Kasa Jizō (かさじぞう, 1960) is a black and white puppet animation by
Gakken, who are celebrating their 70th anniversary this year. This short film was produced by Haruo Itoh (伊藤治雄)
and directed by Kazuhiko Watanabe (渡辺隆平). Along with
his Gakken colleague Matsue Jinbo,
Watanabe is one of Japan’s puppet animation pioneers. He is not as well known as Tadahito Mochinaga, Kihachirō Kawamoto, and Tadanari Okamoto, but hopefully Gakken’s
decision to make his work available on YouTube during their 70th anniversary
celebrations will boost his profile. Disc 10 of Kinokuniya’s Japanese
Art Animation Film Collection: 12 Volume Set also features Watanabe’s work including
The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse (1959), Princess Kaguya (1961), The Jakata Tale of the Golden Deer
(1962), The Tale of the Crane (1965),
The Little Match Girl (1967).
Kasa Jizō is
adapted from the traditional Japanese folk tale (日本むかし話)
of the same name (笠地蔵). There are
several regional variants of this story, but the one chosen by Gakken is the
most common. It is set in the winter a
long time ago in rural Japan. An elderly
couple are doing chores in their thatched house. New Year’s is the following day, but they are
running low on rice. The elderly man
decides to head to town to sell some of his handmade kasa (woven straw hats) so that may have enough rice to celebrate
Shōgatsu (the New Year). The wife helps
her husband to dress for the snowy conditions on the long trek to town.
Along the way the elderly man stops to pay his respects to a
row of Jizō (the Japanese version of Ksitigarbha, the bodhisattva usually in
the form of a Buddhist monk). The snow
continues to fall heavily. After a while,
the man passes by the Jizō again on
his return from town, trudging slowly and steadily through the deep snow. It occurs to him that the Jizō must be getting cold in all this
snow, so he puts his remaining kasa
on their heads. He discovers that he is
short one kasa and decides to donate
his own kasa to the last Jizō.
The elderly man returns to the comfort of the wood burning
fire of his hearth. His wife is patiently
sewing. He is covered with snow. As he is hat-less, his eyebrows and the small
tufts of hair above his ears are full of frost.
His wife asks about the kasa
and the man is tells her about the Jizō. She agrees that he did the right thing and
they laugh cheerfully together.
There is a lovely cutaway to a full moon glowing between the
trees to indicate that night has fallen.
The camera pans over curious prints in the snow and male voices can be
heard singing in the distance. The
singing awakes the couple and they sit up on their futons. The man sees the shadow of men wearing kasa passing the window. The volume of singing increases and their
door opens. To their shock, gifts come
flying through the door. To show their gratitude,
the Jizō have brought supplies for the
New Year.
The animation tells the story in a straight-forward manner
with a couple of overhead shots and interesting shot compositions. It appears that the film has been transferred
from 16mm to digital without restoration (and possible via a video copy first) so some of the scenes are lacking in
sharpness. I really enjoy the character
design of the elderly couple. They are
depicted as cheerful and sympathetic, in spite of their penniless
circumstances. It is a lovely tale for
sharing with family over the New Year holiday.
2016 Cathy Munroe Hotes
