Sumiko Hosaka (保坂純子, b. 1930) has worked as a puppetartist since 1953. Throughouther career she has made puppets for live theatre, TV, and commercials, but isperhaps best known for the puppets she made for the stop motion animation of Tadanari Okamoto. She has also made puppets for the films of Fumiko Magari and the Noburo Ofuji Award winning team N&G Production.
Her first experience making puppetsfor stop motion animaton came in the early 60s when she was part of theoriginal staff at Tadahito Mochinaga’sMOM Productions. She was on one of the puppet-making teams that worked on MOM Pro's first project for Rankin/Bass The New Adventuresof Pinocchio (1960-61). Starting inthe late 1960s, she began working for Okamoto, her former colleague at MOM Pro, afterhe had set up his own independent studio Echo Productions. She made puppets for many of his most significantstop motion works from The Mochi MochiTree (1972) to The Magic Ballad(1982). She also occasionally worked forKihachirō Kawamoto – including his greatest work Book of the Dead (2005).
Sumiko Hosaka currently teachespuppet making techniques at LaputaArt Animation School. Examples ofher freelance work can be seen in her profile at Puppet House.
Selected Filmography
The New Adventures of Pinocchio(Rankin Bass, 1960-61)
Back When Grandpa Was a Pirate(Tadanari Okamoto, 1968)
Home My Home (Tadanari Okamoto,1970)
The Flower and the Mole (TadanariOkamoto, 1970)
The Monkey and the Crab(Tadanari Okamoto, 1972)
The Mochi Mochi Tree (TadanariOkamoto, 1972)
Praise Be to Small Ills (TadanariOkamoto, 1973)
Five Small Stories (Tadanari Okamoto,1974)
Are wa dare? (Tadanari Okamoto,1976)
The Magic Ballad (Tadanari Okamoto,1982)
The Little Bear Oof (Fumiko Magari, 1983)
The Fourth of the Narcissus Month (Suisengetsuno Yokka, Nozomi Nagasaki , N&G Production, 1990)
Home Alone (Rusuban, Nozomi Nagasaki,N&G Production, 1996) – won Noburo Ofuji Award
Book of the Dead (KihachiroKawamoto, 2005)
Hosaka’s picks for the Laputa 150poll in 2003 speak for themselves: a cross-section of some the greatest films in worldanimation. Reflecting her interest inpuppets, the list is heavy with examples of stop motion animation by Jiri Trnka, Karel Zeman, Roman Kachanov,Jan Svankmajer, and, of course, Okamotoand Kawamoto. At #1, Hosaka placed the Soyuzmultfilmclassic The Little Grey Neck (1948). In Japan, it was released on DVD togetherwith Ivan Ivanov-Vano’s The Humpbacked Horse (1947/75) as partof TheGhibli Museum Library. It is also available to buy as adownload here.
1. The Little Grey Neck (灰色くびの野鴨, Vladimir Polkovnikov/LeonidAmalrik, USSR, 1948)
2. The Emperor's Nightingale (支那の皇帝の鴬, Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1948)
3. Prince Bayaya (バヤヤ王子, Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1950)
4. The Hand (手, Jiri Trnka, Czechoslovakia,1965)
5. Inspiration (水玉の幻想, KarelZeman, 1948)
6. The Fantastic World of Jules Verne (悪魔の発明,Karel Zeman, 1958)
7. Tale of Tales (話の話, YuriNorstein, Russia/USSR, 1979)
8. Hedgehog in the Fog (霧につつまれたハリネズミ, YuriNorstein, Russia/USSR, 1975)
9. Cheburashka(チェブラーシカ, Roman Kachanov, Russia/USSR, 1971)
10. Dimensions of Dialogue (対話の可能性, JanSvankmajer, Czechoslovakia, 1982)
11. Faust (ファウスト, JanSvankmajer, Czech Republic, 1994)
12. The Fall ( 落下, Aurel Klimt/Derek Shea, CzechRepublic, 1999)
13. The Cowboy’s Flute (牧笛, Tei Wei/Qian Jianjun, China, 1963
14. The Demon (鬼, KihachirōKawamoto, Japan, 1972)
15. The Magic Ballad (おこんじょうるり, Tadanari Okamoto, Japan, 1982)
16. Creature Comforts (快適な生活,Nick Park, UK, 1989)
17. Nausicaä of the Valley of theWind (風の谷のナウシカ, Hayao Miyazaki, Japan, 1984)
18. The Man WhoPlanted Trees/L'homme qui plantait des arbres
(木を植えた男, Frédéric Back, Canada,1987)
19. Otesánek (オテサーネ, JanSvankmajer, Czech Republic, 2001)
20. A Christmas Dream (おもちゃの反乱, Karel and Borivoj Zeman, Czechoslovakia,1946)
