The Story of the Concierge Mukuzo Imokawa (芋川椋三玄関番の巻 or 芋川椋三玄関番之巻, Imokawa Mukuzō Genkanban no Maki) was once considered to be the first professional Japanese animated film ever made.
[1][2] It was made by Ōten Shimokawa in 1917[3] to be shown in a cinema, in this case, in the Asakusa Kinema Kurabu, a theater in Tokyo managed directly by the film company Tenkatsu.
It was preceded by Shimokawa's early work, 凸坊新画帳・名案の失敗 (Dekobō shingachō – Meian no shippai, Bumpy new picture book – Failure of a great plan) and New Art Book of Tokobo: Imosuke's Boar Hunt ( 凸坊新畫帖 芋助猪狩の巻) from January 1917.
[4] In 1916, Tenkatsu, or Tennenshoku Katsudō Shashin Kabushiki Gaisha ("Natural Color Moving Picture Company"), began experimenting with animation with the manga artist Hekoten/Oten Shimokawa.
Shimokawa produced the animation by drawing with a chalk on a blackboard, redrawing as necessary to create the animation effect.