Bunraku 文楽

Bunraku, also known as ningyô jôruri (“puppet accompanying singing” or “telling stories with puppets”), is a highly developed form of stage art with almost life-size puppets, which are moved – usually by three harmoniously interacting main and secondary actors, every person is responsible for a different part of the puppet – with elaborate stage sets. Like the competing kabuki, bunraku emerged in the 17th century from the spirit of a bourgeois urban culture. The puppet show of Tokushima, the “Awa Ningyô Jôruri”, has common roots with bunraku, but since it was often performed on open-air stages, the puppets are usually somewhat larger so that they can be better watched from a distance.