The Donkey
"Early Japanese animation experiments with a donkey."
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About this film
Yasuji Murata's silent Japanese animation short The Donkey uses drawn figures and simple movement cycles typical of early 1930s domestic cartoon experiments before Toei's postwar expansion.
More about this film
About the production
Themes
Animation historyAnimal fable
Themes & topics
Historical background
Murata worked in the small pre-war Japanese animation scene when shorts were exhibited alongside newsreels and imported cartoons.
Why this film matters
Surviving Murata fragments document indigenous animation craft before the wartime consolidation of Japanese studios.
What critics said
Little contemporary criticism survives; film historians cite Murata as a pioneer whose shorts are studied for technique rather than narrative scale.
Did you know?
- Murata's career bridged silent and early sound animation in Japan.
Where to watch
- Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yasuji%20Murata-%20The%20Donkey%20(1930).ogv