Shiba Productions' The Little Tin Soldier (1968)

I haverecently begun collecting the 3D “Living Storybooks” designed and manufacturedby Shiba Productions in the 1960s.  Theywere distributed in North America by the New York-based publisher Golden Press.  ShibaProductions was a puppet animation studio that was founded in 1958 by threemen: writer/editor Tadasu Iizawa (飯沢 匡, 1909-1994), artist/designer Shigeru Hijikata (土方 重巳, 1915-1986), and puppet maker and animator Kihachirō Kawamoto.  Kawamoto would go on to become the most famous of the three men but at the time he was an artisan and not yet a director/artist in his own right.  The studio specialized in puppet animation for televisioncommercials.  In addition to animation,Shiba Productions also created puppets for picture books, magazines, and printadvertising.

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Kawamoto had first worked for Iizawa duringthe Tōhō strikes of the 1940s.  He was hiredas an assistant art director by Tōhō in 1946. His mentor was the acclaimed art director and production designerTakashi Matsuyama (松山崇,1908-1977).  After getting theopportunity to work on three major feature films, Kawamoto found himself onstrike with his colleagues.  During the strike, Matsuyama got Kawamoto some work at Asahi Graph, a weekly pictorialmagazine run by Asahi Shinbun that ran from 1923-2000.  When Kawamoto was eventually dismissed fromTōhō in 1950, he seems to have worked together with Iizawa and Hijikata on anumber of commercial projects.  Iizawa was the one who introduced Kawamoto to the stop motion animation pioneer Tadahito Mochinaga (持永只仁, 1919-1993) when he returned to Japan from China in 1953.  It was from Mochinaga and his wife that Kawamoto learned the basics of puppet animation. 

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At ShibaProductions, it would seem that Iizawa played a kind of producer/writer roleand Hijikata was the designer of the characters.  Kawamoto crafted the puppets by hand and was incharge of the animation – or in the case of the “Living Storybooks” photo shootsof the puppets.  He drew quite heavily onwhat he had observed as an assistant art director at Tōhō for this.  In an interview with Jasper Sharp in 2004,Kawamoto explained that he considered the dolls that he used in the storybooks “puppets”because to him “they were actors within the books.”

The first “Living Storybook” in mycollection is The Little Tin Soldier (aka The Steadfast Tin Soldier)  by Hans Christian Andersen.  As these books were very popular withchildren, it is rare to find one in mint condition.  My copy (see image above) has well worn edges but the bindingitself is intact. 

The books were called “3D” or “LivingStorybooks” not only because they feature photographs of three-dimensional puppetsand sets, but also because the front cover features a full colour hologram.  This novelty cover meant that the books were quite eye-catching when displayed on the shelvesof bookstores and libraries.  It also made the storybooks quite memorable for children who grew up withthem. 

The Little Tin Soldier has thick card pagesand features 18 full colour pages and 14 black and white pages with text.  The monochromatic images of the puppets areless satisfying than the full colour pages because the images have been rather awkwardly cut out in order to have them alternate with the text.  The best monochromatic pages are the ones thathave used illustrations to give the tin soldier floating down the river in hispaper boat a setting. 

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The story is faithful to the original version of Andersen’sSteadfast Tin Soldier (Den standhaftige tinsoldat/しっかり者のスズの兵隊, c. 1838), so it does not have a happy ending.  . .  at least not in the way mostparents today would expect.  I ratherlike how the story ends with a random act by a child.  It seems a much more likely scenario for atin soldier than a happily ever after ending.

The puppets and sets are all consummately designedand crafted.  The most striking image byfar is that of the tin soldier and ballet dancer in the blazing fire.  Although there are certain design elementsthat make the book recognizable as being a product of the 1960s (ie. the titlefont, choice of colours, the modern looking castle and toy elephant), on thewhole most of the puppets and sets have been designed in a way that references 19^th centuryEuropean toys and design.  It is a beautiful, highlycollectable book.  


References: 
Heibonsha’s Kawamoto Kihachiro: Ningyo Kono inochi aru mono (2007)
Takayuki Oguchi’s interview with Kawamoto: Animation Meister at Japan Media Arts Plaza’s website.

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2011