bunraku
Traditional Japanese marionettes
Bunraku is a traditional form of Japanese puppet theater featuring large, intricately crafted puppets operated by multiple puppeteers in full view of the audience.
Each puppet typically requires three handlers working in coordinated silence while a narrator chants the story and a shamisen player provides musical accompaniment.
The art form dates to the seventeenth century and remains performed today, particularly in Osaka: We saw a bunraku performance of a classic love-suicide play.
Performer controlling jointed figures
- manipulationUnderhanded control of others
- marionetteString-controlled theatrical figure
- mechanismMeans by which something operates
- stringsThin flexible lines
articulation · gestures · head · hands · costume · wig · expression · movement
Japanese three-stringed plucked instrument
- accompanimentSupplementary support element
- rhythmPatterned stress and silence
- pluckingRemoving by tugging
- chantingRhythmic repetitive vocalization
vocalization · melody · percussion · notation · phrasing · tempo
Ritual vocalist
- recitationOral delivery from memory
- narratorOne who tells events
- tragedyDisastrous or sorrowful event
- melodramaSensational, emotionally overwrought drama
dialogue · monologue · plot · storytelling · emotion · pathos · conflict · climax
Japanese port metropolis
- TokugawaRuling samurai dynasty, 1600s-1800s
- kabukiRitualistic performance for show
- nohClassical Japanese dramatic form
- MeijiJapanese modernization era
UNESCO · preservation · revival · tradition
Rear stage scenery
- lightingArt of illuminating spaces
- trapdoorHinged floor panel
- stageRaised performance platform
- curtainFabric hung for privacy
prop · set-design · performance · troupe · repertoire
puppeteer
Performer controlling jointed figures
- manipulationUnderhanded control of others
- marionetteString-controlled theatrical figure
- mechanismMeans by which something operates
strings · articulation · gestures · head · hands · costume · wig · expression · movement · control
shamisen
Japanese three-stringed plucked instrument
- accompanimentSupplementary support element
- rhythmPatterned stress and silence
- pluckingRemoving by tugging
chanting · vocalization · melody · percussion · notation · phrasing · tempo
chanter
Ritual vocalist
- recitationOral delivery from memory
- narratorOne who tells events
- tragedyDisastrous or sorrowful event
melodrama · dialogue · monologue · plot · storytelling · emotion · pathos · conflict · climax
Osaka
Japanese port metropolis
- TokugawaRuling samurai dynasty, 1600s-1800s
- kabukiRitualistic performance for show
- nohClassical Japanese dramatic form
Meiji · UNESCO · preservation · revival · tradition
backdrop
Rear stage scenery
curtain · prop · set-design · performance · troupe · repertoire
- Japanese culturesamurai, kabuki, sumo, origami, tea ceremony
- puppetryhand puppet, hand puppets, puppet shows, puppet show, marionette
- Asian artskabuki, noh theater, Peking opera, Beijing opera, Chinese opera
- folk artstribal art, folk opera, folk theater, Celtic knotwork, Navajo weaving
- Puppetspuppet, finger puppet, hand puppet, marionette, sock puppet
- World Theaterkabuki, Beijing opera, Peking opera, Greek tragedy, mystery plays
bunrakukabuki
Ritualistic performance for show
noh · method acting · monodrama · solo performance · stand-up comedy
bunrakuBroadway musical
Sung theatrical production
modern theater · experimental theater · Hollywood · West End theater · Greek tragedy
bunrakuPunch and Judy
Traditional British puppet theatre
shadow puppetry · ventriloquism · finger puppets · string puppets · marionette theater