Bunraku

Japanese puppet theater. Founded in Osaka in 1684, the school was eventually overshadowed -- perhaps literally -- by the developing school of kabuki, and ultimately succumbed to a lack of competent playwrights.

Three kinds of performers take part in a bunraku performance:

• Puppeteers
• Chanters
• Shamisen players

The combination of chanting and shamisen playing is called joruri. Since the Japanese word for puppet is ningyo, bunraku is sometimes called ningyo joruri.

The puppeteers manipulate the puppet by means of handles located inside the puppet. An important character requires three puppeteers: in order of seniority, these are one for the head and right arm, another for the left arm, and the last for the legs. Puppeteers are in many cases in full view of the audience, but wear black outfits and black hoods over their heads so as to remain inconspicuous. In a good performance, the audience's attention is drawn to the puppets, and the puppeteers become "invisible". Some master puppeteers may remove their hoods during a performance, knowing that the audience is too absorbed in the story to be distracted.

Many sources state that the puppets are 4/5 life size. This may not be precisely accurate, but they are at least half the height of an adult. Bunraku puppets can be quite mechanically sophisticated. In plays with supernatural themes, for example, a puppet may be constructed so that its face can quickly transform in the face of a monster.

A single chanter recites all the characters' parts, using techniques such as pitch to distinguish the characters. The chanter sits next to the shamisen player on a revolving platform, and from time to time, the platform turns, bringing replacement musicians for the next scene.

The shamisen of bunraku has a sound that's different from other shamisen. It's lower in pitch, and has a fuller tone.

Bunraku shares many themes with its contemporary, kabuki. In fact, several plays were adapted for performance both by actors in kabuki and by puppet troupes in bunraku. Bunraku is particularly noted for lovers' suicide plays. The story of the forty-seven ronin is also famous in both bunraku and kabuki.

Bunraku is an author's theater. Prior to the performance, the chanter holds up the text and bows before it, promising to follow it faithfully. Kabuki, however, is a performer's theater. Players insert puns on actors' names, ad-libs, references to contemporary happenings and other changes from the script.

The most famous bunraku playwright was Chikamatsu Monzaemon. With more than one hundred plays to his credit, he is sometimes called the Shakespeare of Japan.

Bunraku performers, and makers of the puppets, might become "living national treasures" under Japan's program for preserving its culture.

Sources

• http://www.sagecraft.com/puppetry/definitions/Bunraku.hist.html