The Virginia Tech, Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures and John and Mihoko Lanier Foundation are hosting “An Evening of Bunraku: Traditional Japanese Puppetry,” at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Lyric Theater in Blacksburg.
Above is a puppet character from the story “Yaoya Oshichi,” one of three stories to be performed by the Bunraku Bay Puppet Theater at the Lyric Theater, Blacksburg.
Originally, puppetry art for commoners in 17th century Osaka, bunraku was dubbed a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2003.
Free and open to the public, the Blacksburg performance will be presented by the Bunraku Bay Puppet Theater. The name ‘Bay’ is for the Bay State of Massachusetts where the Theater was first organized and is word play on the character “bei” from the Japanese word “Beikoku,” which means “America”.
“I have been dreaming to bring this wonderful Japanese traditional performance to Blacksburg for a long time,” Dr. Yasuko Kumazawa, Japanese Language Instructor at Virginia Tech who was instrumental in contacting the puppetry group.
“But it’s very difficult to bring the well-trained performers from Japan to the US. Finally, I found Bunraku Bay Puppet Theater, which is the only theater in the United States that performs the traditional Japanese puppetry known as “ningyo joruri” or
bunraku. And after a long time, tremendous efforts between the theater director, Dr. Martin Holman [who is also a puppeteer] and I could realize the bunraku performance in Blacksburg.”
In bunraku puppetry, three-foot tall puppets swathed in elaborate costumes are manipulated by black-robed puppeteers, while narrators chant the story to the accompaniment of shamisen music. Themes include bloody wars of Japan’s feudal period, the fates of townspeople and heartbreaking tragedies said the troupe’s website.
At the Lyric Thursday, the Bay Theater will be performing three pieces, both happy and harrowing: Kotobuki Shiki Sanbaso, a spiritual dance-drama described as “funny, happy”; Yaoya Oshichi, based on a true and tragic tale of love and arson, and the Meoto Lion Dance, a festival performance presented “when performers visit each home in the neighborhood to cast charms against evil spirits and diseases while receiving offerings,” Kumazawa wrote in an email.
It takes three puppeteers “all requiring precise choreography” to operate one puppet: one working the legs, one, the left arm, and the main puppeteer operating the body, right arm and the head the troupe’s website explained.
Westerners thinking of ancient Japanese theater may think first of kabuki, but Kumazawa feels that bunraku with its sung narrative, instrumental accompaniment and puppet drama is a special art.
“I love the three traditional performing arts: kabuki, noh and bunraku” she said. “But honestly, I enjoy bunraku most for the unique artistic, puppetry style,”
On the evening, the group will also screen their film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year, “Kaiju Bunraku”.
The film was well received at film festivals around the world in the past year, the troupe’s announcement said.
A question and answer session will follow the performance.
The crew for the performance, while subject to change, at this time, are
Martin Holman, Eric Lancaster, Taylor Morrow, Ryan Tiefenthaler, and Andrew Cooper. For more information visit the Lyric Theater at www.thelyric.com/event/an-evening-of-bunraku-traditional-japanese-puppetry/
