2 mins., b&w, silent
Source : A very damaged version digitized by the Japanese National Film Center (NFC) is available here
This film was shot in November 1899, by the Japanese film-maker Tsunekichi Shibata, as a record of two very famous actors, Ichikawa Danjūrō IX (1838-1903) and Onoe Kikugorō V (1844-1903), as they perform scenes from a well-known kabuki play.
In the first scene, which lasts just under one minute, Danjūrō appears as the Princess Sarashina, who is, in fact, the demon Kijo in disguise. In the second scene, the hero of the play, the twelfth century warrior Taira no Koremori, played by Kikugorō, confronts Kijo, now transformed into its true form as a demon with dramatically long and swirling hair. Taira no Koremori attacks the demon with his sword, but the demon pulls a branch from a tree and responds in kind.
The film was shot in a space behind the Kabuki-za, the principal kabuki theatre, which is still to be found in Ginza, an up-marked commercial area in Tokyo. It was shot on a Gaumont camera, apparently using three rolls of film. As each roll would probably have lasted around a minute, this suggests that a third scene is missing from the NFC version available on the web. Certainly, this version ends very abruptly.
This film is sometimes said to be the oldest surviving film made by a Japanese film-maker and in 2009, it became the first film to be designated an Important Cultural Property.
However, not only is there evidence of a number of earlier films made by other film-makers that appear to be lost, but in April 1898, Tsunekichi himself shot a number of Tokyo street scenes for the Lumière company, as described here.
Further information about Momijigari is available here.