GeGeGe no Kitaro was created by manga/comic artist Shigeru Mizuki (AKUMA KUN, KAPPA NO SANPEI). Shigeru Mizuki is a legendary artist of horror and yokai manga. Yokai literally translated means, a ghost, an apparition, or a spectre, to which Mizuki is responsible for keeping it’s folklore alive in Japan. The brilliant artist who lost his left arm in World War II, got his start telling his stories using kami-shibai(story telling using picture cards)as his medium.
Originally titled HAKABA KITARO(Graveyard Kitaro)for the rental-manga scene in 1959, Mizuki’s most famous story was later serialized in Shonen Magazine as GeGeGe no Kitaro in 1965.
GeGeGe no Kitaro tells the story of a young boy who is the last remaining family member of the “Ghostly Tribe” (Yurei Zoku). Kitaro was born in a graveyard just as his parents passed on. His mother was a witch and his father a mummy. The mummy dad’s eyeball leaves it’s eye socket and grows arms and legs. This way Kitaro’s father is reincarnated as Daddy-Eyeball (Medama-Oyaji)so he can still raise his son. Kitaro grows up to fight monsters, ghosts, and goblins, to keep peace between the paranormal world and human beings. Kitaro is aided in his fight for peace with the help of a variety ghastly characters Cat-Girl (Neko-Musume), Rat-Man (Nezumi-Otoko), Old Man Crybaby (Konaki Jijii), The Sand-Witch (Sunakake-Babaa), Rollo-Cloth (Ittan-Momen), and Wally Wall (Nurikabe).
In the 1960’s Japan was already experiencing the “Kaiju-Boom” because of the huge wave of giant monster movies (GODZILLA, GAMERA, MOTHRA, etc.) over running movie-goers. The popularity of GeGeGe no Kitaro and other works by Shigeru Mizuki spawned the “Yokai-Boom”. Kids started going crazy for horror and ghost manga. So in 1968 GeGeGe no Kitaro became a hit anime TV series released by Toei Animation. The 65 episodes released in black and white, captured the nice creepy atmosphere of the classic manga stories as well as new original ones created for the show. Even though some stories are gloomy and the characters are scary, the show is light-hearted and really fun.
Cast of Characters:
Kitaro: a young boy who is the last of the “Ghostly Tribe”, who spends his days keeping peace between yokai and humans. Kitaro who is missing his left eye sometimes carries his father in the empty socket. His weapons include, remote control sandals, snake handcuffs, detachable hands, magical vest, a chameleon tongue, blows flames, yokai detector, and can shoot strands of hair like needles. One of my favorite things Kitaro can do is he can fly from place to place with the help of ravens carrying him and his friends.
Daddy-Eyeball: The extremely intelligent father of Kitaro, is gifted with the knowledge of all yokai and their habits. The walking and talking eyeball, rose to life from his own dead mummy corpse to watch out for, and aid his son. During down time, he likes to relax in a nice cup of warm tea or coffee.
Cat-Girl: Cute girl always at Kitaro’s side, who is not able to control her craving for fish. Don’t get her angry or you’ll see her feline teeth come out as she attacks.
Rat-Man: The bottom of the barrel when it comes to loyalty. Rat-Man would stab his own mother in the back for money. Somehow or another he turns out okay at the end by aiding his companions in his own miserable way. Look out he fights by breathing his bad breath on you or with flatulence.
Old Man Crybaby: A very strange man who’ll cry like a baby, until you pick him up or he jumps on you. Old Man Crybaby has the ability to turn to stone so heavy he’ll crush his victims under the tremendous weight.
The Sand-Witch: A kind old women who cares deeply for Kitaro. Always ready to fight, the Sand-Witch can throw sand at her victims eyes, that comes from within her body.
Rollo-Cloth: Faithful kite-like companion of Kitaro, who can fly his friends quickly anywhere. Beware Rollo-Cloth can wrap his cloth body around his enemies and strangle them to death.
Wally-Wall: The giant stone wall from the mountains that is a perfect barrier against any attacks. Wally-Wall can increase his size at will or fall over and smash any threat.
