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Takeshi Kitano's DOLLS salutes the beauty of Bunraki with an excerpt from a performance
at Tokyo's National Theatre. The play performed is Monazemon Chikamatsu's story of doomed lovers, 'Meido No Kikaku' ('The Courier for Hell').
The sophisticated puppet performances of Bunraku make it one of the three major classical theatres of Japan, along with Kabuki and Noh. The intense dramatic art of Bunraku lies in achieving perfect synchronization of three elements - puppets, narration and music - for an operatic effect.
Each doll is operated jointly by three men, (Dolls, usually around one metre in height and anywhere from 5-20 kilograms in weight, are made of wood). Precision timing among the three puppeteers is necessary to achieve each doll's lifelike motion. Detailed rules must be followed; no puppeteer is allowed to act on his own. The puppeteers appear on stage in full view of the audience. The main puppeteer, generally appears bare-faced, while the others are 'invisible' in black hoods, signifying that the doll is the main performer.
Seated to the right of the state on an elevated platform, the narrator 9 (tayu) recites the epic poetic text (joruri). Not only does he provide commentary on the storyline, but he is also the voice of all the dolls - men, women and children. Musical punctuation and atmosphere for the drama is supplied by the player of the shamisen, an ancient three-stringed instrument.
The history of Bunraku beganin the 16th Century, its popularity rising spectacularly in the late 17th Century. Since 1966, Tokyo's National Theatre has supplied Bunraku with a permanent home. In 1985, The National Bunraku Theatre was created in Osaka. In addition to several performances a year in those two cities, travelling shows have brought live Bunraku to audiences around the world.
Despite its popularity, the aging of the important backstage workers (doll head carvers, costume makers, etc.) and the lack of people to take their place poses an increasing problem for the future of this over 300-year-old art form.
MONZAEMON CHIKAMATSU (1653-1724)
Chikamatsu is recognized as Japan's Shakespeare. Author of 110 Bunraku plays and 30 Kabuki plays, he profoundly influenced the development of the modern Japanese theatre. His domestic dramas of love and duty are accurate reflections of life in Japanese society of the period: his characters are samurai, farmers, merchants, and prostitutes who speak colloquially in shops, tea houses and brothels.
Chikamatsu's works are distinct for adding human elements to the theme of the conflict between social pressure and personal desire. His dramas usually revolve around the tragedy that can arise when one blindy chooses the importance of loyalty (to one's feudal lord, family,etc.) over personal feelings.
A great many of Chikamatsu's plays were about shinju, or love suicides. He made the revolutionary effort of taking a recent event (the death of a courtesan and her lover) and dramatising it into the play 'Sonezaki Shinju' ('The Love Suicides at Sonezaki'). That play spawned not only copies, but influenced others to actually commit double suicide in the hope that their love would live on forever.
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