Seitarou Kitayama  

Seitarou Kitayama was a pioneering animator who created animated films on his own without being hired by larger corporations. He even established his own animation studio, although it eventually closed due to commercial failure. Throughout his career, he employed various techniques such as chalkboard animation and paper animation with or without pre-printed backgrounds. Among his students were Yasuji Murata, Hakuzan Kimura, Sanae Yamamoto, and Noburou Oofuji, who all worked at Kitayama's film studio. In 1923, the Great Kanto earthquake destroyed most of the Kitayama studio, prompting its residents to disperse and establish their own animation studios.