Norstein and Japan

A tale of cultural exchange.

A still from The Heron and the Crane (1974)

Welcome! In this Thursday edition of the Animation Obsessive newsletter, we’re covering the deep ties that Russia’s greatest animator, Yuri Norstein, has to Japan.

If you’ve never watched Norstein’s Hedgehog in the Fog (1975), the right time to do so is always now. It’s a stop-motion masterpiece. In 2003, a group of Japanese animation pros voted it the best animated film ever made — and Norstein the medium’s best director. (The second-place film was his Tale of Tales from 1979.)¹

Norstein’s work has long fascinated people in Japan. That’s included everyone from fans to insiders — and those insiders range from the left field, like Shigeru Tamura, to the mainstream. Take Studio Ghibli. Hayao Miyazaki once called Norstein an artist “above the clouds.”²

But the fascination isn’t one-way. Norstein’s own creative philosophy stems in large part from his love of Japan. As he once said during an interview at the Ghibli Museum:

… in an art, it is very important not to tread on a person, but, on the contrary, to invite him into oneself, into one’s world. And this invitation should be a quiet one, without any desire to attack that person. Alas, in Europe, this desire to impose oneself is very strong. If we are to talk about the source of the art, about such fundamental things, then Japan is much closer to me in essence. ... It’s like when a person does not shout, but speaks softly, so that you even have to lean in to hear him.

This has led Norstein to decades of cultural exchange with Japan. We’re exploring it today. Here we go!