{ "id": "ep9zy3qwe8", "slug": "the-house-of-small-cubes", "title": "The House of Small Cubes (つみきのいえ)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "label": "Animated and short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.short-films-individual", "label": "Individual short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.short-films-individual" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "label": "Asia (other) · 2001 to 2020: Animated and short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001", "label": "Asia (other) · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "label": "Animated and short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The House of Small Cubes (つみきのいえ, La maison en petits cubes) is a 2008 12-minute Japanese short animated film by Kunio Katō about an old man diving through his flooded stacked house; it won the 2009 Oscar for Best Animated Short.", "snippet": "The House of Small Cubes (つみきのいえ, La maison en petits cubes) is a 2008 12-minute Japanese short animated film by Kunio Katō about an old man diving through his flooded stacked house; it won the 2009 Oscar for Best Animated Short.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.short-films-individual", "markdown": "# The House of Small Cubes (つみきのいえ)\n\n**The House of Small Cubes** (つみきのいえ, *Tsumiki no ie*; French title *La maison en petits cubes*) is a 2008 Japanese short animated film directed by Kunio Katō, in which an old man living in a house built upward like stacked building blocks as floodwaters rise dives through the submerged lower floors of his home and relives the memories attached to each level.[1](https://www.annecyfestival.com/about/archives/2008/official-selection/film-index%3Afilm-20080922) The 12-minute film won the [Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-animated-short-film) at the 81st Academy Awards, the first Japanese work to win that category.[2](https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/cinema/news/f-et-tp1-20090223-463972.html)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | つみきのいえ (*Tsumiki no ie*), also released as *La maison en petits cubes*[1](https://www.annecyfestival.com/about/archives/2008/official-selection/film-index%3Afilm-20080922) |\n| Director and writer | Created, directed, and animated by Kunio Katō; screenplay by Kenya Hirata[1](https://www.annecyfestival.com/about/archives/2008/official-selection/film-index%3Afilm-20080922) • [3](https://eiga.com/movie/54487/) |\n| Production | Robot Communications; producers Masanori Kusakabe and Yuko Shin; music by Kenji Kondo[1](https://www.annecyfestival.com/about/archives/2008/official-selection/film-index%3Afilm-20080922) |\n| Length and technique | 12 minutes 3 seconds; drawing on paper combined with 2D computer work, in color[1](https://www.annecyfestival.com/about/archives/2008/official-selection/film-index%3Afilm-20080922) |\n| Academy Award | Best Animated Short Film, 81st Academy Awards (2009); first Japanese winner in the category[2](https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/cinema/news/f-et-tp1-20090223-463972.html) |\n| Other major awards | Annecy Cristal and children's jury award, Annecy 2008; Hiroshima Prize and Audience Award, Hiroshima 2008; Grand Prize, 12th Japan Media Arts Festival Animation Division[4](https://eizo100.jp/video/52033) • [5](https://www.bunka.go.jp/j-mediaarts-festival/award/single/the-house-of-small-cubes/index.html) |\n| Narration | Masami Nagasawa on the Japanese DVD, which was issued in narrated and non-narrated versions[6](https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000136-I1970304959821712800) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story\n\nAn old man lives alone in a house that stands above a drowned town. Because the sea level keeps rising, he has repeatedly built new floors on top of the old ones, so the house has come to resemble a stack of small cubes, with earlier levels submerged below the water.[3](https://eiga.com/movie/54487/) • [7](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/maison_en_petits_cubes_la) Although the floodwaters stretch to the horizon, an infrastructure still exists that lets him buy materials, and a visiting boat sells him a diving suit.[7](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/maison_en_petits_cubes_la)\n\nWhen he drops his pipe through a flooded floor, he puts on the suit and dives down through the levels of his own house to retrieve it.