Kamishibai

Kamishibai is a highly original form of storytelling that dates back to the 12th century. In the Buddhist temples of Japan, they combined illustrations on paper with texts that they read in a makeshift wooden theatre called a kamishibai. The performer would narrate short, theatralised stories with great enthusiasm, turning the kamishibai sheets over as he read the text on the back, leaving the boys and girls in the audience totally absorbed and fascinated by the story. In the 1930s, what began as a popular entertainment became (and remains) an increasingly common educational tool, used to develop children’s reading, writing, linguistic and plastic skills, etc.

This exhibition comes to the Veranos de la Villa Festival thanks to the collaboration of the Embassy of Japan in Spain and the Central International Library of the Osaka Prefecture, a children’s literature library. Visitors to the exhibition at the Serrería Belga (The Belgian Sawmill) will be able to discover what is known as "paper theatre" through a collection of original works from this Japanese educational resource, which fosters a love of reading and writing in young children.

With the collaboration of the Embassy of Japan in Spain and the Central International Library of the Osaka Prefecture and the Kamishibai Shiozaki Museum 一般社団法人塩崎おとぎ紙芝居博物館