Bunraku: Spellbinding performance of puppets with ballad narration and shamisen music  

 

Cultural News, September 2007

 

 

The Bunraku puppeteers carry the dolls onto the stage and are visible throughout the play. Master puppeteer Yoshida Bunjyaku, left, and late Yoshida Tamao work in unison. (Courtesy of Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles)

 

   The internationally-acclaimed National Bunraku Theatre of Japan returns to the United States for the first time in nearly two decades with two classic masterworks Date Musume Koi no Higanoko (Oshichi’s Burning Love) and Tsubosaka Kannon Reigenki (Miracle at the Tsubosaka Kannon Temple) from October 2-20.

 

   Because the National Bunraku Theatre is based in Osaka, Japan, special attention was given to Kansai-area Sister Cities in the United States. The troupe will perform in Boston; Champaign, Illinois; Evanston, Illinois; Berkeley, California; San Francisco; concluding its tour in Los Angeles at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, Aratani/Japan America Theatre. In 2007, San Francisco celebrates its 50th anniversary of Sister City Affiliations with the city of Osaka.

 

  In Los Angeles, the National Bunraku Theatre will offer four performances at: Thursday, Oct. 18, 8:00 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 19, 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 20, 2:00 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 20, 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $65 for Orchestra level, $55 for Balcony level.  

 

   The 32-member company of master puppeteers, musicians and narrators will present two dramatic tales of love, passion and devotion with visually spectacular sets, lavish costumes and breathtaking movements. 

 

    Date Musume Koi no Higanoko (Oshichi's Burning Love) was first performed in Osaka in 1773 and recounts the true story of sixteen-year-old Oshichi whose infatuation with a young priest leads her to arson.

 

   The companion piece, Tsubosaka Kannon Reigenki (Miracle at the Tsubosaka Kannon Temple) follows the story of Sawaichi and his devoted wife, Osato. Osato sneaks out of the house early each day to pray to the Goddess of Mercy, Kannon, at the local temple so that her blind husband’s sight might be restored. Concerned that he is becoming an excessive burden, Sawaichi decides to end his life so his wife can have a new beginning. When she realizes what her husband has done, Osato must choose between life and death.

 

   Bunraku traces its origins to 17th century Japan when the three distinct and highly refined artistic disciplines of joruri, or ballad narration, shamisen instrumental music, and ningyo tsukai, or the art of puppet manipulation, were brought together. 

 

   Its true magic is revealed when the three independent components of movement, words, and music come together creating a great theatrical experience evoking deep emotion and wonder.

 

   Bunraku has often been described as an art of threes and this combination of interlocking “triangles” is what continues to fascinate audiences. The spellbinding coordination of three puppeteers manipulating one doll; the unity achieved by the three independent components of movement, words and music; and the intersecting lines of communication -- between puppeteer and narrator, narrator and shamisen player, musician and puppet -- offer complexities not found in any other theater in the world.

 

   Bunraku puppets are about half to two-thirds life size and weigh anywhere from 10 to 50 pounds. Their eyes move, their eyebrows rise in surprise, their mouths open and shut, and their hands and arms gesture gracefully and realistically.

 

   Each puppet requires three operators who need to work in unison. The puppeteers carry the dolls on to the stage and are visible throughout the play. The chief manipulator wears high wooden straw-soled stage clogs so he can work above his two assistants and slide quietly across the stage. 

 

   At the start of each run, the master puppeteer is responsible for the creation of the puppets that he will operate on stage. A doll head which best suits the character is selected from a group of more than 300. Its hair is dressed in a style befitting the role and an appropriate costume is sewn around the basic framework of the doll. 

 

   Leading puppeteers often have personal favorites which will vary subtly in such details as the line of the chin, the length of the nose and the furrow of the brow.

 

    The chief operator holds the puppet from the back with his left hand by a special grip in the doll’s chest and directs the puppet’s right arm with his right hand. 

 

   The second operator is responsible for the movement of the puppet’s left arm, and the third moves the legs. In the case of female dolls, the third operator moves its skirt in such a way as to create an illusion of moving legs.

 

   The joruri narrator sits on an auxiliary stage with the musician. He sets the scene, describes the emotions of the characters, delivers the narrative, and recites all the dialogue.

 

   The narrator referred to as the “tayu” has great tonal and expressive range, and his voice can change instantly from a suggestive whisper to rage, from bass to soprano, from melody to conversational chatter.  

 

   A senior tayu may take as many as 14 roles in a single scene. When the narrative reaches a crescendo, he will often rise on his knees and gesticulate. Stamina and expressiveness are considered the tayu’s most important attributes. 

 

    The musician sits on the narrator’s left playing the futazao (wide-necked) shamisen, notable for its resonant tone and deep notes. 

 

    The music of Bunraku has many complex changes of tempo and consists mostly of stylized motifs and fixed musical phrases, chords or single notes. Occasional melodic sections of greater length are used to establish atmosphere or to accompany a lament, song or dance. 

 

   The notes of the shamisen precede or conclude action by the puppets, provide musical decoration for the tayu’s words, accentuate and guide movement on stage, and increase or ease tension. The music sets the atmosphere and tempo for the performance; it does not compete with the voice, but adds punctuation and italics. When there is a pause in the narrative, the shamisen provides a musical bridge for the continuing action of the puppets. 

 

  The birth of Bunraku dates to 1684, when Takemoto Gidayu (1651-1714), a famous master of joruri narration, established the Takemoto-za theatre in Osaka. But the name most closely associated with Bunraku is that of the playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724), who cooperated with Takemoto Gidayu to produce numerous masterpieces of puppet theatre.

 

   Chikamatsu's plays portray human emotion in a tragic but admirable light. Love Suicides at Sonezaki, for example, depicts the dilemma of star-crossed lovers who, faced with a choice between love and duty, choose to die together.

 

  During the first half of the eighteenth century, Bunraku surpassed even Kabuki in popularity, but in the nineteenth century it slipped into a decline from which it only began to recover about two decades ago. In fact, in the period directly following World War II, it came perilously close to extinction, hanging on only with the help of government subsidies and a small coterie of enthusiasts.

 

   In 2003, Bunraku was recognized as a "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the National Bunraku Theatre in Osaka is the only full-time, professional repertory puppet troupe in the country.

 

  The 2007 U.S. Tour of the National Bunraku Theatre of Japan is made possible through the generous support of the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunka-cho), the Kansai Economic Federation (Kankeiren), the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Japan-America Society of Osaka, The Japan Foundation, the United States - Japan Foundation, and Toyota Motor North America, Inc. Significant in-kind support is provided by Japan Airlines and American Airlines. The 2007 U.S. Tour of the National Bunraku Theatre of Japan is produced and coordinated by the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center in Los Angeles. 

 

   Each performance will be accompanied by An Introduction to Bunraku, with the leading Japanese film and theater scholar, Mr. Peter Grilli, former director of the Donald Keene Center for Japanese Culture at Columbia University in New York.

 

  The Aratani/Japan America Theatre is located in the Little Tokyo district in downtown Los Angeles at 244 S. San Pedro St., Downtown. Convenient parking is available on San Pedro Street or Second Street.

 

   To purchase tickets, or for more information call the Aratani / Japan America Theatre box office at (213) 680-3700 from noon to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and Sundays only on performance days.  Fax orders to (213) 680-1872 or send email inquiries to boxoffice@jaccc.org.  For more information visit the website at: www.jaccc.org.