hyoroku's combat training")
• 1924: Ninki no shōten ni tateru Gotō Shinpei ( 人 気 の 焦点 に 立 て る 後 藤 新 平 )
• 1924: Hōshu no Sasayaki ( 宝珠 の さ さ や き )
• 1925: Kokka o sukū he ( 国家 を 救 へ )
• 1925: Sameyo yūkensha ( 醒 め よ 有 権 者 )
• 1925: Yosan seiji ( 予 算 政治 )
• 1925: Shisei sasshin ( 市 制 刷新 )
• 1927: Eiga enzetsu - Seiji no rinrika ( 映 画 演説 政治 の 倫理 化 )
• 1927: Kyōdō no chikara ( 協同 の 力 )
• 1928: Fusen man shi tokubetsu gikai ( 普選 漫 史 特別 議会 )
• 1929: Fusen man shi kyōtei an no maki ( 普選 漫 史 協定 案 の 巻 )
• 1930: Chongire hebi ( ち ょ ん 切 れ 蛇 , "cut snake")

literature

• Jonathan Clements, Helen McCarthy: The Anime Encyclopedia. Revised & Expanded Edition . Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley 2006, ISBN 1-933330-10-4 , p. 348.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/1096477  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ http://www.tokyoanime.jp/tafweb/taf2006/ja/news_a/20050923_02.html  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Two Nine-Decade-Old Anime Films Discovered , Anime News Network , March 27, 2008 (English)

Web links

• Junichi Kouchi in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus, Kōuchi is the family name, Jun'ichi the first name.