Noburō Ōfuji

Noburō Ōfuji (大藤 信郎) 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 Kouchi 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)