Editing Kaiju (section)

==Origins==
===Etymology===
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 | footer = [[Camille Flammarion]]'s ''Le Monde avant la création de l'homme'' (''The World Before Man's Creation'') series in 1886 includes several illustrations that depict appearances of bipedal dinosaurs in modern society.
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The Japanese word ''kaijū'' originally referred to monsters and creatures from ancient Japanese legends;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.franceinter.fr/emissions/le-grand-bain/le-grand-bain-10-mai-2014|title = Les monstres japonais du 10 mai 2014 - France Inter| date=May 10, 2014 }}</ref> it earlier appeared in the Chinese ''[[Classic of Mountains and Seas]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110007480367|title=A Study of Chinese monster culture – Mysterious animals that proliferates in present age media [in Japanese]|journal=The Journal of Hokkai Gakuen University|date=September 2009|volume=141 |issue=141|pages=91–121|publisher=Hokkai-Gakuen University|access-date=March 9, 2017|last1=中根 |first1=研一 }}</ref> There are no traditional depictions of ''kaijū'' or ''kaijū''-like creatures among the ''[[yōkai]]'' of [[Japanese folklore]],<ref>Foster, Michael (1998). ''The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore.'' Oakland: University of California Press.</ref> although it is possible to find [[List of megafauna in mythology and folklore|megafauna in their mythology]] (e.g., [[Japanese dragon]]s). After ''[[sakoku]]'' ended and Japan was [[Meiji Restoration|opened to foreign relations]] in the mid-19th century, the term ''kaijū'' came to be used to express concepts from [[paleontology]] and [[legendary creature]]s from around the world. For example, the extinct ''[[Ceratosaurus]]''-like cryptid featured in ''[[The Monster of "Partridge Creek"]]'' (1908) by French writer [[Georges Dupuy]]<ref name="Bissette 2017">{{cite book|last=Bissette|first=Steven R.|date=July 19, 2017|title=Red Range: A Wild Western Adventure|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TE4rDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT110|editor-last=Lansdale|editor-first=Joe R.|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]|chapter=A Brief History of Cowboys and Dinosaurs|isbn=978-1684062904|access-date=May 26, 2018}}</ref> was referred to as ''kaijū''.<ref name="ndl">{{cite web|url=http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/885790/13?itemId=info%3Andljp%2Fpid%2F885790&contentNo=13&viewMode=&__lang=en|title=怪世界 : 珍談奇話|work=NDL Digital Collections}}</ref> It is worthy to note that in the [[Meiji era]], [[Jules Verne]]’s works were introduced to the Japanese public, achieving great success around 1890.<ref>{{Cite web |title=日本ペンクラブ電子文藝館 |url=http://bungeikan.jp/international/detail/39/ |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=bungeikan.jp}}</ref>

===Film genre===
{{see also|Monster movie}}
Genre elements were present at the end of [[Winsor McCay]]'s 1921 animated short ''[[Dream of the Rarebit Fiend#The Pet (1921)|The Pet]]'' in which a mysterious giant animal starts destroying the city, until it is countered by a massive [[airstrike]]. It was based on a 1905 episode of McCay's comic strip series ''[[Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|author1= Moody Katie|author2=[[Stephen R. Bissette|Bissette Stephen R.]]|date=November 22, 2010|title=Survey 1 Comic Strip Essays: Katie Moody on Winsor McCay's "Dream of the Rarebit Fiend"|website=[[Center for Cartoon Studies]]|url=http://www.cartoonstudies.org/schulz/blog/survey-1-comic-strip-essays-katie-moody-on-winsor-mccays-dream-of-the-rarebit-fiend/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530150441/http://www.cartoonstudies.org/schulz/blog/survey-1-comic-strip-essays-katie-moody-on-winsor-mccays-dream-of-the-rarebit-fiend/|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 30, 2013|access-date=January 10, 2021}}</ref>

The 1925 film ''[[The Lost World (1925 film)|The Lost World]]'' (adapted from [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s 1912 [[The Lost World (Doyle novel)|novel of the same name]]), featured many dinosaurs, including a [[brontosaurus]] that breaks loose in London and destroys [[Tower Bridge]]. The dinosaurs of '' The Lost World'' were animated by pioneering [[stop motion]] techniques by [[Willis H. O'Brien]], who would some years later animate the giant gorilla-like creature breaking loose in New York City in the 1933 film ''[[King Kong (1933 film)|King Kong]]''. The enormous success of ''King Kong'' can be seen as the definitive breakthrough of [[monster movie]]s. This influential achievement of King Kong paved the way for the emergence of the giant monster genre, serving as a blueprint for future kaiju productions. Its success reverberated in the film industry, leaving a lasting impact and solidifying the figure of the giant monster as an essential component in genre cinematography.<ref name="kong" /> [[RKO Pictures]] later licensed the King Kong character to the Japanese studio [[Toho]], resulting in the co-productions ''[[King Kong vs. Godzilla]]'' (1962) and ''[[King Kong Escapes]]'' (1967), both directed by [[Ishirō Honda]].

