The coronavirus has put bunraku puppet theater performances on hold, with the future schedule of events unclear.
Traditional bunraku involves three puppeteers jointly controlling a single puppet on stage. Organizers apparently believe this would risk infection at a time when people are being asked to avoid crowded situations in all aspects of daily life.
In these difficult times, the National Theatre has put footage of the "Akoya Kotozeme" chapter of "Dannoura Kabuto Gunki" on its official YouTube channel. The footage is from a performance at the National Bunraku Theater in Osaka in January 2019, and can be viewed for free through June 30.
The chapter features Akoya, who is considered to be one of the best and most prominent female roles in bunraku. This is a valuable opportunity for viewers to thoroughly appreciate Akoya's movements and the music in the piece.
The role of Akoya was memorably played by veteran kabuki actor Bando Tamasaburo, who in recent years passed down his techniques to young actors Nakamura Baishi and Nakamura Kotaro. The kabuki version is, in fact, an adaptation of the original performed in ningyo joruri, or present-day bunraku puppet theater.
The story is set around the end of the Genpei War, when the Genji clan defeated the Heike clan. To determine the whereabouts of Akushichibyoe Kagekiyo, a surviving warrior of the Heike clan, Chichibuno Shoji Shigetada, a warrior of the Genji clan, interrogates Akoya, a courtesan and lover of Kagekiyo.
Akoya insists she does not know where her lover is. Shigetada then decides to make her play three instruments -- koto, shamisen and kokyu fiddle -- to see if there is any discordance in the music she plays, to determine whether she is telling the truth.
Several players appear as "tayu," performers who both narrate and provide character voices. Akoya's voice was provided by Takemoto Tsukomadayu, currently Takemoto Shikorodayu after assuming the name, who is known for his beautiful high-pitched voice. Takemoto Oritayu led the performance with his intelligent narration and also served as Shigetada's voice.
Tsuruzawa Seisuke created a tense atmosphere in the interrogation scene by powerfully strumming the shamisen with a plectrum, while promising young performer Tsuruzawa Kantaro beautifully played the three instruments in the highlight of the play.
In bunraku, the highest ranking puppeteer of the trio is in charge of moving the puppet's head and right arm and hand. Normally this main puppeteer appears on the stage with his face uncovered. However, as the Akoya chapter is regarded as a special show, not only the main puppeteer Kiritake Kanjuro, but also Yoshida Ichisuke, who controls Akoya's left arm and hand, and Kiritake Kanjiro, who manipulates her legs, also appear without hoods over their faces.
It is said to take 10 years of training to master being a foot puppeteer and then another 15 years to master the left arm. Ultimately, becoming a main puppeteer requires about 25 years of training. Akoya is such an important role that serving as her puppeteer is often described as a graduation exam for foot and left arm puppeteers.
The video on the YouTube channel shows not only the stage performance in which Akoya plays the koto, shamisen and kokyu fiddle, but also Kantaro, who plays the three instruments, in a small inset screen. As the puppet of Akoya plucks the strings with her right hand and presses the strings with her left hand, the delicate movement of her fingers is seen perfectly matching the music played by Kantaro.
Puppeteer and living national treasure Yoshida Kazuo once said, "A person striving to become the main puppeteer by performing the feet and left-hand parts of the same role must understand almost all the moves, even when doing the main part for the first time."
Now that Ichisuke and Kanjiro have worked with main puppeteer Kanjuro and observed his precise, splendid performance at close range, they have taken on the qualifications and the mission to re-create Kanjuro's performance in the future. I felt quite emotional as I watched the video with that in mind.
-- Morishige covers traditional performing arts.
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