You may think that you’ve seen every possible Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba-related item, but have you seen the cardboard Demon Slayer sculptures in Kochi Prefecture?
The statues of Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke, and Zenitsu were created by Masamichi Okabayashi, a shopkeeper on the island of Shikoku. He posted some pictures up on the shop’s Twitter account before he placed the cardboard masterpieces out in front of his store.
４人揃ったので、夏ののどかな１シーンを…。
[伊之助]なんで俺がスイカ🍉を切らんといかんがや（怒）
[炭治郎]いのすけ〜。俺の刀にも刺してくれや。
[善逸]ちょっと待って。今食べたら全部忘れてしまう〜。
[ねずこ]う〜ん。う〜ん。う〜ん。（私にも一つ下さいな）#ダンボールアート pic.twitter.com/pSCCSVhQT7— 岡林商店 (@ryuusei240303) November 15, 2020
Here they are on display a month later, when Shikoku’s Kochi Broadcasting used the cardboard Demon Slayer art as part of its coverage of the final volume of the manga:
祝「鬼滅の刃」最終巻発売日❗❗このニュースと一緒にうちのダンボール達が放送される予定です。高知放送 12/4 PM6:15〜 見てね🤗 pic.twitter.com/sHZ71GOnrM
— 岡林商店 (@ryuusei240303) December 4, 2020
64-year-old Okabayashi has been making cardboard anime and other pop culture sculptures for more than a year now. He displays his creations either inside or in front of Okabayashi Shoten, his fruit and vegetable stop in Ino Town, Kochi Prefecture. Kochi Prefecture is a long way from Akihabara, but the cardboard sculptures have fans on social media. The store also posts photos of the construction process to Facebook. The newest one will apparently be the demon Akaza from Demon Slayer.
Some people have also posted videos to YouTube, such as this travel piece from last year:
According to a Kyodo News report (curated by Yahoo! News on Thursday morning in Japan), the statues of the four Demon Slayer heroes took from two weeks to a month to build. The Nezuko sculpture is only about 20 centimeters (about 7 inches) in length, so she can fit inside her box. The others are 50 cm (about 1.6 feet) in length.
He has also made cardboard models of Gundam mecha, Space Battleship Yamato, the catbus and other characters from My Neighbor Totoro, and other pop culture icons.
In addition to a cardboard sculpture artist, Ino Town is also home to a museum dedicated to traditional Japanese paper. Paper is a big deal in that area.