[5](https://www.bunka.go.jp/j-mediaarts-festival/award/single/the-house-of-small-cubes/index.html) Each floor he passes carries the memory of a stage of his life: the Japan Media Arts Festival synopsis describes him encountering the memories of his late wife, his daughter, and other people from his past, depicted in a quiet touch, with the theme of global warming hidden just below the surface.[5](https://www.bunka.go.jp/j-mediaarts-festival/award/single/the-house-of-small-cubes/index.html) The descent runs backward through time, ending at the ground floor with his first meeting with his childhood sweetheart, the woman who became his wife.[7](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/maison_en_petits_cubes_la) The film has no dialogue; the story is carried by images and music alone.[8](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0007341)\n\n## Production\n\nThe film was made at Robot Communications, a Tokyo-based company producing films and commercials, with Katō handling direction, animation, script credit on some records, graphics, storyboard, layout, sets, camera, and compositing, and Kenya Hirata writing the screenplay.[1](https://www.annecyfestival.com/about/archives/2008/official-selection/film-index%3Afilm-20080922) • [3](https://eiga.com/movie/54487/) Katō had previously made short animations including *R* and *Diary of a Traveler* (或る旅人の日記).[3](https://eiga.com/movie/54487/) A retrospective account of his work states that *The House of Small Cubes* took about a year to produce.[9](https://hub.robot.co.jp/article/html/img/kunio/katokunioten_hyougo.pdf)\n\nThe Annecy festival archive lists the techniques as drawing on paper and 2D computer work.[1](https://www.annecyfestival.com/about/archives/2008/official-selection/film-index%3Afilm-20080922) Japanese press coverage noted that, at a time when CG and visual effects were widely used, the film was deliberately finished in a soft pencil-touch style.[8](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0007341) The Japanese DVD, released by Robot and sold by Toho in October 2008, contains both a narrated and a non-narrated version, each 12 minutes, with narration by the actress [Masami Nagasawa](https://www.edgepedia.org/masami-nagasawa).[6](https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000136-I1970304959821712800)\n\n## Release\n\nThe film was first released in Japan on October 4, 2008, as a 12-minute-3-second short.[10](https://www.dcaj.or.jp/project/report/pdf/2009/dc_09_01.pdf) It received a Japanese theatrical release on March 7, 2009, after its award season success.[3](https://eiga.com/movie/54487/) It was also distributed on DVD and through several video-on-demand services, an unusual commercial run for a short animation with a small theatrical footprint.[11](https://reviewne.jp/contents/12067)\n\n## Awards\n\nThe film accumulated festival prizes through 2008 before its Oscar win. At the Annecy International Animation Film Festival it won the Annecy Cristal, the festival's top prize for short films, and the children's jury award; at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival it won the Hiroshima Prize and the Audience Award; and it took the Grand Prize in the Animation Division of the 12th Japan Media Arts Festival.[4](https://eizo100.jp/video/52033) • [5](https://www.bunka.go.jp/j-mediaarts-festival/award/single/the-house-of-small-cubes/index.html) At the 81st Academy Awards, held February 22, 2009 (February 23 Japan time), it won Best Animated Short Film, beating the nominated shorts *Lavatory Lovestory*, *Oktapodi*, *Presto*, and *This Way Up*.[2](https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/cinema/news/f-et-tp1-20090223-463972.html) Japanese reporting called it the first Japanese work to win the category, and IMDb records that Katō became the first Asian filmmaker to win it since the category was initiated in 1932.[2](https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/cinema/news/f-et-tp1-20090223-463972.html) • [12](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1361566/) The Japan Media Arts Festival jury citation credited the film's delicate, nostalgic visual world, a story conveyed without dialogue or explanation, and a universality that crosses borders and generations.[5](https://www.bunka.go.jp/j-mediaarts-festival/award/single/the-house-of-small-cubes/index.html)\n\n## Picture book\n\nThe film was adapted into a picture book with art by Katō and text by Hirata, published in Japan by Hakusensha in 2008.