Hashimoto-san is a fictional Japanese mouse created by the Japanese-born animator Bob Kuwahara and Eli Bauer for the Terrytoons animation company. Hashimoto is a jujutsu instructor living in Japan with his wife Hanako, son Saburo, and daughter Yuriko.
The first cartoon in the series, Hashimoto-san, was a seven-minute short released theatrically on September 6, 1959. Fourteen cartoons were produced, ending with Spooky-Yaki, which was released on November 13, 1963.[1]
Hashimoto is an expert in jujutsu and the ninja arts, but never used his skills to harm anyone. He also frequently told stories about Japan to an American reporter named G.I. Joe aka Joey or Joey-San.
Hashimoto and the other characters in the series were voiced by John Myhers.[1] All of the shorts were directed by Kuwahara. Bob Kuwahara had an intimate knowledge of Hashimoto's culture through his own family ties.[2]
Between 1963 and 1965 the shorts were incorporated into The Hector Heathcote Show as part of NBC's Saturday morning cartoon lineup. During the mid-1960s Hashimoto had his own board game, and also appeared in a handful of comic books published by Gold Key Comics, always with other Terrytoon characters like Deputy Dawg or Hector Heathcote.
Some episodes contained scenes whose artwork reflected Japan's traditional ukiyo-e woodblock prints.
To date the Hashimoto-san series has not been released on DVD, though a bootleg DVD is available containing 12 of the 14 episodes.
Neil Young often had Hashimoto cartoons playing in the auditoriums where he was performing in concert to entertain the crowd before the show and during intermissions.
Fourteen cartoons were produced between 1959 and 1963, directed by Bob Kuwahara, Dave Tendlar, Connie Rasinski, Mannie Davis and Art Bartsch.[1]