A Ship of Oranges
About A Ship of Oranges
Kinokuniya Bunzaemon loads oranges at a Kishu port for Edo, and his fiancée Osode sees the ship off. Above the clouds the wind god means to sink it. He stares at his wife, the mountain goddess, and cries; their child is the thunder god. A crate of oranges thrown up from the deck hits the wind god, and he raises a hurricane. When it passes, the ship is already near Edo. The oranges sell at once, Bunzaemon becomes a millionaire, and the crew celebrates with a kappore dance.
Cast & crew
More about A Ship of Oranges
Noburō Ōfuji is credited on the surviving print as the author of the idea and the operator. Chūō Eigasha released the 35mm version on February 11, 1927, opening at the Shinjuku Musashinokan. Japanese Animated Film Classics lists the original as three reels, 732 meters, 35 minutes at 18 frames per second. Banno Shoten sold a 9.5mm Pathé Baby reduction in 1931. A 16mm Sakura Graph print was also sold.
Themes
Technique
Chiyogami cut-outs. On the surviving 9.5mm Pathé Baby reduction the titles appear to freeze because the projector holds each title frame for about 3.5 seconds.
Music
Silent. The closing celebration is danced to the kappore "Oki no kurai no ni shiraho ga mieru."
Preservation
The circulating copy is a 9.5mm Pathé Baby reduction of the three-reel 35mm original, not the 35-minute version. A 16mm Sakura Graph edition was also sold.
Notes
- The Japanese title is みかん舩 (Mikanbune).
- A title card calls it a Ministry of Education recommended film (文部省推薦映画).
- The dance uses the kappore song "Oki no kurai no ni shiraho ga mieru, are wa Ki no kuni mikanbune" ("A white sail shows in the dark offshore; that is a Kishu orange ship").
- The wind god's family — his wife the mountain goddess and their child the thunder god — is the comic center of the storm.
- Kinokuniya Bunzaemon is the Edo merchant of the old Kishu-to-Edo orange story. Kishu is present-day Wakayama.
Scenes
- The wind god weeps at the mountain goddess, then a crate of oranges hits him and he raises a storm.
- Osode watches the orange ship leave the Kishu port.
- Bunzaemon's people dance a kappore once the fruit has sold in Edo.
Also available
- Japanese Animated Film Classics (work 86030)
- Wikimedia Commons (A Ship of Oranges (1927).webm)
- Internet Archive (1927-a-ship-of-oranges-noburo-ofuji)
Quotes
Oki no kurai no ni shiraho ga mieru, are wa Ki no kuni mikanbune." ("A white sail shows in the dark offshore; that is a Kishu orange ship.")
