FOR THE APPRECIATION OF BUNRAKU

           Toru Saito
Foundation Modern Puppet Center, Japan
      translated by Yukihiro Goto

My Occupation
       I am a "craftsman" who makes puppets for the theatre and other types of
mechanical puppets for religious festivals or indoor purposes. Today the number of
such craftsmen has drastically reduced; only three, two of which are in the area of
mechanical puppets, exist in Japan.                       

       Puppets themselves are tangible. They can survive into the next generation.
But the skills and techniques of puppet-making are intangible. They will gradually
disappear unless someone makes a conscious effort to study and keep them alive. Once
those techniques are gone, it is tremendously difficult to resurrect them.

       I have several reasons for having chosen this occupation as my lifework. First, I
felt regret about the decline of puppet-making techniques. Second, I was moved by the
beauty of the traditional shapes and figures. And third, having studied modern
sculpture at my university, I wanted to apply sculpture techniques into the field of the
puppet-making.

       However, studying the traditional puppet-making techniques has not been
easy. No such thing as a beginner's guide, a blueprint, a school, or the government's
support on the subject is available. "Old puppets" themselves have been my only
teachers. I have examined many old puppets in detail, measured them, made records
and drawings of, and taken photos of them. I have learned the techniques by trial and
error. The more I have studied traditional puppet-making and the more traditional
puppets I have carved, the deeper and the wider this world has become.

       I still felt inexperienced, even after ten years of studying. It was only after
twenty years that I finally felt mature in my art. I will be extremely happy if I can
make even one single puppet with which I'm totally satisfied before my life ends.

Traditional Puppets
       I believe that puppets came about as the human race began to develop. Those
puppets, made of stones, clay, fangs and wood, served as surrogates for ancient people
and were used to negate disasters or to bring good hunting or harvests. Those
puppets, through prayers and laughter, comforted the people and supported their
lives. This type of puppetry is common among many races and has survived to today.

       In Japan, part of this type of puppetry developed into the full-fledged puppet
theatre. Naturally, theatrical puppets came in different styles and sizes and had
different ways to operate. The earliest historical documents of those puppets comes
from around the 12th century. By the 17th century the puppet theatre had become a
very popular form, competing with and influencing other forms of performing arts,
like no, kyogen and kabuki.

       At the beginning of the 18th century, a three-man puppet was designed and
soon became the mainstream of the Japanese puppet theatre. Recent study tells us
that there once existed more than 300 puppet theatre troupes in the country. Their
puppets were called by different names like deko, ayatsuri and jururi. Bunraku is a
relatively new name that started in 1872. It derived from the name of a large puppet
theatre company, and the name has continued to today.

About Bunraku
       The name bunraku has two meanings. One refers to the Bunraku-Za, a
traditional puppet theatre company subsidized by the state. The other means the
"system of the three-man puppetry" including those that have spread into local areas
of Japan. Today those local puppet troupes no longer call their forms bunraku. But I
would like everyone to know that besides the Bunraku-Za there are many puppet
theatre companies in Japan.

       Bunraku is a collaboratlve art form. It is built on the unity of threes: the
narrator called "Gidaiyu." the music created by a stringed instrument called shamisen
and the three men operating one puppet.

Bunraku puppets are categorized into about 50 types according to sex, age and roles.
A typical troupe owns 50 to 100 puppets. My Job is to support those puppets.

Materials mad Techniques
       A bunraku puppet head is carved out of Japanese cypress, the finest kind of tree
in Japan. The head is cut into two halves, and the inside of each is removed. The
mechanism for the head is made of silk threads, traditional springs and pieces made
from bamboo and oak trees. Once the mechanism is placed inside the head, the halves
are glued together.

       Rice paper is glued on the surface of the puppet head, which is then varnished
fifteen times with a special coating made of powdered shells and glue. Finally, facial
features are drawn on the surface with traditional paints. Hands and legs are
constructed the same way.

       Hairs of a human, a horse and a gyak of Tibet are used to make the puppet's
hair. About ten hairs of those kinds are braided together to create a single hair for the
puppet. The torso, whose inside is hollow, consists of shoulders made of wood and a
waist made of bamboos. A costume for the puppet is sewn and dressed by hand.
Clothes of traditional colors and patterns appropriate for each puppet's roles are
chosen. My wife makes costumes for the puppets.

       A bunraku puppet is to me a work of sculpture whereas to a puppeteer it is a
"tool" for expressions. To be a good puppet, therefore, it should have two values:
"beauty" and "function." Naturally, better puppets are used more often, and as a
result, they break more often and need to be repaired more often.

       In repairing a bunraku puppet, it is necessary to examine when it was made,
where it was made and by whom it was made so that one can apply the same
materials and the same techniques in the repair. When a puppet is restored in the
right manner, it can continue to live for 200 years and to move many people. Bad
repair destroys an important cultural asset. Thus, I stand between preservation and
destruction and am repairing puppets with utmost care.

For The Next Generation
It is necessary for today's puppet makers, including myself, to be good craftsmen,
researchers, recorders, advisers and educators. I hope that able people of the younger
generation will study traditional culture properly. Their efforts will promote the
succession and progress of the culture.

I also hope that many artists of puppet theatres outside Japan, including those of the
United States, will study and appreciate bunraku as the puppet with a possibility of
progress.

Puppetry '93 Workshop Manual