Person: Daikuhara Akira

Daikuhara Akira was born on November 23, 1917. He was an animation director, a person who laid down the genesis of Japanese animation. Established a totally different style for every piece of work and worked as an animation director for many early feature length animation films at Toei Doga (current Toei Animation Co. Ltd.) with his versatile technique and speed. There are a lot of younger staff who set out on their own with improved skills which were developed under his flexible coaching. He was involved in a various old hit films such as with original drawings of The White Snake Ehchantress, Kid Magician Sasuke and Adventure of Sindbad and as the animation director for Doggie March, Fables From Hans Christian Andersen and Alibaba and The Forty Thieves.

He received a Special Achievement Price for his lifework at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2006.

The reasoning as follows.

Mr. Daikuhara had engaged himself in the studio work since the genesis of manga movies in Japan. Although he had a good experience in the production of feature-length manga film after the World War II, he had to go through a lot of hardships at the time TV animation started, which overlapped the evening of the film industry. Even so, he did not give up seeking his originality from the viewpoint that Disney films or Tezuka Anime were not the whole of animation film. His stance tells us there are things that should be done as long as you live within the industry where it is difficult to hold unmovable will as an acting animator. This award shows our respect to our senior in this industry.

Daikuhara-san had entered a nursing home in 2008, and passed away from pneumonia and old age on June 17, 2012.