Key Points

A form of storytelling where the author holds illustrations while narrating the story to the audience.

Brief Bio 

Kamishibai, literally “paper theater” in Japanese, is a form of storytelling that combines a set of standard-size illustrated paper cards paired with a scripted performance by a narrator. A form of performance art, the cards (illustrated on the front with script on the back) would be cycled through a transportable wooden stage (butai) by the kamishibai narrator as they dramatically brought the imagery to life.

An audience would gather once they heard a performer clap together their hyōshigi (two wooden blocks), or ring of a metal bell, sounding the beginning of the show. Often referred to as Kamishibai no Ojisan, literally “Uncle Kamishibai,” the best narrators would incorporate hand gestures and various sound effects into their performances. Those who performed Street Kamishibai, would often carry their stages affixed to a bicycle and travel around town performing to groups of children several times a day. Their financial incentive came not from charging for the performance, but rather charging children for candy—which came with a kamishibai performance. This model was born out of a time of economic depression in Japan and became the most commonly reminisced about version of kamishibai.

The kamishibai created a unified space where the performer and the audience "breathe the same air seamlessly." This highlights the reality of early kamishibai: that it was child consumer-centric. While the most accessible and inexpensive daily entertainment for young masses, kamishibai became popular largely because they were not ideological, but practical. They did not preach to the children, as teachers or religious leaders might. Instead their goal was entertainment.

Imai Yone (1897–1968) estimated that in 1933 Tokyo there were 2,500 kamishibai performers. They would perform on average ten times a day to audiences of roughly 30 children. Her estimate for the gross audience number was 75,000 children daily—indicating that some watched more than one a day. By 1937, it is estimated that there were nearly 30,000 performers across Japan, performing to a minimum of one million children daily. 

(Source: https://fanningtheflames.hoover.org/shorthand-story/7)