1
Saru Kani Gassen (1927)
Saru Kani Gassen ／ Sarukanigassen (1927) ／ Yasuji Murata's Monkey and the Crabs ／ 猿蟹合戰 ／ 猿蟹合戰 (1927)Description
The film, produced by Yokohama Cinema Shokai, is the eighteenth installment of the Athena Film Library educational movie series. Both a 35 mm version and a 16 mm version were released; the surviving print is a 16 mm Sakura Graph edition issued by Konishiroku Honten. It is celebrated as Yasuji Murata’s first animated feature. The distinctive forms of the crabs and the mortar resemble the illustrations in Dainippon Yubenkai Kodansha’s 1937 picture book *Monkey and the Crabs* (猿蟹合戦) by Sengai Igawa. The existing version is likely a shortened edit that omits the opening scene in which the lazy, greedy monkey deceives a crab into trading its rice ball for persimmon seeds.
