The fierce beauty of classic Japanese movie monsters is dramatically captured in these black velvet paintings by artist Bruce White.
Gamera
Mechagodzilla
Godzilla
Ultraman
Hedorah
Mothra
[Via: @bonniegrrl]
The illustrious Rinpa Eshidan art crew has re-emerged with a dazzling new time-lapse painting performed on a skate ramp.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, enigmatic photographer T. Enami (1859-1929) captured a number of 3D stereoviews depicting life in Meiji-period Japan.
A stereoview consists of a pair of nearly identical images that appear three-dimensional when viewed through a stereoscope, because each eye sees a slightly different image. This illusion of depth can also be recreated with animated GIFs like the ones here, which were created from Flickr images posted by Okinawa Soba. Follow the links under each animation for the original stereoviews and background information.
[Geisha washing their hands in the garden]
[Torii gates at Inari shrine, Kyoto]
[Geisha girls with flowers and cat]
[Traveler in the mountain fog near Chujenji]
[Tokyo Industrial Exposition, Ueno Park, 1907]
[Campfire on the peak of Mt. Myogi, Nakasendo]
[Geisha drinking beer in the park]
Special effects studio Tsuburaya Productions has released some video of a fancy new animatronic Gomora suit being tested in a parking lot.
+ Video
The Gomora suit — the first in Tsuburaya’s new line of “Dekaiju” giant animatronic monster costumes — stands 3 meters (10 ft) tall and measures 6 meters (20 ft) long from nose to tail. In addition to moving its head, mouth and arms, the glowing-eyed monster can shriek and spit vapor. The studio plans to unleash the new and improved Gomora at promotional events for the upcoming movie “Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legend.”
This month, in the spirit of Halloween, Fukui-based yōkai painter Matt Meyer is creating daily portraits of Japan’s traditional monsters and adding them to his A-Yokai-A-Day collection. Here are a few images from the site, which will be updated with a lovely new terror each day until the end of October.
Kuchisake-onna — slit-mouth woman
Akaname — bathroom scum licker
Nurarihyon — yōkai boss
Yama-uba — mountain hag
Hyōsube — river imp
[Link: A-Yokai-A-Day]
In 1969, Shōnen Sunday magazine featured a series of illustrated articles entitled “Computopia,” which depicted life in a pleasant future pervaded by computers. Here are three illustrations from the series (1, 2, 3).
* * * * *
- Future Classroom
“The Rise of the Computerized School,” illustrated by Shigeru Komatsuzaki, takes a peek inside the classroom of the future, where the teacher is an image on a screen and students sit at desks equipped with computers. When the teacher presents a problem, the students input the answer into their computers. If an answer is incorrect, the students use a light pen to make revisions on the monitor until the computer says it is right.
For the purpose of maintaining order, the future classroom will come equipped with watchful robots that rap students on the head if they lose focus or act up. [View full image]
* * * * *
- Future Home
This illustration by Toshio Okazaki, entitled “Computer Life in 20 Years,” depicts what the typical household might look like 20 years in the future — in 1989 — after computers have become an integral part of daily life.
In this high-tech home, dad chats on the videophone while the wall-mounted home computer spits out a newspaper and the automatic air conditioner cools the room.
Junior’s eyes are glued to the 3D TV while an autonomous vacuum robot cleans the floor nearby. A hovercraft floats in the sky outside the window.
Mom performs calculations on a miniature home computer.
The home is also furnished with nifty devices such as an automatic iron, an autonomous wheeled table that keeps food warm, and a kitchen robot that sets the table and takes care of the dishes. [View full image]
* * * * *
- Future Hospital
“The Amazing Unmanned Operating Room,” illustrated by Teruya Yamamoto, takes a peek inside the computerized hospital of the future.
In this unmanned operating room, a computer-controlled robot arm is performing a heart transplant with cool precision. The patient’s heart has been removed and placed on the adjacent table. Before inserting the new artificial heart, the computer waits for instructions from the human doctor, who is monitoring the procedure on a screen in the next room. [View full image]
[Via: 昭和の雑誌広告・懐かしモノ]
An 18th-century picture scroll featuring a procession of Japanese demons and monsters is for sale on eBay. This 11.25 meter (37 ft) long work depicts the Hyakki Yakō (lit. “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons”) — a deadly parade of demons and yōkai (traditional monsters) that, according to Japanese folklore, would often take place on summer nights. The Hyakki Yakō was a popular theme in Japanese visual art during the Edo period, and portrayals of these processions, while frightening, often incorporated a sense of humor. Here are a few images of the scroll, which is currently priced at $15,000.
See more images and details on the eBay page for this item.
[Thanks, Darren!]
The Tokyo cityscape becomes the ultimate light show in this video for “I Will Be Here,” the recent collaboration single by Dutch DJ Tiësto and Australian dance music group Sneaky Sound System. Directed by Masashi Muto.
+ Video
Yōkai Daizukai, an illustrated guide to yōkai authored by manga artist Shigeru Mizuki, features a collection of cutaway diagrams showing the anatomy of 85 traditional monsters from Japanese folklore (which also appear in Mizuki’s GeGeGe no Kitarō anime/manga). Here are a few illustrations from the book.
Kuro-kamikiri [+]
The Kuro-kamikiri (”black hair cutter”) is a large, black-haired creature that sneaks up on women in the street at night and surreptitiously cuts off their hair. Anatomical features include a brain wired for stealth and trickery, razor-sharp claws, a long, coiling tongue covered in tiny hair-grabbing spines, and a sac for storing sleeping powder used to knock out victims. The digestive system includes an organ that produces a hair-dissolving fluid, as well as an organ with finger-like projections that thump the sides of the intestines to aid digestion.
