The History of Bunraku Theatre
The 11th century was the first recorded account of puppetry in Japan. Puppet street performers called kugutsumawashi settled on the island of Awaji and it was on this island that bunraku was to be born. Around this same time, Buddhist monks were famous for chanting historic tales with a biwa as accompaniment. In the 16th century, a new instrument called the shamisen was imported and favored over the biwa for accompaniment. This created a new chanting style known as joruri. The street performances of the kugutsumawashi puppeteers and the joruri chanting style accompanied by the shamisen blended in the 16th century to create a new theater, called bunraku. Bunraku is puppet theatre accompanied by a shamisen and one chanter or tayu who gives all of the puppets voices. Bunraku flourished in the 17th and early 18th centuries, gaining popularity with the common people because it was more relatable to the life of a commoner than Noh dramas. However, one playwright soon changed this. Chikamatsu Monzaemon was considered the Shakespeare of bunraku and wrote several very famous plays, including The Love Suicides at Sonezaki. He developed bunraku from a commoner's form of entertainment to a very elaborate, ritualized spectacle with a sophisticated audience. He wrote "domestic dramas" about ordinary people and their struggle between social obligations and human emotions. Because of his great works, domestic dramas became the favorite topic for bunraku plays. He also collaborated closely with Gidayu, who was a famous chanter for the plays. In 1705, Gidayu chanted a play in full view of the audience, a revolutionary act considering that until that point, the tayu had stayed hidden. This was the beginning of turning bunraku plays into a complete visual spectacle. In the rest of the early 18th century, bunraku continued to develop at a fast pace. Puppets obtained movable eyes, eyebrows, eyelids, mouths, and hands. They now needed to be operated by three puppeteers instead of one and the shamisen player and the tayu all became visible to the audience. Kabuki and bunraku developed with and competed against each other. Kabuki actors mimicked puppets and joruri chanting, while kabuki-style plays were staged as bunraku. By the mid 18th century, bunraku became overshadowed by kabuki and began its decline. After World War II, it had almost completely disappeared. Today it survives mostly through government support and the opening of a few bunraku theaters.
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