Momijigari (film)
| Momijigari | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Shibata Tsunekichi |
| Starring | Onoe Kikugoro V, Ichikawa Danjūrō IX |
|
Release date
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Filmed in 1899, released in 1903 |
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Running time
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3 min. 50 sec. (at 16 fps) |
| Country | Japan |
Momijigari (紅葉狩?, a.k.a. Viewing Scarlet Maple Leaves, Maple Leaf Viewing, or Maple Viewing) is a Japanese film shot in 1899 by Shibata Tsunekichi. It is a record of the kabuki actors Onoe Kikugoro V and Ichikawa Danjūrō IX performing a scene from the kabuki play Momijigari. It is the oldest extant Japanese film and the first film to be designated an Important Cultural Property.
The film features the scene in which Taira no Koremori defeats a demon who has disguised itself as Princess Sarashina.
Momijigari was planned primarily as a record of the performance of the two famous actors. Shibata, who worked for the Konishi Photographic Store, shot it using a Gaumont camera. It was filmed in November 1899 in an open space behind the Kabuki-za in Tokyo, with Shibata using three reels of film. It was a windy day, however, and a gust blew away one of Danjūrō's fans, a mishap that remained in the film since retakes were not possible.
Since the film was meant only as a record, it was not initially shown publicly. Danjūrō only saw it himself a year after it was filmed. There was an agreement that it would not be screened for the public until after Danjūrō's death, but when he fell ill and could not appear at a performance at the Naka-za in Osaka, it was screened in his place. It ran from 7 July to 1 August 1903, a long run spurred in part by the fact that Kikugorō had recently died. Danjūrō himself died in September 1903, and the film showed at the Kabuki-za after that, for one week starting on 9 February 1904.
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