JALT photo album 40
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Kamishibai is a form of Japanese storytelling. It was popular in Japan from the 1930s becoming children's favorite pastime into the mid 1950s. The antecedent of kamishibai, "tachi-e" of which the literal translation is "standing pictures", consisted of paper dolls in their own stage which, manipulated by a storyteller, performed in the streets during the depression period in the early 1920s. The name "kamishibai" was adopted when an audience watching a tachi-e called it "kami(paper) shibai(theater)." Later, the "theater" was simplified by making illustrations of tachi-e dolls on sheets of paper. |
Since children have found other means of entertaining themselves due to the development of technology, kamishibai storytellers are rarely seen these days in Japan. However, in recent years, there has been a revival of interest in kamishibai story telling among educators, especially primary school teachers. |
"GENKI" English education homepage by Takeshi Suzuki Read My Diary 4(from January 1, 2003) go back to "genki" homepage index |