Bunraku puppet theater is a Japanese traditional performing art that originated in Osaka in the early Edo period (1603-1867). It was added to UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008.
Bunraku is also called ningyo johruri. Johruri is one genre of Japanese classical musical performance in which stories are told melodiously to the music performed on shamisen and other such instruments. Ningyo johruri then is this form of musical theater performed using puppets.
Why did the name of the performing art change to bunraku? Because of the name of the promoter, Uemura Bunrakuken, who managed the theater in Osaka specializing in ningyo johruri performances during the latter half of the Edo period. As his theater became the only place to show ningyo johruri in Osaka, the word "bunraku" gradually became synonymous with the art form.
Though there are puppet shows all over the world, bunraku has a distinctive style.
The music is played in a style called gidayu-bushi, a type of johruri music used in bunraku shows in which a "tayu," who plays a dual role of narrator and voice actor, and a shamisen player form a duo to perform the music.
To this music, three puppet masters jointly control a single puppet. The trio comprises an "ashizukai" in charge of controlling the legs; a "hidarizukai" who controls the left arm; and an "omozukai" in charge of movements of the head and the right arm.
It is said that a person can become a full-fledged omozukai after training as the ashizukai for 10 years and then as the hidarizukai for 15 years.
Even watching a bunraku show just once can convince you that the movements of bunraku puppets are so real that they look like those of humans. During a new play, puppet master Yoshida Ichisuke once had a bunraku puppet mimic a swimmer doing dolphin kicks. "Whatever movements humans can do, bunraku puppets can do," he confidently said.
In addition, bunraku puppets can express "death" in a way human actors are unable to show. When a puppet character dies, for example, by harakiri suicide, the puppet masters exit the stage and leave the puppet behind. The onstage puppet is truly "dead" as there are no bunraku puppet masters to give life to it.
Bunraku and kabuki share many of the same plays, such as "Kanadehon Chushingura" and "Yoshitsune Senbonzakura." The relationship between the two is likened to that of brothers, but I believe that bunraku must be the elder brother. Most classic plays of kabuki performed on sets with a yuka small stage for players of gidayu-bushi on the side were almost all imported from bunraku, so I believe I'm not mistaken in saying so.
I like bunraku very much. I had not known this performing art at all until I saw a performance for the first time in Osaka seven years ago. Although even now I often feel watching bunraku is difficult to understand, I have been deeply impressed by the passion and determination of the people in the bunraku world I have encountered during interviews.
Yoshida Minosuke, 85, a living national treasure, is the current top puppet master. He suffered from a serious illness 20 years ago, but came back to the stage after having undergone a difficult rehabilitation.
When I interviewed him recently, he said with a serious expression on his face: "If I have a next life, I also want to be a puppet master. I will start my training from ashizukai again."
Takemoto Sumitayu, who had been close to Minosuke and died at age 93 last year, said when he retired in 2014 as a living national treasure that bunraku was a love that is difficult to leave. "This performing art is so difficult that I will have to continue practicing even after death," Sumitayu had said.
He senior disciple, Takemoto Koshijidayu, who died in 2002, also had said: "The whole of one life is not long enough for practicing. I wanted another lifetime."
Can people be so enthusiastic about their work to such a degree? I envy these puppet masters with such a passion that at the same time, I was encouraged by them when I saw them make the utmost efforts for their performances. I want to support them from the bottom of my heart.
-- Morishige covers traditional performing arts.
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