Stop Motion Film Tries to Capture the Fear of Japanese Woodblock Prints

The scene “Hall of Bones” in Kubo tries to emulate the characteristics of Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. The film is set in Japan so the creators are going for an authentic feeling of not only Japanese culture but also Japanese folk lore. I believe they authentically recreate the feeling of Japanese culture depicted in the woodblock, however the ambiance of fear and peril in Kubo is downgraded due to the fact that the film’s audience is for children. The film Kubo emulates Utagawa piece in numerous ways. First, the scene in Kubo tries to mimic the feeling of fear from the skeleton, shown in Akutagawa's work by comparing the skeleton’s size to that of the other characters. Second, the scene in Kubo tries to create a feeling of Japanese culture, by imitating the whole scenario that is represented in Akutagawa's work, mostly having to do with the characters and background designs. Lastly, Kubo also tries to imitate the ambiance of the scene depicted in Akutagawa's work, by the use of colors and the use of characters.

The piece Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre, is created by Japanese artist, Utagawa Kuniyoshi during 1843 to 1847. The woodblock print depicts a scene from the novel “Story of Uto Yasutaka written by Santo Kyoden” (Honolulu Museum) where Princess “Takiyasha [is] summoning a skeletal specter in the hope of frightening the hero Mitsukuni” (Worra). The medium is woodblock print with multiple blocks for the piece to have numerous colors. In this scene, it depicts Princess “Takiyasha summoning a skeletal specter in the hope of frightening the hero Mitsukuni” (Worra). The “Hall of Bones” from 2016 film Kubo and the Two Strings, depicts Kubo with Monkey and Beetle fighting against a giant skeleton as they try to grab the Unbreakable sword that is embedded in its head. The contrast between “Hall of Bones” and Utagawa work is that the “Hall of Bones” is created with clay figures that are positioned and then taken a photo of. This means that the feeling of this scene feels more alive and fluid than Utagawa piece, which is a more flat imagine given that the characters aren’t really given any depth by the use of shading and that the print is a static image. Another difference between the two pieces is the use of shadows. In Utagawa’s work, the shadows are only really seen with the skeleton and that is to showcase the anatomy. The use of shadows in the piece is seen with the use of straight lines. The piece is more focused on using bright colors and lines to showcase the depth of an image, which is seen most obviously with the kimonos of the characters and the floorboards. While in Kubo, there is a heavy use of shadows which can be seen with the individual tufts of fur from Monkey and the body of the Skeleton. Additionally, Utagawa focuses heavily on the background and foreground with the use of straws, lines to create a floor, and dots on a wall. In contrast, the “Hall of Bones” is more focused on the characters, even though the background is not completely ignored, it is just not the focus. The similarities between the two pieces is that they both have Japanese elements. Both have characters wearing kimonos and in Kubo the two companions for Kubo are creatures that are of Japanese origin such as the Beetle and Monkey who is a “Japanese macaque” (Gron KJ). In addition, both pieces must have taken a long time to create. For Utagawa, he must have carved or created different segments of the print, with each segment correlating with a certain color, and then make sure that they combined perfectly. With Kubo, a single frame of the movie is a one picture, so to create a whole movie thousands upon thousands of shots must have been taken, with each shot having to change the position of the characters.

First, Kubo tries to emulate the grand scale and fear of the skeleton by mimicking Utagawa use of reference. In Figure 1,the skeleton is seen popping out of the abyss leaning over the two male characters. What this creates is a feeling of fear since the skeleton just popped out of the unknown. In addition, The skeleton’s head is the size of the people, showing how big it truly is. To add on, the skeleton appears to be hunched over and we only see the upper body, giving the impression that the skeleton is even bigger than we assumed, too big for the painting itself, giving a feeling that it is larger than life. In Kubo, the size of the skeleton is shown by how the characters are so small in comparison to its body parts. Kubo is not even a fraction the size of his skull, the monkey is easily contained in one hand, and the beetle is barely half the size of his skull. These references not only show how large the skeleton is but also associates fear with the skeleton since it is easily able to overpower Monkey and still fight back the other two protagonists.

Second, the “Hall of Bones” tries to emulate Japanese culture by showcasing key items reflected in Utagawa's work. In Figure 1, it is obvious that the piece is Japanese given not only the style of drawing but also the fact that the human characters are wearing kimonos. In the scene depicted in Figure 2, Kubo is also wearing a kimono, but to be more specific, he is wearing a plain single color kimono. This showcases how Kuto isn’t a rich individual like Takiyasha is who has a highly decorated kimono with a sash and intecruite patterns. Also, the scene in “Hall of Bones” is similar to the woodblock print. In the print, the skeleton is the main antagonist and there are two male characters and one female character. In comparison, in “Hall of Bones” there is also a female character and two male character. The difference between the scenes is that in Figure 2 Kubo is a child and the only human and that there are three protagonists, while in Figure 1 it shows that the humans are all adults and it is only one protagonist. This may be due to the fact that Kubo is more of a children's movie, so it more favorable to make all of the ‘fun’ and ‘exciting’ characters good.

Third, Kubo tries to imitate the ambiance of the scene depicted in Utagawa's work, by the use of color palette and the placement of the characters. In Figure 2, the background is chaotic with what looks like piles of hays and random patterns on the floor and the wall. You know Takiyasha is a villain by how she is distant from the action. In addition, the skeleton is such a stark contrast from the painting since it is white and the background is black. To add on, the skeleton looked even more frightening given that it is a human skeleton, which makes it more realistic. However, the feeling of ambiance is taken away from the print given that there really isn’t any action to be seen. You can tell that the two male characters fell on the ground, but the scene doesn't showcase any movements. Instead it looks like the build up to a battle. Kubo uses a similar principal. The skeleton is stark contrast from the background as well given that it is red while the background is green. However, the skeleton looks more cartoonish, less like a human skeleton but a giant with hardly any meat on its bones. This choice may partly be due to the fact that the audience for the movie is centered around children and having a real human skeleton might be too disturbing. However, the frightening aspect of the scene is added on with how the characters are being treated by the skeleton, such as Monkey being held by a hand and Beetle dangling on the side of his head.

The scene “Hall of Bones” from the movie Kubo is inspired by Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. The film, tries to emulate the fear and grand scale of the skeleton, the feeling of Japanese culture, and the ambiance of the scene. Why I feel that this particular work was chosen as inspiration for the “Hall of Bones” scene is because Utagawa’s piece is based on a folk-lore and one that depicts action from that story. Both of which are the core aspects of the film. I personally feel that Kubo did a good job authenticating the feeling of Japanese culture. Kubo was not trying to copy the story depicted in Utagawa's work but the artistic choices Utagawa did to tell a story. By emulating these techniques and characteristics Kubo created its own Japanese folklore for children using American film as its platform and not its medium.