Bunraku

Bunraku is a Japanese form of art, where puppets are used as characters and someone sings the story to you. It's very similar to kabuki, just with puppets and not people. So a lady I was on a committee with knows one of the puppeteers and invited me to watch the show. He gets her tickets and allows her to bring people back stage. So I went on Wednesday evening and we saw "Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cheery Trees" (Yoshitsune Senbon-zakura.) Apparently this is one of the famous stories discussing a battle between 2 different clans and then the love for one of the leaders who survived.

It was really neat to go back stage and see things from the other side. Here is our "friend" showing us the puppet he works with. He stated that the main person, holds the head and works with the right hand. There is another person who handles the left hand only and then one who does the legs. So 3 people to make this work.


In order to make the puppets appear tall or at least the height of a human, the puppeteers must wear these shoes. Aren't they crazy?? There must be a rule somewhere that says Japanese arts and festivals must include crazy shoes!


Here I am holding the main female character, Shizukazen, who is the focus of the 2nd half of the show.


Exiting stage right since the show was going to start soon!


So it really was quite interesting to see this form of Japanese art. The first half of the show had 2 or 3 acts and quite long. I rented the English audio guide so I could understand what was going on. I was able to make sense of most of the story, but was slightly confused at the end of the 1st half. The audio guide stated what was happening in like 1-2 sentences prior to that scene beginning, so a little off. However, the 2nd half was rather quick and quite lovely as the cherry blossoms were on stage. All in all, a good experience and I'm glad I went. I figure I should take these opportunities when they arise, seeing as how Mike would not even consider going with me, especially after Kyoto!