Imokawa Mukuzo-san Genkanban no Maki

Released in 1917, Imokawa Mukuzo-san Genkanban no Maki is widely regarded as one of the earliest examples of professional Japanese animation. Produced by Shimokawa Oten, a cartoonist and illustrator, the film was a product of the Tenkatsu studio’s experimentation with short-form visual storytelling. At a time when the Japanese film industry was looking to rival imported Western animation, Shimokawa utilized a technique involving chalkboard drawings and paper cutouts to bring his protagonist, a bumbling doorman, to life.

The design of the character reflected the aesthetic sensibilities of the era’s manga, favoring simplified, expressive lines that were easy to animate manually. While the film was well-received as a pioneering curiosity in the burgeoning Tokyo cinema scene, the physical reels were lost to time as the nitrate film deteriorated. Its historical significance remains firmly rooted in its role as a foundational milestone that paved the way for the development of the distinct anime aesthetic that would follow in the subsequent decades.