Short answers, pulled from the story.
Noburō Ōfuji was a Japanese film director and animator who lived from 1900 to 1961. He is known for cutout and silhouette animation, his use of traditional Japanese washi paper and Edo chiyogami, and for being one of the first Japanese animators to earn international recognition.
The Ōfuji Noburō Award is part of the Mainichi Film Awards, one of Japan's most prestigious film prizes. It is named after Noburō Ōfuji and is given annually to recognize outstanding animated work.
Ōfuji worked primarily with cutout and silhouette animation. He also made films using traditional cel animation, though imported cels were expensive at the time, and his earliest known surviving work combines live-action and animation.
Ōfuji trained under Jun'ichi Kōuchi before establishing his own company. Kōuchi was one of the foundational figures of early Japanese animation.
Ōfuji used washi, a traditional Japanese handmade paper, and in particular the coloured and patterned Edo chiyogami. These materials gave his films a distinctively Japanese visual character.
Ōfuji's last film was Shaka no shogai, released in 1961, the year of his death. It continued his longstanding engagement with Buddhist themes, which appeared across several works throughout his career.