Bunraku
This entry makes use of Japanese characters and will require Japanese language support to be installed on your computer in order to avoid the characters being replaced by question marks, or blanked out.
Bunraku (æ楽) is the traditional puppet theater of Japan. However, it only assumed the name Bunraku towards the end of the Meiji era. Prior to that it was known as ningyÅ jÅruri (人形æµç ç "puppet narrative drama") or ayatsuri jÅruri shibai (æãæµç çèå±
"puppet drama plays"). The name Bunraku is taken from the theater in which this puppet drama was performed, but gradually it came to be used as the name of the art itself and is today used as the official name of the puppet theater.
JÅruri also refers to a form of shamisen (a three-stringed lute-like instrument) music, and the name reflects that the puppet plays are performed to a jÅruri accompaniment. It is the combination of its high-quality artistic technique, the high level of its jÅruri music and the unique nature of manipulating the puppets (each puppet requires three puppeteers to bring it to life), that have led to Bunraku's world renown.
Two things differentiate Bunraku from other forms of puppet theaters around the world. The first is the duration of each play. Whilst most puppet theaters portray simple stories such as myths and legends, only Bunraku requires an entire day for its long, serious drama to play out.
Secondly, in most of the world's puppet theaters, great pains are taken to hide the manipulation of the puppeteers from the audience. This is done by either suspending the puppet from strings attached to the ceiling, as with marionettes, or placing a hand within the puppet and moving it with the fingers, as with guignol puppets; or by casting shadows upon a screen, as with the wayan kulit shadow puppets. In Bunraku, however, the puppet's manipulators appear openly, in full view of the audience.