How long is a bunraku performance?

2 years ago

2 minutes

A Bunraku performance typically takes around three to four hours. Three puppeteers work as a team to perform these serious and adult dramas.

What is a bunraku performance?

Bunraku, Japanese traditional puppet theatre in which half-life-size dolls act out a chanted dramatic narrative, called jōruri, to the accompaniment of a small samisen (three-stringed Japanese lute).

How long do bunraku puppeteers train?

For the puppeteers, they attend a bunraku training school for two years. Then they embark on a 10-year-long apprenticeship, learning to operate a puppet’s legs, before another 10 to 15 years spent learning how to manoeuvre its left arm.

What is the most commonly used in bunraku performance?

In most bunraku performances today a single chanter (tayū) recites and sings the parts for all the characters in the play, altering the pitch and quality of song to give each character a recognizable voice.

How long does it take to learn bunraku?

Many years of training are required to become a Bunraku puppeteer. Novice puppeteers begin their training by concentrating on the puppets’ feet for about 10 years. Once the feet have been mastered, the puppeteer progresses to the left hand. “Ten years for the feet, ten years for the left,” as an old saying goes.

How much does a bunraku puppet cost?

between 1500 and 6500 yen

They typically cost between 1500 and 6500 yen.

How is music used in bunraku?

Besides the shamisen accompaniment, bunraku also uses atmospheric off-stage music, known as geza, which is also heard in kabuki performances. A particular aural effect is created by wooden clappers, which announce the beginning of the play.

How is the stage divided in bunraku?

The first partition hides the stagehand who dashes across the stage to draw the curtain. The second partition is designed to conceal the lower body of the main puppeteer and left-arm puppeteer. It serves to hide all but the shoulders and hooded head of the leg-manipulator as well as movements of stage-hands.

What does bunraku mean in English?

Japanese puppet theater

Definition of Bunraku
: Japanese puppet theater featuring large costumed wooden puppets, puppeteers who are onstage, and a chanter who speaks all the lines.