File puptcrit/puptcrit.0911, message 265


To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:57:38 -0500
From: puppetpro-AT-aol.com
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Bunraku


Thanks for this history lesson, Marty.


Rolande



-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Holman <jmartinholman-AT-gmail.com>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Sent: Thu, Nov 19, 2009 9:53 pm
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Bunraku


The word "bunraku" comes from the name of a puppeteer, Uemura Bunrakken or
Bunrakuken, who came from Awaji to Osaka in the early 1800s. His efforts in
the puppet theater lifted the sagging fortunes of puppetry in Osaka. In the
1870s a theater was opened in Osaka (some time after Bunrakuken's death) and
named Bunraku-za after him ("za" meaning "theater). The popularity of the
Bunraku-za in the late 19th century led to the word "bunraku" (at least in
Osaka) coming to refer to the style of puppetry that had alwaqys been known
as "ningyo joruri" for hundreds of years.

Bunrakken's legacy is more one of management and promotion. He revived
puppetry in Osaka after it had declined following the deaths of a number of
major figures (puppeteers and narrator/chanters) as well the destruction by
fire of several major theaters in the late 1700s.

Introduction of the technique of three-man operation of the puppet dates
from the early 1700s. Before that, puppets were much simpler. Ones from the
1500s and 1600s were more of a rod style that could be operated by a single
puppeteers--or even one in each hand. After Japan became unified in 1600,
when peace and a measure of prosperity replaced 400 years of near-constant
warfare, the theater finally became a viable, larger scale commercial
venture. Kabuki and the puppet theater vied for the growing audiences of the
burgeoning townsman class in large and small cities who wanted
entertainment. New, more effective puppetry techniques were the way to pull
in larger audiences.

The puppets and puppetry that you can now see in traditional theaters in
Japan like the National Theater, the Awaji theater, and others is
essentially the same as it was in the mid-1700s. Many of the innovations
before the 1750s were introduced in Osaka,as well as Awaji and Tokushima,
but they quickly spread and were adopted by hundreds of troupes, both
resident and itinerary, throughout the country.

On the topic of visible puppeteers and Alan's mention of puppet dressed in
non-black, the main puppeteers at the National Theater often dress in white
for the summer run (I think it was supposed to help the audience feel a bit
cooler in those days before air conditioning. For some performances in the
Awaji theater the main puppeteer can be dressed some fairly wild colors. I
have a commercially-produced video of an Awaji performance of Honcho Niju
Shiko--a fun scene in which a young woman is possessed by a fox spirit and
begins behaving in a canine manner herself. In this version, the main
puppeteer is dressed almost garishly in bright green, but at the end of the
scene there is a quick-change segment in which puppet's costume goes from a
normal princessly kimono to a white kimono covered with foxfire flames. Then
this is followed by a back-and-forth quick-change segment in which the
puppeteer himself switches robes several times in front of the audience.

It's not for me. I have a hard enough time getting dressed just once in a
dressing room.

Marty



On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 6:37 PM, Naomi Guss <na-AT-puppetsinmelbourne.com.au>wrote:

> It was my understanding that 'bunraku' was the name for the Japanese puppet
> maker (or performer I forget which) who popularised the current form of the
> puppet... ? Is that right (and now I hunt for my books on Japanese theatre
> for confirmation)?
>
> -------
>
> Naomi Guss
>
> www.puppetsinmelbourne.com.au
>
> Puppets in Melbourne
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Martin Holman [mailto:jmartinholman-AT-gmail.com]
> Sent: Friday, 20 November 2009 3:19 AM
> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Bunraku
>
> My two cents (or two yen!) about hooded puppeteers in Bunraku:
>
> One of the problems with the information on Bunraku that's available in
> English is that most of it implies (or even outright falsely states) that
> the National Bunraku Theater in Osaka is the only traditional puppet
> theater
> in Japan. (Until recently Encyclopedia Britannica actually said there was
> no
> traditional puppet theater left in Japan outside the National Bunraku
> Theater. That would certainly surprise several hundred puppeteers and
> musicians who are still performing outside Osaka.)
>
> In the Osaka tradition the main (head and right-hand) operator--if he is a
> higher-ranking puppeteer--is often unhooded, for major scenes and major
> roles, but across Japan in the dozens of traditional theaters, whose
> histories go back long before the word Bunraku was invented (which was the
> late 1800s) all the puppeteers are usually hooded. Main puppeteers in other
> traditions occasionally appear unhooded in certain circumstances. It
> happens
> sometimes with the Awaji Puppets (who toured the US last year), and
> sometimes other troupes leave the main or even all the puppeteers unhooded
> for a piece that is more ritual performance than dramatic (like the
> congratulatory Sanbaso, which is performed sometimes at weddings and often
> at New Year's, for good fortune). Also, recital-like performances by
> puppeteers in training sometimes are often done unhooded, quite the
> opposite
> of the tradition of the unhooded master.
>
> I figure I am homely enough not to draw attention from the puppet, but I
> wear a hood anyway. (It prevents the audience from being blinded by the
> glint of stage lighting off the top of my head.)
>
> Marty
> __________________
> Martin Holman
> Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe
> 443 Strickland
> Columbia, MO 65211
>
> Tel. (573) 882-3368   holmanma-AT-missouri.edu
> Bunraku Bay Puppet Theater:  http://www.bunraku.org
>
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 4:02 AM, John Dudley
> <john.dudley-AT-telepuppets.com>wrote:
>
> > Hi Hobey,
> >
> > I was always under the impression that the Master Puppeteer of the
> > three manipulators in Bunraku did not have a covering on his head. I
> > could be wrong of course.
> >
> > John Dudley
> > _______________________________________________
> > List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> > Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
> > Archives: http://www.driftline.org
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
> Archives: http://www.driftline.org
>
_______________________________________________
List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
Archives: http://www.driftline.org

 
_______________________________________________
List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
Archives: http://www.driftline.org

   

Driftline Main Page

 

Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005