Kamishibai: Paper Theater! (Patreon)

Hey hey!

Look! I made a kamishibai. Well, kinda. Real quick. After some excellent feedback from Japon Bura Bura, I rewrote the middle of the skit, we re-recorded it, and then Richard did some remixing. We couldn't incorporate everything*, but hope this is an improvement on a goofy little idea I had. I have an entire story arc over time, so the dream is with each adventure we get better and better. But don't worry, they take so long to make, I don't expect the next one until late December or early next year.

(*We're going to the States in less than a month and I have so many things to do I can't see straight.)

That said, I drew some stunningly rough 😭 images and made a little video for the tale. That's the thing up there. This is my second time using Davinci and Richard taught me how to do to make it look like kamishibai and answered a million questions, too.

So what is kamishibai, paper theater or paper play? The modern version seems to have popped up around 1930 in Tokyo, but has its roots in Buddhism when, back in the 700s, monks used those picture scrolls as a way to remember the history and stories of Buddhism and the various temples.I fell in love with it when Julyan was little. There was a neighbor of my mother-in-law who rode around on her bicycle telling stories, and also we'd go to the library where they had kamishibai time with different people coming and telling different tales.

All the kids would gather around and the storyteller would sit next to a frame that looks something like this.

It's big enough everyone can see.

There are a series of picture cards that the storyteller pulls out one at a time. They're ordered in such a way that, the storyteller can just read the story on the back of the cards.

Like this:

Usually they're quite animated and have them memorized. Or so it seemed.

Notice she has the wooden clackers (hyōshigi) to call people and get everyone excited for the show.

Back in the day, the 'stage' or frame was fastened to the backs of carts or bicycles, so the storyteller could ride around and tell the story to different groups of kids. But they also read news and propoganda after WWII during the occupation, so kamishibai was used to communicate to adults, too.

I did find there was often a heavy 'message' with a lot of the stories. Boy, do I have an uncomfortable story about that.

Anyway, look at this beauty, an old Showa Era-looking bike with the stage attached. Clackers and a drum attached for sound effects. Very clever.

You can still find people keeping the tradition alive today. What's not to love about telling stories in such a fun way?

Trivia: When television first arrived it was called denki kamishibai. Electric kamishibai.

Everyone stay safe and well, XOXO,

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