Makura-gaeshi [+]
The Makura-gaeshi (”pillow-mover”) is a soul-stealing prankster known for moving pillows around while people sleep. The creature is invisible to adults and can only be seen by children. Anatomical features include an organ for storing souls stolen from children, another for converting the souls to energy and supplying it to the rest of the body, and a pouch containing magical sand that puts people to sleep when it gets in the eyes. In addition, the monster has two brains — one for devising pranks, and one for creating rainbow-colored light that it emits through its eyes.
Doro-ta-bō [+]
The Doro-ta-bō (”muddy rice field man”), a monster found in muddy rice fields, is said to be the restless spirit of a hard-working farmer whose lazy son sold his land after he died. The monster is often heard yelling, “Give me back my rice field!” Anatomical features include a gelatinous lower body that merges into the earth, a ‘mud sac’ that draws nourishment from the soil, lungs that allow the creature to breathe when buried, and an organ that converts the Doro-ta-bō’s resentment into energy that heats up his muddy spit. One eyeball remains hidden under the skin until the monster encounters the owner of the rice field, at which time the eye emerges and emits a strange, disorienting light.
Hyōsube [+]
The Hyōsube, a child-sized river monster (a relative of the kappa) from Kyushu that lives in underwater caves, ventures onto land at night to eat rice plants. The monster has a relatively small brain, a nervous system specialized in detecting the presence of humans, thick rubbery skin, sharp claws, two small stomachs (one for rice grains and one for fish), a large sac for storing surplus food, and two large oxygen sacs for emergency use. A pair of rotating bone coils produce an illness-inducing bacteria that the monster sprinkles on unsuspecting humans.
Yanagi-baba [+]
Yanagi-baba (”willow witch”) is the spirit of 1,000-year-old willow tree. Anatomical features include long, green hair resembling leafy willow branches, wrinkled bark-like skin, a stomach that supplies nourishment directly to the tree roots, a sac for storing tree sap, and a cane cut from the wood of the old tree. Although Yanagi-baba is relatively harmless, she is known to harass passersby by snatching umbrellas into her hair, blowing fog out through her nose, and spitting tree sap.
Mannen-dake [+]
The Mannen-dake (”10,000-year bamboo”) is a bamboo-like monster that feeds on the souls of lost travelers camping in the woods. Anatomical features include a series of tubes that produce air that causes travelers to lose their way, syringe-like fingers the monster inserts into victims to suck out their souls, and a sac that holds the stolen souls.
Fukuro-sage [+]
The Fukuro-sage — a type of tanuki (raccoon dog) found in Nagano prefecture and Shikoku — has the ability to shapeshift into a sake bottle, which is typically seen rolling down sloping streets. The bottle may pose a danger to people who try to follow it downhill, as it may lead them off a cliff or into a ditch. The Fukuro-sage usually wears a large potato leaf or fern leaf on its head and carries a bag made from human skin. The bag contains a bottle of poison sake. Anatomical features include a stomach that turns food into sake, a sac for storing poison that it mixes into drinks, and a pouch that holds sake lees. The Fukuro-sage’s urine has a powerful smell that can disorient humans and render insects and small animals unconscious.
Kasha [+]
Kasha, a messenger of hell, is a fiery monster known for causing typhoons at funerals. Anatomical features include powerful lungs for generating typhoon-force winds that can lift coffins and carry the deceased away, as well as a nose for sniffing out funerals, a tongue that can detect wind direction, and a pouch containing ice from hell. To create rain, the Kasha spits chunks of this ice through its curtain of perpetual fire.
Bisha-ga-tsuku [+]
The Bisha-ga-tsuku is a soul-stealing creature encountered on dark snowy nights in northern Japan. The monster — which maintains a body temperature of -150 degrees Celsius — is constantly hidden behind a fog of condensation, but its presence can be detected by the characteristic wet, slushy sound (”bisha-bisha“) it makes. Anatomical features include feelers that inhale human souls and cold air, a sac for storing the sounds of beating human hearts, and a brain that emits a fear-inducing aura. The Bisha-ga-tsuku reproduces by combining the stolen human souls with the cold air it inhales.
Kijimunaa [+]
The Kijimunaa is a playful forest sprite inhabiting the tops of Okinawan banyan trees. Anatomical features include eye sockets equipped with ball bearings that enable the eyeballs to spin freely, strong teeth for devouring crabs and ripping out the eyeballs of fish (a favorite snack), a coat of fur made from tree fibers, and a nervous system adapted for carrying out pranks. The Kijimunaa’s brain contains vivid memories of being captured by an octopus — the only thing it fears and hates.
[Source: Shigeru Mizuki's Yōkai Daizukai, 2004]
+ See also: Kaiju anatomical drawings
The University of Hawaii at Manoa hosts an online collection of about 1,500 magic lantern slides created in the 1930s and distributed around the world to educate people about Japan. Here are a few.
Buddhist story [+]
Scary kite [+]
Sanitation campaign [+]
Sanitation campaign [+]
Sanitation campaign [+]
Sanitation campaign [+]
Buddhist story [+]
Story [+]
Buddhist story [+]
Buddhist story [+]
Hell [+]
Hell [+]
Hell [+]
Hell [+]
Hell [+]
Snake woman [+]
Earthquake [+]
Buddhist story [+]
[UHM Magic Lantern Slides Collection via ephemera assemblyman]
