Yōji Kuri

Yōji Kuri
久里洋二
Born	(1928-04-09)April 9, 1928 Sabae, Japan
Died	November 24, 2024(2024-11-24) (aged 96)
Nationality	Japanese
Education	Bunka Gakūin

Yōji Kuri (久里洋二, Kuri Yōji, April 9, 1928 – November 24, 2024) was a Japanese cartoonist and independent filmmaker. An influential figure in Japanese independent animation, he was the unofficial leader and most prolific of the "Animation Association of Three" (アニメーション三人の会, Animēshon Sannin no Kai) collective who kick-started the renaissance of modern-styled, independently made, adult-aimed animation in early 1960s Japan. He is known internationally for the very black comedy of his films, with the typically naïve style of his cartooning often belying the surreal, obscene and disturbing situations they depict (though he has worked in a variety of styles and mediums, including pixilation); this made them a favourite among the fervently counter-cultural audiences, which included such filmmakers as René Laloux, of the first few years of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, and in a 1967 publication he was considered to be "the most significant" and "the only Japanese animator whose work is known in the West" (which is to disregard the Toei Animation features and Astro Boy series that were first seen in the West around the same time that Kuri's first several films were and mentioned in passing in the same publication, though these were not known as works of an individual and characteristic filmmaker and often had their Japanese origin played down). He is also known in Japan for his comics, a collection of which earned him the 1958 Bungeishunjū Manga Award. Though he was retired from filmmaking, he continued to illustrate and teach animation at Laputa Art Animation School (アート・アニメーションのちいさな学校, Āto Animēshon no Chiisana Gakkō). In 2012, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Festival of Animated Film, better known as Animafest Zagreb.

Kuri died on November 24, 2024, at the age of 96. His death was announced in the following month, on December 15.

Selected filmography

Kuri made over 40 short films between 1960 and 1981; some of the best known are:

• Fantasia of Stamps (切手の幻想, Kitte no Gensō) (1960)
• Clap Vocalism (人間動物園, Ningen Dōbutsuen, literally "Human Zoo") (1962)
• Here and There (あっちこっち, Atchi Kotchi) (1962)
• Locus (軌跡, Kiseki) (1963)
• Love (愛, Ai) (1963)
• The Button (1963)
• The Chair (椅子, Isu) (1964)
• Man, Woman and Dog (男と女と犬, Otoko to Onna to Inu) (1963)
• Aos (アオス) (1964)
• The Man Next Door (隣の野郎, Tonari no Yarō) (1965)
• Samurai (さむらい) (1965)
• The Window (窓, Mado) (1965)

Permanent exhibitions

• Manabe Museum 1 Chome-9-20 Chosenjicho Sabae, Fukui. The museum is near Nishiyama-Kōen Station of Fukui Railway.
• Tannan Regional Medical Center 1 Chome-2-31 Sanrokucho Sabae, Fukui. The medical center is near Shinmei Station of Fukui Railway.
• Gallery K Yoji Kuri No Sekai (The World of Yoji Kuri) 16-18 Tadasucho, Sabae, Fukui. The gallery is an approximately 20-minute walk from Shinmei Station of Fukui Railway.

See also

• Cinema of Japan
• History of anime

Further reading

• Douglass, Jason Cody. "In Search of a 'New Wind': Experimental, Labor Intensive, and Intermedial Animation in 1950s and 60s Japan." Animation Studies Online Journal, 2019.

External links

• Extracts from Kuri's films at New Animation Animation (in Japanese)
• Love by Yōji Kuri and AOS and The Bathroom by Yōji Kuri at Cartoon Brew
• Yoji Kuri at Anime News Network's encyclopedia