文楽 （Bunraku)

Bunraku is Japanese Traditional Puppet Theatre. The first time i went for Bunraku was 2 weeks ago. I liked it so much that i decided to do it again, at my own expense. and this second time round, i had a BIG treat!! got to go backstage and take photos with a Shamisen master, and wat's even better, i met his cute looking disciple! hahahaha!!! in bunraku, 1 meter tall puppets are used on stage. and the interesting thing is that it takes THREE PEOPLE to manage the movements of each puppet.

1) Puppet's Head and Right Hand: the puppeteer who does this is the master - usually rather old, cause it takes about 30yrs to get to work this position on the puppet. the puppeteer who works this position is the only puppeteer whose face can be seen. the rest of them wear black and have black hoods over their heads (think: executioneer)

2) Puppet's Left Hand: this is the second most prestigious position

3) Puppet's Feet: this is the 'easiest' position to work. Btw, Female puppets don't have feet, cause it is considered indelicate... hm. the puppeteer just moves the 'feet' from underneath the costume at all times.

The mechanisms that allow the puppets to move are sophisticated. no visible strings - but a mix of strings (that control facial changes - transformation from lady to demon) connected to metal rods with different finger-pulls which work the strings within the puppet - the puppet can flex its fingers or curl its palm into a ball - making for very realistic and expressive movements. one of the scenes that i saw was a SEWING SCENE. and if i didn't know better, i would have thought there was REALLY thread and she was really sewing. the skill involved was incredible.

each doll is made of wooden sections (arms/ leg/ head) which are disassembled and assembled according to role. the hair is created specially for each role, and is nailed to the head.

the costumes are nice, but not as spendid as the ones used for kabuki - another nice thing about bunraku is the costume changes - sometimes the characters wear double/ triple layers and the puppeteers work together to seamlessly create the metamorphosis on stage - a matter or undoing strings, ripping out cello tape, untying hair.




The puppeteers wear slippers like these - and the height of the slippers varies according to the height of the puppeteer. the stage from which they operate the puppets is artificially raised so as to create the impression that the puppets are actually 'walking' on 'ground'. generally its a very raised stage.






apart from the puppets and the puppeteers, there's also the story-teller and the shamisen player, who are integral to Kabuki. none of the puppeteers have any lines and everything is told to us through the story-teller, who sings the tale and the dialogues, to the accompaniment of the shamisen player.

in introductory scenes, a single row of story-tellers, and shamisen players assemble on the right of the stage, with the master story-teller and shamisen player sitting in the middle.

in normal sequences, a story-teller and shamisen player pair hold the narrative together. for crucial and climactic scenes, the master story-teller and the master shamisen player will emerge.

these changes happen using a revolving mini stage


only held steady by 2 simple door jams. once removed, the stage can swing freely?!?! isn't it freaky that in high tech japan - something so simple as a piece of wood is used to stablise a platform?!




This is the Shamisen Master that i got the opportunity to meet. I realised how influential he was when he appeared for the final climactic scene and 1/2 way through, his apprentice appeared and played for about 10 mins before disappearing again (like WAH!!!! apprentice get a rare chance to perform a difficult piece along with his master)



this is is *relatively* cute apprentice, with Suzuki san, the lady who takes care of all of us at AYF.


i like bunraku!!