ABSTRACT
Kamishibai (literally, paper theater) is a commingled medium that combines picture, script, and performance and was popular in the urban centers of Japan from the late 1920s to the early 1970s. A form of street theater, kamishibai appealed particularly to children of the urban laboring classes. When kamishibai disappeared from the urban machikado (street corner), the street corner itself changed. Kamishibai’s significance did not disappear when it left the streets, however. It was an ancestor of manga and anime, influenced postwar playwrights and filmmakers, and is used today in a variety of venues to communicate affectively rich and often politically charged messages to audiences of all ages. This chapter addresses how kamishibai produced a significant social space, specifically the space of the street corner, and the connections between this production of space and the social imaginary. It elucidates the ways the fantasy space produced by kamishibai was used during the war years to construct and maintain an imperial social imaginary capable of encompassing a range of classes, in both urban and rural areas in Japan, on the battlefield, and in the colonies. Despite its humble origins, kamishibai contributed significantly to the construction of the social and national/imperial imaginaries in modernizing Japan.
