Bunraku is a traditional Japanese puppet theater founded in Osaka in 1684. Performances involve three types of performers - puppeteers who manipulate life-sized puppets using complex mechanisms, chanters who narrate the story, and shamisen players who provide musical accompaniment. Puppets have carved wooden heads and silk costumes and come in male and female varieties corresponding to different character types. Performances take place on an elevated stage area with partitions that conceal the puppeteers as they skillfully maneuver the puppets.

1. Bunraku
Ningyo jozu
(puppet theater)

2. Bunraku
- founded in Osaka in 1684.
- also known as Ningyō jōruri (人形浄瑠璃)
Three kinds of performers take part in a
bunraku performance:
1. Ningyōtsukai or Ningyōzukai—puppeteers
2. Tayū—the chanters
3. Shamisen players

3. Puppeteers
Composed of 3 people:
Omo-zukai, or head puppeteer, who operates the doll's
head and face by holding a stick with levers in his left hand,
and with his own right hand also operates the doll's right
hand
Hidari-zukai, or left-hand puppeteer, who uses his right
hand to operate the doll's left hand
Ashi-zukai, or foot puppeteer, who uses both hands to
suggest the movements of the doll's legs and feet.

4. Mechanism of the Puppets
The heads of the dolls are carved of wood and are hollow, and
they are placed atop a special head-grip stick (dogushi), which
is placed through a hole in the shoulder board; it is with this
stick that the main puppeteer manipulates the doll.
There are lengths of fabric draped both in front of and in back
of the shoulder board, and they are attached to bamboo
hoops―it is a very simple mechanism. Loofahs are attached
at either end of the shoulder board to create the roundness of
the shoulders.
The arms and legs are each attached separately to the
shoulder board by strings, but, as a rule, female puppets do
not have any legs at all―the foot puppeteer places his fists in
the hem of the doll's robe and makes it appear as though she
has feet and is walking. A long wooden armature (sashigane)
is attached to the puppet's left hand, through the use of which
the left-hand puppeteer operates the doll's left arm and hand.

5. Puppet Heads
The heads (kashira) of the Bunraku
puppets are divided into male and
female, and then classified into
categories according to the age, rank
(social class), and distinguishing
personality traits of the role they
portray, and all of them have special
names reflecting their special
characteristics.
If the play is different but the type of
character is the same, the same head
might be used for different characters
in different plays.

6. Puppet Wigs
The wigs in Bunraku as called kazura,
and there are a number of
fundamental styles, depending upon
the type of character being portrayed.
It is the job of the wig masters (called
tokoyama), to sew and create an
appropriate hairstyle (keppatsu) for
every role, based upon these
fundamental styles.

7. Costumes
The costumes are designed by a
costume master and are composed of
a series of garments with varying
colors and patterns. These garments
typically include a sash and a collar as
well as an under robe (juban), an inner
kimono (kitsuke), a vest (haori) or an
outer robe (uchikake). In order to keep
the costumes soft they are lined with
cotton.
As the clothing of the puppets wear out
or are soiled the clothing is replaced
by the puppeteers. The process of
dressing or redressing the puppets by
the puppeteers is called koshirae.

8. Stage
The musician’s stage (Yuka)
This is the auxiliary stage upon which the gidayu-bushi is
performed. It juts out into the audience area at the front right area
of the seats. Upon this auxiliary stage there is a special rotating
platform. It is here that the chanter and the shamisen player make
their appearance, and, when they are finished, it turns once more,
bringing them backstage and placing the next performers on the
stage.
The partitions (Tesuri) and the pit (Funazoko)
In the area between upstage and downstage, the three stage
positions, known as "railings" (tesuri). Located in the area area
behind the second partition is often called the pit and it is where the
puppeteers stand in order to carry out the puppets' lifelike
movements.

9. Stage
Small curtain (Komaku) and Screened-off Rooms (Misuuchi)
This stage looks at the stage from the angle of the audience, the
right side is referred to as the kamite (stage left), while the left side
is referred to as the shimote (stage right). The puppets are made to
appear and then leave the stage through the small black curtains.
The blinded screens are just above these small curtains, and they
have special blinds made from bamboo so that the audience cannot
see inside.