bunraku

The classical Japanese puppet theatre. Puppets are two-thirds life size, hand-held by a puppet master, generally with two ‘invisible’ assistants in black. The movements are accompanied by a singer-narrator, who voices all the roles, and musicians. Bunraku's greatest popularity was in the 17th–18th-c.

Bunraku (Japanese: 文楽), also known as Ningyō jōruri (人形浄瑠璃), is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theater, founded in Osaka in 1684.

Three kinds of performers take part in a bunraku performance:

Puppeteers Chanters Shamisen players

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

The puppeteers manipulate the puppet by means of handles located inside.

Outside of Japan, the word "Bunraku" is used loosely to refer to any style of puppetry where a full-bodied puppet is manipulated by any number of visible puppeteers who may or may not be dressed in black. This is primarily to distinguish such manipulation from other puppetry styles (hand puppets, marionettes, shadow puppets, etc.) but critics assert that this is not true Bunraku.

Many sources state that the puppets are 4/5 life size. Bunraku puppets can be quite mechanically sophisticated.

A single chanter recites all the characters' parts, altering their pitch in order to switch between various characters.

The shamisen of bunraku has a sound that's different from other shamisen.

Bunraku shares many themes with kabuki. In fact, several plays were adapted for performance both by actors in kabuki and by puppet troupes in bunraku.

Bunraku is an author's theater, as opposed to kabuki, which is a performer's theater.

The most famous bunraku playwright was Chikamatsu Monzaemon.

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

Osaka is the home of the government-supported troupe at National Bunraku Theater. The National Bunraku Theater Troupe also tours within Japan and occasionally abroad.

Until the late 1800s there were also hundreds of other professional, semi-professional, and amateur troupes across Japan that performed traditional puppet drama. The Awaji Puppet Troupe, located on Awaji Island southwest of Kobe, offers short daily performances and more extensive shows at their own theater and has toured the United States, Russia, and elsewhere abroad. The Tonda Traditional Bunraku Puppet Troupe of Shiga Prefecture, founded in the 1830s, has toured the United States and Australia on five occasions and has been active in hosting academic programs in Japan for American university students who wish to train in traditional Japanese puppetry. The Imada Puppet Troupe, which has toured both France and Taiwan, and the Kuroda Puppet Troupe are located in the city of Iida in Nagano Prefecture.