A Hundred-Year-Old Anime Film Has Been Uncovered in Japan

Anime has been around for a very long time, well over 100 years, and has been a booming industry in Japan since the mid-1930s. Very few of the oldest anime films still exist today, so it’s always exciting when one is uncovered — and that’s exactly what happened in Japan recently.

As reported by NHK World Japan , a new anime film from over 100 years ago has recently been discovered among the belongings of a late cinema fan. The film is less than nine minutes long, and depicts a child eating various foods.

According to NHK World Japan, the film is apparently an advertisement called “Dental Health,” and was produced by a company that sold toiletries like toothbrushes. The animation is credited to Seitaro Kitayama, one of the earliest anime directors who is considered by many to be one of the fathers of anime. Kitayama’s grandson reportedly confirmed it was the work of his grandfather, saying that the text featured in the short film looks like Kitayama’s handwriting.

The film, which was reportedly produced around 1923, was preserved by health and hygiene company Lion Corporation, which is said to have descended from the company that originally produced the short. Most films from the era have since been lost to time, many in part due to the 1923 Kanto earthquake, one of the largest natural disasters ever to hit Japan. If verified to be from 1923, it will be the only known anime film to have been produced in that year.

In the years following the earthquake, the anime industry started to boom, and minus a few major world events sprinkled throughout the decades, has been on the up and up ever since. Now, of course, it’s a major industry, with hundreds of new anime films, series, and specials being produced every year, employing tens of thousands of people and being seen throughout the world.

If you’ve never tried watching anime before, you should check out our list of the best anime for beginners , which is filled with great suggestions for jumping into the big wide world of anime.

Related: 8 Best Anime Series Coming to Netflix in 2024