Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Bunraku Puppetry

Bunraku is Japan's professional puppet theater. Developed primarily in the 17th and 18th centuries, it is one of the four forms of Japanese classical theater, the others being kabuki, noh, and kyogen.

The term bunraku comes from Bunraku-za, the name of the only commercial bunraku theater to survive into the modern era.

Bunraku is also called ningyo joruri, a name that points to its origins and essence. Ningyo means "doll" or "puppet," and joruri is the name of a style of dramatic narrative chanting accompanied by the three-stringed shamisen. This exhibition from a show in Kyoto found on Youtube.



There are several other fascinating demonstrations of the techniques leading me to consider whether or not future puppoetics development will require working with several others in the future. I admit, I'm intrigued.

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