Tonpei and Sarukichi
About Tonpei and Sarukichi
The pig Tonpei sleeps through ten and eleven, then wakes at noon when an angry clock finally rings. Hungry, he walks to the monkey Sarukichi's house and takes the food Sarukichi has harvested. The next day, with Sarukichi working in the hills, Tonpei beats the two children left at home and starts to rob the place. They telephone their father; Sarukichi runs back and knocks Tonpei flat. Tonpei lies to the King Lion, who sends raccoons, rats, squirrels, and foxes against the house. The house turns into a tank, the lion's gunners wreck it from the air, and a mole army's buried bomb blows the attackers apart.
Cast & crew
More about Tonpei and Sarukichi
Yasuji Murata animated the short for Yokohama Cinema Shokai. Kuraji Takahashi is credited with the story. The 35mm prints went out on 1 June 1932 through Okamoto Yoko in the Kanto and Oku Shokai in the Kansai. Konishiroku Honten issued a 16mm Sakura Graph; some of those copies carry the title Sarukichi Has Won.
Themes
Background
The short opened on 1 June 1932, after the Manchurian Incident and during the Shanghai fighting. Japanese studios were already turning the Three Human Bombs into features.
Making
Murata moved the animals as jointed paper cutouts. The fight uses a telephone, a tank, and an air attack inside a story Takahashi framed as a bully who will not stay beaten.
Music
Released silent. The dialogue is on intertitle cards, including the children's telephone call.
Preservation
The National Film Archive of Japan holds a complete 16mm positive. That print was copied to a 35mm internegative for the digital version on Japanese Animated Film Classics.
Notes
- Home Ministry censorship number G2736 is dated 3 March 1932, three months before the release.
- A Konishiroku 16mm edition was retitled Sarukichi Has Won.
- The closing title says the tyrant Tonpei perished and Sarukichi had a glorious victory.
- One intertitle asks, "Is your dad home?" and the children answer that he has gone to work in the hills.
- The lion's side brings a mountain gun and a machine-gun unit; Sarukichi's answer is the house-tank.
Scenes
- The clock's bell shouts Tonpei awake at noon.
- Sarukichi's house folds into a tank as the lion's animals close in.
- The mole army's underground bomb scatters the lion's cheer.
Also available
- Japanese Animated Film Classics (National Film Archive of Japan)
Quotes
Justice always wins in the end. Tonpei the tyrant perished. Sarukichi enjoyed a glorious victory.
