The Kamishibai Propaganda Plays collection is a collection of very rare, two sided cards that have illustrations on one side and text on the other. They are designed to be used by a presenter to tell a story. These plays were produced in Japan during the second world war, and were able to be digitized thanks to Professor Sharalyn Orbaugh of the Department of Asian Studies at UBC. To learn more about the plays and the collection, please read our blog post on the collection itself: here.

Even though the majority of the plays are printed in Japanese, with some dual language Chinese or Korean materials, the plays are still intriguing to browse for those like myself who are unable to read the text. This is because the illustrations are for the most part very well drawn and painted, and the some of the story can still be gleaned through them. Many of the plays revolve around the daily activities of people, and through the illustrations the artists clearly express the evocative emotion of the people whether it be joy, grief, anger, sorrow, or laughter. Other illustrations are included such as landscapes, abstract art, or animal depictions. Each of the artists contributed their own unique style to the play they helped create, and there is much variety in the art of each of them. Below is a gallery of artwork from some of the plays in the collection.

Mumei no haha; 無名の母 pg.39

Ichioku Nankō; 一億楠公 pg.13

Matsuri no taiko; 祭の太鼓 pg.1

Junchū Kikuchi Ichizoku; 純忠菊池一族 pg. 29

Ie; 家 pg. 13

Tako age; 凧あげ pg. 11

Aiba Toyonaka; 愛馬トヨナカ pg. 5

Omatsuri no hi; お祭の日 pg. 25

Chūkon no uta; 忠魂の歌 pg.29

Ken-chan banzai; 健ちやんばんざい pg.3

Chichi matsu yume; 父待つ夢

Furue Nippon shōkokumin; 奮へ日本少國民 pg.11

Daiji tōrai; 大事到来 pg.33

Nipponkai daikaisen; 日本海大海戦 pg. 27

Haha wa manzaishi; 毋は漫才师 pg. 21

Otomebashi; 乙女橋 pg.31

Haha no kao; 母の顔

Kuwa no heitai; 鍬の兵隊 pg.26

Teami no kutsushita; 手編の沓下 pg. 25

Okome to heitai; お米と兵隊 pg. 44

Hogaraka butaiki; ほがらか部隊記 pg. 31

Oyagokoro kogokoro; 親心子心 pg.11

The life of Madame Curie ; Kiyūrī Fujin den; キューリー夫人伝 pg 63 & 71

Monoshiri obāsan; ものしりオ婆サン

Tsukushi no Hakama; 筑紫の博麻 pg.35

Kakashi no uta; 案山子の唄 pg.45

Ashi no kuki; アシノクキ pg.17

Kāsan butaichō; 母さん部隊長 pg.15

Kodomo shōshūrei; 子供召集令 pg.25

Thank you for reading!