Short answers, pulled from the story.
Kihachirō Kawamoto was born in 1925 and began his career in 1946 as a production design assistant under So Matsuyama at Toho. He later collaborated with Tadasu Iizawa to illustrate children's literature using photographs of dolls in dioramas.
Kihachirō Kawamoto traveled to Prague in 1963 to study puppet animation under Jiří Trnka for one year. This training transformed his understanding of the medium and encouraged him to draw on his own country's rich cultural heritage.
Kihachirō Kawamoto designed puppets for the NHK series The Three Kingdoms which ran from 1982 to 1984 and The Tale of the Heike which ran from 1993 to 1994. These series brought ancient Japanese stories to life through the medium of puppetry.
Kihachirō Kawamoto released The Book of the Dead in 1981 as his only feature-length animation. The film had its world premiere at the 40th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in July 2005 in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic.
Kihachirō Kawamoto became the second president of the Japan Animation Association in 1989 succeeding Osamu Tezuka. He served in this role until his own death.
Kihachirō Kawamoto oversaw the Winter Days project in 2003 where 35 animators created two-minute segments inspired by Matsuo Bashō's renka couplets. This project celebrated the collaborative spirit of Japanese poetry and animation.