Archive

Pioneers of Japaneses Animation: From Tekobo to Momotaro

The Bunbuku Teapot

Yasuji MURATA

Japan1928 11min 16mm B&W

Synopsis

One day a rag picker saves a raccoon that has been bitten by a crocodile. The raccoon changes himself into a teapot as a sign of his gratitude, and the ragman donates the teapot to the priest in the Buddhist temple that he has been frequenting. The raccoon creates havoc in the temple, the bonze returns the teapot. The raccoon, in the form of the teapot, does fancy tricks and the ragman succeeds as a promoter. An animation that closely follows an old Japanese tale.

Diretor

Yasuji MURATA

Creating the subtitles at the Yokohama Cinema Club, Yasuji Murata got interested in foreign animation and started studying it on his own. His Fight of Monkey and Crab was released in 1927. He improved the technique by putting a motor on a moving-camera, and his cut-out animation technique equals that of latter-day cel animation. Among his main works are Octopus Bones(1927), Saru Masamune(1930), Aerial Momotaro(1931), The Monkey Goes Fishing(1933), Corporal Norakuro, The Mooncastle Princess(1934), and A Night at the Bar(1936).