Seitarou Kitayama

北山清太郎

Seitarou Kitayama was a first generation animator who made animations on his own, not hired by larger corporations. He even founded his own animation studio which was closed due to lack of commercial success. He utilized the chalkboard technique, and later paper animation, with and without pre-printed backgrounds. Yasuji Murata, Hakuzan Kimura, Sanae Yamamoto and Noburou Oofuji were students of his and worked at his film studio. In 1923, the Great Kanto earthquake destroyed most of the Kitayama studio and the residing animators spread out and founded studios of their own, knowing that one…