Since the 1968 TV program, GeGeGe no Kitaro has been re-introduced to a new generation of yokai fans every decade, spawning new color TV series, as well as theatrical movies, both animated and live-action. But nothing beats the creepy and ghoulish atmosphere brought to you with the glorious black and white version.
When I was a kid, all I did was read Famous Monsters and draw monsters. I drew everything from Frankenstein’s Monster to The Monster from Piedras Blancas. Those monsters were fun to draw, but nothing made me happier than drawing Japanese Monsters. So when WSNS-44 started broadcasting Space Giants, Johnny Sokko, and Ultraman, I had a lot of drawing to do. I always had a three-ringed notebook in which I had pages and pages of every monster that drew from magazines and TV. Other kids in my neighborhood started doing the same thing, thus creating my first Monster Kid gang. I also remember having a giant piece of cardboard on my bedroom wall, I called my “Monster Board”, again I drew all kinds of monsters on it. The 70’s were great, no video games or soccer moms, just lots of monsters, super heroes, and imagination.
One particular episode of Ultraman really inspired myself and other kids to draw more. Episode 15: The Space Ray of Terror, which told the story of a young boy Mushiba, who was being made fun of by other kids, for not drawing very good monsters. Mushiba drew his monster he called Gabadon on the side of a concrete drainage pipe.
Meanwhile the Science Patrol receives a call from the Space Ray Research Center, claiming there was a change in the “Space Rays” entering our atmosphere. Oddly enough this strange event causes Mushiba’s simple drawing of Gabadon to grow and come to life. Later when the sun set it seemed that Gabadon became a star. When the children discover it was Mushiba’s drawing that came to life, they decide to help him draw Gabadon even cooler than before. The next day when the sun rose, the new version of Gabadon came to life. Gabadon caused no harm or damage, he just slept all day. People were still afraid and left the city, thus hurting the economy, since no work could get done. The Science Patrol has no choice but to try and rid the city of the nonthreatning monster. First the army attacks the gentle monster causing it to become violent. Unfortunately this causes Science Patrol member Hayata to use the Beta Capsule and become Ultraman. During the battle, the children plead to Ultraman, not to hurt their monster. Instead of destroying Gabadon, Ultraman flies the monster into space.
Later that evening the children stare at the starry sky saddened by the loss of their monster friend. Ultraman tells them not to cry, and that they will be able to see Gabadon once a year, July 7th, during Tanabata, the Japanese Star Festival. The very last scene of the episode shows a school yard full of children drawing monsters with chalk and the Science Patrol feeling the need to monitor them.
One Sunday morning when my sister was little, she wanted me to draw with chalk in the church parking lot with her. So what do you think I drew. We heard the next day, when the day care kids came in and went to recess to play, they went crazy. The teachers had to run out and get a ton of chalk so the excited kids could follow our lead. Yes, it was cool to make more Monster Kids.
INTRODUCTION TO TANABATA
Tanabata is a Japanese tradition wherein people write their wishes on Tanzaku Papers (colorful, small strips of papers) and hang them on bamboo branches. People also decorate bamboo branches with various kinds of paper decorations and place them outside their houses. The most common tanabata decorations are colorful streamers. Streamers are said to symbolize the weaving of threads. Other tanabata decorations are toami (casting net), which means good luck for fishing and farming and kinchaku (hand bag), which means wealth.
Tanabata originated more than 2,000 years ago with an old Chinese tale called Kikkoden. Once there was a weaver princess named Orihime and a cow herder prince named Hikoboshi living in space. After they got together, they were playing all the time and forgot about their jobs. The king was angry at them and separated them on opposite sides of the Amanogawa River (Milky Way). The king allowed them to meet only once a year on July 7th. This is why tanabata is also known as the star festival. It's believed that Orihime and Hikoboshi can't see each other if July 7th is rainy, so people pray for good weather and also make wishes for themselves.
Depending on regions, tanabata is celebrated on July 7th or August 7th (which is near July 7th on the lunar calendar). If you are in Japan around these days, stop by a tanabata festival near your destinations. Many cities and towns hold tanabata festivals and have tanabata displays, decorating the main streets. It's fun to walk through the long streamers on the street. In some regions, people light lanterns and float them on the river, or float bamboo leaves on the river.
