Bunraku

What it is

Bunraku is a puppet theatre from Japan. Three groups of artists take the stage: puppeteers, known as ningyōtsukai; chanters, called tayū; and shamisen players. The chanter speaks and sings the words of every character and also narrates the story. The pairing of chant and shamisen is called jōruri, and ningyō is the everyday Japanese word for a doll or puppet. Other instruments join in now and then, for instance taiko drums. The whole thing is a collaboration: the dolls carry the drama while the people who move them stand in the open, dressed in black.

Origins in Osaka

Puppet drama in Japan goes back to the 16th century, but the shape it has today came together around the 1680s. Its rise is tied to a partnership between the playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653 to 1724) and the chanter Takemoto Gidayu (1651 to 1714), who set up the Takemoto theatre in Osaka in 1684. The name bunraku belonged at first to a single house: a theatre that opened in Osaka in 1805 and took the name Bunrakuza from the company of Uemura Bunrakuken (1751 to 1810), a puppeteer from Awaji whose work revived a flagging art. Chikamatsu left more than a hundred plays and is sometimes nicknamed the Shakespeare of Japan.

Puppets and their heads

Osaka puppets are on the smaller side. Awaji puppets are among the biggest of all, since Awaji shows are often held outside. Heads are cut by specialist carvers and sorted by gender, social rank and personality; a carver may make a head for one role, or a head may be repainted and redressed for several plays. Around 80 broad types are counted, and a library run by the Japan Arts Council lists 129. Some heads are built with tricks. A pull on a hidden string can turn a woman's face into a demon's, open her mouth into fangs, or slip a fox mask over a lovely face. Hair is human, given bulk with yak tail and set with water and beeswax rather than oil.

Voice and music

Usually one chanter carries the whole cast, changing pitch and delivery to mark each person; sometimes several chanters share the work. Seated beside the shamisen player, the chanter shapes each face as he sings it, which sharpens the emotion for those watching. Bunraku uses the futo-zao, the largest kind of shamisen and the lowest in register, with a rounder tone than other shamisen. Flutes, above all the shakuhachi, the koto and percussion instruments are also heard. In some older theatres a revolving platform turns a new chanter and player into position between scenes, so the music never has to wait.

Today and change

Osaka is still the heart of it. The company supported by the government plays at the National Bunraku Theatre, giving five or more productions a year, each of two to three weeks, then a Tokyo season at the National Theater. Up to the late 1800s, several hundred professional, part-time and amateur troupes worked around the country. After the Second World War fewer than 40 remained, most of them giving one or two shows a year, often beside a local festival. A handful of regional groups stay busy, among them the Awaji troupe, the Tonda troupe of Shiga Prefecture and the Imada and Kuroda troupes of Iida in Nagano. Performers, troupes and puppet makers have been named Living National Treasures under a Japanese programme to preserve them.

How Bunraku is kept

Performers come in three parts. The omozukai, the leading puppeteer, has one hand on the puppet's head and the other on its right hand. A second puppeteer works the left hand using a rod that reaches back from the puppet's elbow, and a third, the ashizukai, moves the feet and legs. Training starts at the feet, moves to the left hand, and reaches the head only much later. Everyone wears black, and most wear a hood as well, though a few companies let the leading puppeteer go uncovered, a style called dezukai. Beside them a chanter delivers every part while the shamisen player keeps time. Before the play, the chanter raises the text and bows to it.

When and where

Shows run through the year rather than on one date. The Osaka company stages five or more productions annually, each lasting two to three weeks before it moves to Tokyo. Smaller troupes often perform only once or twice a year, usually alongside a local festival.

Its home is Osaka, where it began and where the government-supported troupe appears at the National Bunraku Theatre. Regional companies keep it alive on Awaji Island, in Shiga Prefecture and in the city of Iida in Nagano Prefecture. A troupe founded at the University of Missouri in 2003 has carried it to audiences in the United States and Japan.

What Bunraku means

Those who practise bunraku treat it as an author's theatre: the written play comes first, and the performers serve it, which is why the chanter lifts the text and bows before beginning. The puppet is not a lesser actor but the means of the story, and the puppeteers stay visible rather than hidden. The training is long: ten years on the feet, ten on the left hand, ten on the head, and practitioners describe that patience as an artistic necessity. In a culture that gives weight to seniority, some also see the long ladder of training as a way of managing rivalry and keeping a troupe balanced.

Questions people ask about Bunraku

See also

IkebanaThe Japanese art of arranging cut branches and flowers in a vesselTiniklingA Philippine folk dance where dancers step between clapping bamboo polesDragon danceA long dragon puppet on poles, danced by a team at Chinese New Year and other festivalsSean-nós danceAn improvised solo Irish dance: low footwork, free arms and a loud battering beat

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle
• Browse the Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Register of good safeguarding practicesUNESCO, Heritage listing
• Browse the Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Register of good safeguarding practicesUNESCO, Article

• Bunraku on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.