Gaito-Kamishibai! 街頭紙芝居
“Come visit me, I live a two-hour walk from Kyoto, on the other side of the mountains.”
Eimei Katami
Created especially for the 20th edition of the World Puppet Theater Festival, this exhibition originated from a meeting in Japan between Barbara Mélois and Eimei Katami, director of the Torokko Puppetry Library.
The Gaito-kamishibai (literally “street-corner paper theater”), the precursor to manga and anime, is a traveling theater form that is emblematic of Japanese popular culture.
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Before the advent of television, storytellers carried small wooden theaters called butai on the back of their bicycles. As they told their stories, they displayed a series of hand-painted illustrations to the audience.
The exhibition Gaito-Kamishibai! offers a unique overview of this folk art, which remains relatively unknown in France. A first in Europe, the exhibition brings together the jewels of the collections of Eimei Katami (Torokko Puppetry Library, Japan) and Pierre-Stéphane Proust (France), organized by Barbara Mélois, a puppeteer and graduate of ESNAM who is also the exhibition’s curator.
Every day, the tours feature special highlights. During these sessions, puppeteers bring the exhibited theaters to life during a “journey through Kamishibai.”
A collection from the Torokko puppetry library – Emei and Fumiko Katami.
Contributions by Pierre-Stéphane Proust.
Exhibition curator: Barbara Mélois for the World Puppetry Festival.
Layout: Barbara Mélois, based on an original scenography by Jean Luc Félix.
Construction and layout: Gilbert Meyer and Barbara Mélois.
Signage design: Mathilde Mélois.
Translation and interpretation: Shiba Yuko and Tomoe Kobayashi.
Production: Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes de Charleville-Mézières.
Special thanks to the Torokko puppetry library, René Sostelly, Tara McGowan, The Center for Japanese Studies, University of Hawaii, and Pierre-Stéphane Proust.