Puppet Drama Galore In Bunkaru
November 2nd, 2009 by Alex TanBunkaru is the common name for Ningyo Jururi, or traditional Japanese puppet theater, where ningyo is Japanese for “puppet” while jururi is a Japanese term for a chanted play. Bunkaru was used to refer only to a specific theater in Osaka, but the term eventually applied to all ningyo jururi. This ain’t your kid’s puppetry: bunkaru is the most developed puppet theatre in the world, and commonly deals with mature themes like conflict, loss and death by suicide. Like Kabuki, Bunkaru is the layman’s Noh, as the latter is reserved for the aristocracy.









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