[13](https://fs2.magicalir.net/tdnet/2013/6879/20130419020056.pdf) A French edition appeared in March 2012 through the publisher nobi!nobi!, and Katō appeared as an invited author at the Salon du Livre book fair in Paris that year. In April 2013 the French edition won the [Prix Sorcières](https://www.edgepedia.org/prix-sorcieres), a leading French children's literature prize, in the picture book category.[13](https://fs2.magicalir.net/tdnet/2013/6879/20130419020056.pdf)\n\n## Reception and interpretation\n\nCommentators have read the film in different registers. The Science Fiction Encyclopedia classifies it as science fiction bordering on slipstream (fiction blending fantasy and mainstream realism without clear genre elements): the drowning of an entire city takes the story out of the mainstream, no clear fantasy elements appear, and the flooding could be the result of climate change, with some attention paid to worldbuilding.[7](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/maison_en_petits_cubes_la) The same entry describes the tone as steeped in a sense of loss, carried by a muted pastel look.[7](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/maison_en_petits_cubes_la) Japanese coverage likewise highlighted the environmental theme embedded in the rising water.[8](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0007341) On the review aggregator Filmarks, the film holds a 3.9 average from more than 25,000 user reviews, with readers frequently citing the accumulation of family memories in the stacked floors and the effectiveness of a dialogue-free twelve minutes.[14](https://filmarks.com/movies/33889)\n\n## References\n\n1. [La maison en petits cubes / The House of Small Cubes, film index, Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2008 archives](https://www.annecyfestival.com/about/archives/2008/official-selection/film-index%3Afilm-20080922)\n2. [「つみきのいえ」がオスカー／アカデミー賞, Nikkan Sports, February 23, 2009](https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/cinema/news/f-et-tp1-20090223-463972.html)\n3. [つみきのいえ：作品情報・キャスト・あらすじ, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/54487/)\n4. [つみきのいえ（2008）, 映像作家 100人](https://eizo100.jp/video/52033)\n5. [つみきのいえ, 第12回文化庁メディア芸術祭アニメーション部門大賞, JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL](https://www.bunka.go.jp/j-mediaarts-festival/award/single/the-house-of-small-cubes/index.html)\n6. [つみきのいえ = La maison en petits cubes, NDLサーチ, National Diet Library](https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000136-I1970304959821712800)\n7. [Maison en Petits Cubes, La, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, entry updated May 3, 2021](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/maison_en_petits_cubes_la)\n8. [つみきのいえ (2008)：あらすじ・作品情報, シネマトゥデイ](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0007341)\n9. [加藤久仁生展（伊丹）, Robot Communications exhibition document](https://hub.robot.co.jp/article/html/img/kunio/katokunioten_hyougo.pdf)\n10. [平成20年度 著作権等管理事業に関する調査報告書, デジタルコンテンツ協会](https://www.dcaj.or.jp/project/report/pdf/2009/dc_09_01.pdf)\n11. [つみきのいえのあらすじ/作品解説, レビューンアニメ](https://reviewne.jp/contents/12067)\n12. [The House of Small Cubes (Short 2008), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1361566/)\n13. [絵本『つみきのいえ』フランスの児童文学賞ソルシエール賞を受賞, Robot Communications news release, April 18, 2013](https://fs2.magicalir.net/tdnet/2013/6879/20130419020056.pdf)\n14. [つみきのいえの作品情報・感想・評価, Filmarks映画](https://filmarks.com/movies/33889)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Animated and short films › Individual short films*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-small-cubes", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-small-cubes.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The House of Small Cubes (つみきのいえ)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-small-cubes. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The House of Small Cubes (つみきのいえ)](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-small-cubes)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-small-cubes](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-small-cubes). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The House of Small Cubes (つみきのいえ)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-house-of-small-cubes. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The House of Small Cubes is a 2008 12-minute Japanese short animated film by Kunio Katō about an old man diving through his flooded stacked house; it won the 2009 Oscar for Best Animated Short." }