Noburō Ōfuji

Noburō Ōfuji (大藤 信郎, Ōfuji Noburō^?, June 1, 1900 – July 28, 1961) was a Japanese film director and animator. One of the most notable auteurs of anime of the first half of the 20th century (one of the industry's most prestigious awards, the Mainichi Film Awards' Ōfuji Noburō Award, is named after him), he worked primarily with cutout and silhouette animation. He also made a number of films in traditional animation, using then-expensive, imported cels, while his earliest work known to have survived is a live-action/animated film. He trained under Jun'ichi Kōuchi before starting his own company. He is known for his employment of washi, especially the coloured and patterned Edo chiyogami, which gives his films a distinctively Japanese appearance. He was one of the first Japanese animators to earn international recognition for his work.

Selected filmography

• Baguda-jō no tōzoku (馬具田城の盗賊) (1926)
• Kujira (鯨) (1927)
• Chinsetsu Yoshida goten (珍説吉田御殿) (1928)
• Mura matsuri [The Village Festival] (村祭) (1930)
• Haru no uta [Song of Spring] (春の唄) (1931)
• Chinkoroheibei tamatebako [Chinkoroheibei and the Treasure Box] (ちんころ平平玉手箱) (1936)
• Kujira (くじら) (1952)
• Yūreisen (幽霊船) (1956)

See also

• History of anime
• Kenzō Masaoka

References

• Ettinger, Benjamin (February 28, 2009). "Departed animators". AniPages Daily. http://www.pelleas.net/aniTOP/index.php?title=departed_animators&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1. Retrieved 2009-06-16. 
• "DVDs". Digital Meme. http://www.digital-meme.com/en/our_products/dvds. Retrieved 2009-06-17. 
• Ettinger, Benjamin (May 30, 2007). "Old anime". AniPages Daily. http://www.pelleas.net/aniTOP/index.php?title=old_anime&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1. Retrieved 2009-06-16. 
• "The Roots of Japanese Anime". Film Baby. http://www.filmbaby.com/films/3479. Retrieved 2009-06-16. 
• "To the Source of Anime" (Portable Document Format). Cinémathèque québécoise. 2008. http://www.cinematheque.qc.ca/animation_japonaise.pdf. Retrieved 2008-07-21. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Noburō Ōfuji at AnimeVice.com
• Noburō Ōfuji at the Internet Movie Database
• Ōfuji Noburō at the Japanese Movie Database (Japanese)
• Mura Matsuri, a 1930 film by Ōfuji set to a song performed by Eiko Hirai

Persondata
Name	Ōfuji Noburō
Alternative names
Short description	Influential early Japanese animator
Date of birth	June 1, 1900
Place of birth	Asakusa, Tokyo
Date of death	July 28, 1961
Place of death