Noburô Ôfuji

Very short animated film from Japan, using cut-outs in the style of Lotte Reiniger.

A black cat sings and dances, animated using cut-outs.

A Japanese equivalent of a Hollywood Screen Song.

Created by Noburo Ofuji, who had been cartoon making since the 1920s, often with decorative paper cutouts. The character animation looks like it was done 15 years before, but a lot of the elements are highly original; design (those trees!), use of camera focus. Heavily musical in a manner that recalls animation's earliest use of sound. The lesson here is: "If you can't count on your friends, travel alone".

Early Japanese anime.

A short Japanese animation film from 1934.

Film about a ghost ship. There is no dialogue, just music and a choir. (letterboxd)

Life story of Buddha Directed by Noburô Ôfuji. (The Movie Database)

A young man has a strange adventure on a hill as he returns from the village festival where he has performed as an actor: a giant snake frightens villagers, but the farmer finds out that the monster is vulnerable to nicotine. He achieved convincing other neighbors to the attack and end with her. In the mountains he will find a Buddha who will beg help and thanks to which he will become rich. (imdb)

In front of a girl with the traditional Japanese hairstyle, a small man on a desk says, "women descended from tobacco." The girl laughs at him and traps him under a glass. The angry man puffs on a cigarette in a pipe and blows smoke at the girl. The girl takes the cigarette from the man and puts it under her book. When the man threatens her with a gun, the girl throws the cigarette into the yard.

A somewhat historical tale about a famous Japanese businessman who made his fortune by shipping oranges from the farmlands to the capital city of Edo.

In order to win the hand of a princess, a man must defeat an evil dragon and claim its treasured magic stone. Upon his return, Baghdad has been invaded and he must use the stone to defeat his new enemy.

A cut-out animation adaptation of the classic novel "Journey to the West."

Chaos in the wild as fires break out and thread from a spider is the savior.

A film about traveling artists arriving from Mishima and Odawara.

A giant whale causes a shipwreck and swallows the women and men.

A man in love with a noble lady tries to get close to her with the help of cats.

A war propaganda film by Oofuji Noburou.