柳川堀割物語 (2026)

Wissenswertes

The Story of Yanagawa's Canals is a 1987 live-action animated documentary directed by Isao Takahata and originally broadcast on NHK. The film details the history of the city of Yanagawa, Fukuoka and its inhabitant's struggle to preserve its signature canals from the devastating effects of water pollution.

Production

After the success of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, attention immediately turned to another collaboration between Miyazaki as director and Takahata and Suzuki as producers. Tokuma Shoten, the production company behind Nausicaä, had originally pushed for a sequel to the film but Miyazaki resisted, citing tiredness and frustration with the project.

Miyazaki traveled to Yanagawa – the “Venice of the East” - in order to find inspiration for his next animated feature film along with lifelong collaborator Takahata. Miyazaki had considered the tranquil setting of Yanagawa suitable for a story about young school children and man's relationship with the natural world, similar to his previous work.

Takahata was enlisted to serve as a location scout for the project and spent the months following his arrival exploring not only the waterways themselves via donkobune (narrow riverboats) but also the surrounding areas and people to whom the canal was a sense of unity and civic pride.

Returning to Tokyo, Takahata agreed with Miyazaki and Suzuki on a budget of ¥30 million (half the profits of Nausicaä) to make the film. The film was produced by Hayao Miyazaki's personal office Nibariki, with Miyazaki himself contributing to the film's animated sequences depicting life prior to the modern age. The film used a combination of stop motion, aerial photography and traditional animation.

A deadline of one year was agreed upon, however, the production took three years to complete, going both over budget and over the agreed deadline. Takahata felt it necessary to return to Yanagawa multiple times in order to authentically portray both the living culture of the canal and the struggle of the people to fight against the efforts of the local authority to abandon the canal and waterways to pollution and disuse.

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