| The Story of the Concierge Mukuzo Imokawa | |
| Director: | Ōten Shimokawa |
| Studio: | Tenkatsu |
| Runtime: | 5 minutes |
| Country: | Japan |
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, and Otogawa Shinzo Gate of the Entrance 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. Mukuzo Imokawa was a manga character that Shimokawa used in his manga.