Maple Leaf Viewing
Maple Leaf Viewing

Maple Leaf Viewing (1899)

PG-1311/28/1899Action, Fantasy, Music0h 6m
58%
User
Score
"Taira no Koremochi defeats the Kijo Momiji."

Overview

A reel of the Noh drama Momiji-gari, in which Danjuro Ichikawa played opposite Onoe Kikugoro V as an ogress who has disguised herself as the Princess Sarashina. Filmed by Shibata Tsunekichi in the open air on a windy day in November 1899, Danjuro would allow only the one take, so that when his fan blew away in mid-performance the scene had to stay. The film re-emerged at the Kikikan theatre in 1907 where it was a great success and inspired a wave of fiction filmmaking based on traditional Japanese narratives.

Tsunekichi Shibata

Director