[[Yoshirō Edamasa]] directed ''[[The Great Buddha Arrival (1934 film)|The Great Buddha Arrival]]'' in 1934. Although the original film is now lost, stills of the film have survived, and it is one of the earliest examples of a ''kaiju'' film in Japanese cinematic history.<ref name=Buddha>{{Cite web |title=Amazon.com: The Great Buddha Arrival : Hiroto Yokokawa: Prime Video |url=https://www.amazon.com/Great-Buddha-Arrival-Hiroto-Yokokawa/dp/B09KG3TPFQ/ref=tmm_aiv_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= |access-date=2023-04-30 |website=www.amazon.com}}</ref> The 1934 film presumably influenced the production of the ''[[Ultraman]]'' franchise.<ref name=Natalie>[[Natalie (website)|Natalie]], September 10, 2020, [https://natalie.mu/eiga/news/395912 「大仏廻国」はウルトラマンの原点と古谷敏が語る、マッハ文朱も来場して変身ポーズ]</ref>

[[Ray Bradbury]]'s short story published in the Saturday Evening Post, June 23, 1951 "[[The Saturday Evening Post|The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms]]" served as the basis for the film ''[[The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms]]''(1953), featuring a [[Rhedosaurus|fictional dinosaur]] (animated by [[Ray Harryhausen]]), which is released from its frozen, hibernating state by an [[Nuclear weapon|atomic bomb]] test within the [[Arctic Circle]]. The American movie was released in Japan in 1954 under the title ''The Atomic Kaiju Appears'', marking the first use of the genre's name in a film title.<ref name="Mustachio">{{cite book|editor-last1=Mustachio|editor-first1=Camille|editor-last2=Barr|editor-first2=Jason|date=September 29, 2017|title=Giant Creatures in Our World: Essays on Kaiju and American Popular Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3NE3DwAAQBAJ&q=%22kaiju%22&pg=PT19|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|isbn=978-1476668369|access-date=April 14, 2018}}</ref> However, ''[[Godzilla (1954 film)|Godzilla]]'', released in 1954, is commonly regarded as the first Japanese ''kaiju'' film. [[Tomoyuki Tanaka]], a producer for [[Toho]] Studios in Tokyo, needed a film to release after his previous project was halted. Seeing how well the Hollywood giant monster movie genre films ''King Kong'' and ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' had done in Japanese box offices, and himself a fan of these films, he set out to make a new movie based on them and created ''Godzilla''.<ref name="Martin">{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/10788996/Godzilla-why-the-Japanese-original-is-no-joke.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/10788996/Godzilla-why-the-Japanese-original-is-no-joke.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Godzilla: Why the Japanese original is no joke|last=Martin|first=Tim|work=Telegraph|date=May 15, 2014|access-date=July 30, 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Tanaka aimed to combine Hollywood giant monster movies with the re-emerged Japanese fears of [[Nuclear weapon|atomic weapons]] that arose from the [[Daigo Fukuryū Maru]] fishing boat incident; and so he put a team together and created the concept of a giant radioactive creature emerging from the depths of the ocean, a creature that would become the monster Godzilla.<ref name="Harvey">{{cite web|url=https://www.blackgate.com/2013/12/16/a-history-of-godzilla-on-film-part-1-origins-1954-1962/|title=A History of Godzilla on Film, Part 1: Origins (1954–1962)|last=Harvey|first=Ryan|work=Black Gate|date=December 16, 2013|access-date=December 16, 2013}}</ref> ''Godzilla'' initially had commercial success in Japan, inspiring other ''kaiju'' movies.<ref>Ryfle, Steve (1998). ''Japan's Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of the Big G.'' ECW Press.</ref>

<gallery widths="180" heights="180px">
Kingkongposter.jpg|''[[King Kong (1933 film)|King Kong]]'' (1933) was a major influence on the Japanese ''kaiju'' genre.
The giant escapes.jpg|''[[The Arctic Giant]]'' (1942) is one of pioneering productions to depict [[Godzilla]]-esque characters to attack a modern civilization.<ref>Spencer Bollettieri, July 25, 2023, ''[https://www.cbr.com/superman-predicted-dc-godzilla-crossover/ Superman Predicted DC's Godzilla Crossover Over 80 Years Ago]'', [[CBR (website)|CBR]]</ref>
Гамера 1965.jpg|The ''[[Gamera]]'' franchise played a significant role in forming kaiju genre along with the ''Godzilla'' franchise.
Bouddha Edamasa 1934.jpg|''[[The Great Buddha Arrival (1934 film)|The Great Buddha Arrival]]'' (1934), which potentially inspired ''[[Ultraman]]'',<ref name=Natalie /> was one of the earliest kaiju films in Japan along with ''[[Wasei Kingu Kongu]]'' (1933) and ''[[The King Kong That Appeared in Edo]]'' (1938).<ref name=Buddha /> 
</gallery>