Tanabata festivals in Sendai-city, Miyagi Prefecture and Hiratsuka-city, Kanagawa Prefecture are particularly well-known. Huge Tanabata decorations fill the main streets in these cities and attract millions of visitors every year. (Tanabata Intro from GoJapan.about.com)
In 1958 Toei Doga produced Japan’s first color animated theatrical film, HAKUJADEN (aka THE PANDA AND THE MAGIC SERPENT). This was the start of a long series of original animation movies which let you witness the beginnings of some of the most famous creators of manga and anime. For instance Osamu Tezuka (ASTROBOY, UNICO) was brought in for Toei’s third feature SAIYUKI (aka ALAKAZAM THE GREAT) and Shotaro Ishinomori (KAMEN RIDER, KIKAIDER) for a double dose of CYBORG 009 along with SORA TOBU YUREISEN (aka THE FLYING GHOST SHIP). But none would compare to the 1968 feature TAIYO NO OUJI HORUS NO DAIBOUKEN (aka LITTLE NORSE PRINCE). This would mark the first collaboration of the most famous anime director in Japan, Isao Takahata along with the founder of the future Studio Ghibli (MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, PONYO), Hayao Miyazaki, Hiroshi Okawa legendary producer and Yasuo Otsuka as animation director. LITTLE NORSE PRINCE surpassed any animation of it’s time, including the serious tone of it’s story reflecting labor disputes within Toei during it’s production. Because of the problems it was not supported at the box office during it’s first run, but was re-released as part of Toei’s Manga Parade, along with GEGEGE NO KITARO, ULTRA 7, and SALLY THE WITCH. LITTLE NORSE PRINCE is now considered a masterpiece in the animation community.
LITTLE NORSE PRINCE begins with Hols (aka Horus) fighting a pack of silver wolves in a northern part of Europe. Hols is armed with an axe on a short handle attached to a rope, very similar to the character in Toei’s live action film DAI NINJUTSU EIGA WATARI. This scene pulls you right in due to the very fluid animation and detail. During the fight a giant stone figure rises out of the earth, with a deep commanding voice, “Who dares disturb mighty Rockor!”. Rockor (aka Moog) is the man of the mountains, made of boulders and trees with a god-like presence. Hols explains it was the silver wolves who disturbed his sleep. Realizing the source of the disturbance, Rockor acknowledges the presence of Grunwald the Frost King. Rockor then complains about a pain in his shoulder, in turn Hols easily scales the mountain man to find the problem. Hols discovers Rockor’s ache is actually a sword stuck into the groggy giant’s shoulder. Hols removes the sword from Rockor’s shoulder and is told that it’s not just any sword, but the Sword of the Sun. The sword is worn and dull and needs sharpening. Rockor tells Hols if he sharpens the sword, the mighty mountain man will come see it for himself. On that day when the sword is sharpened, Hols will be known as “Prince of the Sun“. Hols soon runs home to see his ailing father. On his death bed the young boy’s father explains to Hols about how they fled their village when he was a baby to escape Grunwald’s attack and spare them a life of misery under the Frost King’s rule. Now Hols is told he must go back to the village and be with the people where he would not be lonely. Hols sets sail due north with his bear cub pal, Koro to find the village. The two friends finally find land and are soon are attacked by giant black eagles that separate them and carries Hols off into the mountains. One of the giant feathered monstrosities drops Hols in mid-air to his death, but he saves himself with his trusty axe and starts scaling the mountain with the rope attached to it. Hols finally makes it to the top edge of the huge cliff only to find the other end of his rope is being held by the Frost King himself, Grunwald. In a very intense scene, Grunwald asks Hols to be his ward while the puzzled boy is teetering on the edge of the cliff. Hols of course declines because he was told by his father, Grunwald burned down his village. Grunwald lets go of the rope and Hols is sent plunging towards death off the mountain side. Luckily Hols ends up plunging in to a river and floats down to a near by fishing village. The people welcome him with open arms, but you soon find out darkness hovers over the villagers heads. There had been no fish run in ages due to a giant pike Grunwald unleashed to starve the people. The brave Hols sets out to get the giant fish who also murdered villagers who tried to capture it. In a thrilling battle Hols is almost drowned and beaten, but manages to kill the monster pike. The end of Grunwald’s demon fish allowed for a huge fish run and happiness ran through the village once again. With the loud cheering and song, Coro finds the village and is reunited with Hols. The laughter soon ends when a huge pack of silver wolves invade the village and destroy the days catch. Hols follows the damned beasts deep into the woods only to find a flooded and abandoned village. In the village Hols finds a lonely girl named Hilda along with her animal friends Chiro, a squirrel and Toto (aka Tata) an owl. Hilda says the monster destroyed her village and she is the