Hakuzan Kimura

Dates of birth and death are unknown. Some suggest that his name is pronounced "Hakusan."

Not much is known about Kimura's early life and career, however, according to the book History of Japanese Animated Films (日本アニメーション映画史, 1977), written by Katsunori Yamaguchi and Yasushi Watanabe, and edited by Planet, it is believed that Kimura started out creating signboard paintings and set scenery for expositions. He received technical guidance from Hisashi Hashiguchi of Kitayama Eiga and it is said his debut work was the historical drama animation Akagaki Genzo, a Sake Bottle Farewell (赤垣源蔵徳利の別れ, 1924), produced on commission from Asahi Kinema. At Asahi Kinema, Kimura produced The Tale of Crab Temple (蟹満寺縁起, 1925) as a silhouette film with Tomu Uchida and Hidehiko Okuda. He also produced the moral story Frugal Tasuke Shiobara Saves Up (勤倹貯蓄塩原多助, 1925), and from then on received commissions to create Ministry of Education films. On the other hand, his independently produced pornographic animation Suzumibune (すゞみ舟, 1932), which took three years to complete, was apprehended by the Koishikawa police, who confiscated the film to Kimura's dismay. He left the field of animation productions upon completing Arawashi (荒鷲, 1938) at the Sato Seneiga Seisakusho led by Ginjiro Sato. During WW2, he contributed his artistic skills to produce books of paintings such as Light of the Eastern Front (興亜の光: 聖戦美談, 1939) and Collected Paintings of the Great East Asian Battle (大東亜決戦画集, 1943) both published by Kokushi Meiga Kankokai alongside illustrators such as Goichi Yanagawa and Katsuichi Kabashima. Kimura's whereabouts and activities remained a mystery for a long time after the war, however, in recent years, some feature slides with the credits of "drawings by: Hakuzan Kimura," including Acme Slide: History of Nyoze Princess, the Origin of Zenkoji (アクメスライド 如是姫 善光寺縁起) produced by Okuda Shokai, have been discovered.

Stories with moral lessons left by an artist veiled in mystery

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  The Nation of Fish (1928)

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  Yoshichiro Salutes (1933)