[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-134123-105":59,"doc-detail-134123-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","japanese-color-animation-before-1945-systematic-study","Japanese color animation before 1945 - systematic study","","Systematic discussion of Japanese color animation before 1945, clarifying that the period contained far more color animation than some later overviews acknowledge. The study distinguishes natural color systems from artificial coloring methods and from printed color animation, including the home-market filmstrip Katsudō shashin, while excluding early lantern “utsushi-e” and related slides based on criteria of animation. It also frames Japan’s position internationally as comparatively lagging despite substantial domestic activity.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/japanese-color-animation-before-1945-systematic-study/134123/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/japanese-color-animation-before-1945-systematic-study/134123.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Arica Lee","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-19","2026-08-20",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":52},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What time span and scope does the study cover?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The study covers Japanese color animation before 1945 and treats it systematically, including multiple related formats and production approaches.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why are “utsushi-e” and magic-lantern slides excluded?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"They are excluded because they do not rely on the “persistence of vision” principle, which the study considers fundamental to defining animation.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Which major categories of color animation are discussed?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The discussion is organized around natural color systems, artificial coloring methods, and printed color animation, including Katsudō shashin.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},134123,1787234482,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":52,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":144},8796096645457,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/800003749518d68ffe3?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1779345340919836971","Frederick S. Litten  \nJapanese color animation from ca. 1907 to 1945 *  \nBroadly speaking, Japanese color animation is seen as a post-World War II phenomenon. Only beginning in 1958, with Tōei Dōga’s 東映動画Hakujaden 白蛇伝(Legend of the White Snake; US title: Panda and the Magic Serpent), directed by YABUSHITA Taiji 藪下泰司(1903-1986)1, could a large number of Japanese admire home-grown color animation films in cinemas.2 So it comes as no surprise that among three recent anime histories (Koyama-Richard[2010]; Tavassi[2012]; Clements[2013]) just one contains an attempt to collect information on pre-war color animation (Clements[2013], 50f.) .  \nHakujaden  \nThis study will discuss Japanese color animation before 1945 systematically, showing that there was more of it than even Clements acknowledges, although, as we will also see, by international standards Japan was a laggard in this field. I will not include the “utsushi-e” 写し絵and slides for Japanese magic lanterns (“gentō” 幻灯) here, because I do not regard them as animation: they did not rely on the “persistence of vision” principle, which I deem fundamental to any definition of animation. However, I will discuss, among other types of animation for the home market, the color animation filmstrip discovered by MATSUMOTO Natsuki in 2005 and provisionally called Katsudō shashin 活動写真, which very likely is the oldest surviving Japanese animation film to be projected (just not in a cinema), as well as its German counterparts by which it was likely inspired.  \nThe following text falls into three main parts: on natural color systems, on what I will call here artificial coloring methods, and on printed color animation (including Katsudō shashin) .  \n* Many people helped me in the course of this research. Special thanks to Charles Barten, DAIBO Masaki 大傍正規, INABA Chiyō稲葉千容, INOUE Momoko 井上百子, Darren Nemeth, NISHIMURA Tomohiro西村智弘, OKADA Hidenori 岡田秀則, and most of all to MATSUMOTO Natsuki松本夏樹. Thanks also to David Tucker for pointing out an error in a reference in the original note put on the web on 17 June 2014.  \nMore on printed animation (and other things) in my 2017 book “Animated Film in Japan until 1919. Western animation and the beginnings of anime”(ISBN: 978-3-7448-3052-2)  \n1 Tōei Dōga used Eastman Color, not a Japanese color system (Hu[2010], 91) . Two previous, short color animation films had also used Eastman Color: Otogi Pro’s おとぎプロFukusuke (Fukusuke)ふくすけ, directed by Yokoyama Ryūichi横山隆一(1909-2001) in 1957, and Tōei Kyōiku Eigabu’s東映教育映画部 Yumemi Dōji (Dreaming Child)夢見童子, directed by Fukiya Kōji蕗谷虹児(1898-1979) in 1958 (Animēju Henshūbu[1989], 37f.) .  \n2 Shortly before the premiere of Hakujaden on 22 October 1958, the made-for-TV cut-out color animation Mogura no abanchūru もぐらのアバンチュール(Mole’s adventure; directed by WASHIZUMI Hiroshi 鷲角博) was broadcast by NTV, but seen by most Japanese in black-and-white because color TVs at the time were still rare ([http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/)もぐらのアバンチュール) . The 16mm film used the American Ansco Color system (Yamaguchi/Watanabe[1977], 256) .  \n[http://litten.de/fulltext/color.pdf](http://litten.de/fulltext/color.pdf) 29 June 2014  \n1 Natural color systems  \nFilming and projecting colors “realistically” had been the aspiration of many people right from the beginning of film itself: the first patent on a “natural color system” was filed by the German Hermann Isensee in Berlin in 1897 (McKernan[2008]) . Such systems divide into two classes: additive (“optical”) and subtractive (“chemical”) ones. In the former, as in Isensee’s case, colors are created by mixing light of various wavelengths; in the latter, colors are produced by absorbing certain wavelengths using dyes or pigments (Koshofer[1988], 140, 155) . For additive systems filters and special equipment were usually necessary for filming and projecting, whereas subtractive systems resulted in film that could simply be projected with standard equipment.  \n1.1 European","cbCaibPJ4d8tGYmG","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaibPJ4d8tGYmG","pdf",1285527,23,"English","# Natural color systems\n## European and American developments\n# Artificial coloring methods\n# Printed color animation (including Katsudō shashin)","[{\"question\":\"What time span and scope does the study cover?\",\"answer\":\"The study covers Japanese color animation before 1945 and treats it systematically, including multiple related formats and production approaches.\"},{\"question\":\"Why are “utsushi-e” and magic-lantern slides excluded?\",\"answer\":\"They are excluded because they do not rely on the “persistence of vision” principle, which the study considers fundamental to defining animation.\"},{\"question\":\"Which major categories of color animation are discussed?\",\"answer\":\"The discussion is organized around natural color systems, artificial coloring methods, and printed color animation, including Katsudō shashin.\"}]","Japanese color animation before 1945 - systematic study | PDF",58]