only survivor, since then she has been under Grunwald’s spell. Hols takes Hilda back to his newly adopted village where she entertains the people with her beautiful, mesmerizing singing voice. The plot thickens as we find that Hilda shies away from the unsharpened Sword of the Sun and she becomes very short with Hols upon speaking with him. Grunwald reveals Hilda is his sister and orders Toto to aid her in turning the villagers against Hols, for he is the Frost King’s biggest threat. Hilda also takes advantage of a disgruntled villager named Drago to aid her in her cause. Hilda is conflicted inside with her destructive directive, since the villagers showed her what life can really be like and what could be happiness in her future, including marriage. Hilda instead gets angry, for this could not possibly happen to the sister of the Frost King, so she sends a horde of rats to overrun the village. Soon Hilda convinces the innocent minded villagers that all of the bad luck that they have been suffering is because of Hols, who is stoned by the villagers, and then chased from his new found home. The conflict in Hilda’s heart thickens when Toto is ready to make the final strike on the village but she wants to spare a little girl Mauni’s life. Hilda is then torn when Toto reminds her that she wears the Medal of Life that gives her immortality. She then accepts her doomed life and sets out for the destruction of Hols. Hilda finally confronts Hols and reveals her dark secret to him that she is sister of the Frost King sent to destroy man. Hols is shoved off a cliff into the Lost Woods where he is left to die. Resenting what she has done, Hilda tells Grunwald she will no longer aid him in the attack on mankind and leaves to live at the Frozen Lake alone. Grunwald soon unleashes frozen hell on the villagers with a pack of silver wolves and an ice storm, but they retaliate by building a giant fire to protect their homes. Back in the Lost Woods Hols is being haunted by visions of circumstances leading to his discovery of Hilda being Grunwald’s sister. Suddenly a bright light grabs his attention and he is led out of the woods by the power of the Sword of the Sun. Hilda meets Hols at the end of the woods and says farewell and warns him of Grunwald’s attack on the village. Along with the silver wolves, a giant ice mammoth emerges to lessen the villagers chance of survival. The villagers exhausted, cry out what could they possibly do, what kind of weapon could defeat the king of the frost. Hols arrives and says “the Sword of the Sun!!”, so everyone pitches in to harden the sword in the giant fire made to protect the village. Meanwhile a young boy Frepp and Koro get lost in the storm looking for Hols, but they run into Hilda instead. Knowing they wouldn’t survive in the storm with the silver wolves in the area, she gives them her Medal of Life which flies them back to the village. There Hilda stays, where she lets herself get beaten unconscious by the silver wolves. Now that the Sword of the Sun is finished, Hols engages in battle with Grunwald. Just as promised Rockor arrives to see the Sword of the Sun. Frepp and Koro safely return and give Hols, Hilda’s Medal of Life. In turn, Grunwald realizes he has been betrayed and flees back to his frozen castle. Rockor takes care of the frozen pachyderm while Hols and the villagers pursue Grundwald. Inside his the frozen lair, Grunwald and Hols go head to head. Rockor arrives and knocks out the side of the castle, and sunlight comes blazing in to give energy to the Sword of Sun. This unites the villagers who start chanting Sun! Sun! Sun!. Hols finally strikes down the mighty Frost King and sinks his castle into the abyss. Hols realizes the Metal of Life is gone as well. Hilda awakens finding she is still alive without the Metal of Life so she returns to the village. Hols sees Hilda and welcomes her back home where she can now live like a normal human girl with him and the villagers happily. The first time I saw this unbelievable film was in the early 80’s. Okay here’s a good example of how big of a geek I am. I noticed after school one day a new UHF station started in the Chicagoland area, WPWR-60. Their normal programming didn’t start yet so they were broadcasting cartoons all day long instead. They were showing toons I hadn’t seen in years like Toei’s KING KONG among others. I said to myself, “I can’t miss any of this!!!”, so the next morning cough cough, and I was home from school watching cartoons all day. Well that’s when LITTLE NORSE PRINCE was shown and blew me away. The story and characters were like no other cartoon I’ve ever seen. Everything in this film is about being positive, beating the odds, never giving up, and most important the power of the sun. Dubbed by Titan Prod., released by American International Pictures, and yes you would recognize the voice actors, basically all SPEED RACER alumni, like Corinne Orr. The beautiful songs were sung by none other than Adryan Russ, the Save the Earth, GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER girl. I can now watch this movie crystal clear with subtitles, but nothing beats an AIP release and UHF grain.
Like myself, my son Christian loves monster movies, especially Japanese ones. His devotion to his hobby amazes my friends and I. Christian knows all the monster names and even the episode numbers to where the giant behemoths appeared in their respective TV series.
This summer I took Christian to G-Fest 2009, a convention devoted to Godzilla movies in Chicago. The funny thing is Christian is not really into Godzilla, but this kid loves Ultraman and all of the monsters. This brings us to this years guest of honor at the fest, Kenji Sahara. Mr. Sahara is the John Wayne of Japanese Monster movies. He's best known for his brilliant performance in Rodan, the Flying Monster (1956) and several Godzilla films. My personal favorites are Frankenstein Conquers the World and Son of Godzilla. Mr. Sahara also starred in Tsuuraya's 1966 TV series Ultra Q. This program was the predecessor to Ultraman. Ultra Q was a half hour black and white TV program similar to the Outer Limits except with giant monsters. Mr. Sahara played Jun Manjoume, an airplane pilot, along with Yuriko Edogawa and Ippei Togawa investigated supernatural phenomena, alien encounters, and of course giant monsters.
When I told Christian he was going to meet Mr. Sahara this summer, he was so excited. Christian and I just got done watching the whole Ultra Q series together last winter. Christian has a huge heart and is a really kind kid, and he told me "I'm going to draw a picture for Kenji!!". I was thinking that's cool, but then he blew me away when I saw he sat and drew a picture of every monster from Ultra Q. He even drew Kenji Sahara in the picture!!!! My wife suggested we frame it before Christian presented Mr. Sahara with his gift. G-Fest arrived and Christian could not wait to meet Mr. Sahara. We got in line early, but suddenly this year the knuckle-heads who run G-Fest decided to make people draw numbers for line placement, after we were there waiting a long time and dropped us way back to 300 and something. Nice thing to do to a 7 year old. Well the long wait was completely worth it. Mr. Sahara loved Christian's picture and the fact he was into a show nobody really talks to him about. Mr. Sahara is really proud of his work in Ultra Q and was very moved by Christian's picture. Christian also got his original Ultra Q book and record signed by Mr. Sahara. The chance to meet such a legend of Japanese film is something Christian and I will treasure forever.
Believe it or not the story doesn't end there. On Tuesday I got home from work and checked the mail. In the mail there was a letter addressed to Christian. I'm like what's this and noticed an airmail label on it. I flipped the letter over and my eyes were as big as silver dollars, it was from Kenji Sahara!!! Holy @$%%^!!! Christian came home from school and I said "Hey buddy, you got a letter today" he said "really, from who?" with excitement. Kids do love mail. I said "I don't know what does it say?" Christian sounded out the name "Ken Ken Kenji Kenji Sah KENJI SAHARA!!!!!" Mr. Sahara sent his biggest, now 8 year old fan a very nice thank you letter and autograph picture. Watching Christian receive a letter from one of my childhood heroes couldn't have made me happier, yes my eyes got watery. All I can say is there is nothing cooler than your kid appreciating the old-school and the hard work put into our favorite classics films and TV shows that made us into Monster Kids.
