人形浄瑠璃文楽 [Ningyou Joururi Bunraku] REVIEW!

[shinimegami21]

I went to a bunraku show yesterday with 4 out of 6 friends. It was amazing and funny at times, and the puppet movements were quite realistic with their hand and facial movements. After a while, you don't pay much attention to the manipulators, who are clad in black except for the chief manipulator.

The show started at 6pm and ended at 8:50, with two 15 minute breaks. so...hmm...I dunno how long it lasted but it wasn't a full two hours. We had pretty damn good seats since the hall was small. I think even if we sat in the back we could see most of the show well, but I'm glad we had close seats!

There were three parts to the show, and we caught the evening show. There was an anfternoon show, but i think it was already sold out. The audience was mainly elderly people dressed in Japanese styled clothing: kimonos for men and women. We were the very few who were young, and I was the only one in gothic attire. ^^ I looked so cool XD

I'm posting this here because it does have to do with Gackt. He will be in a movie titled BUNRAKU next year, so this post will give you some info on this historic form of entertainment.



I hope everyone can read this, because I have no scanner and I can only take high quality pics with my camera.

As you can see, the pamphlet had some English translations for each segment! I was quite happy! My friend actually bought the pamphlet (you have to buy these things. CRAZY! but I can see why!) and he let me have it. *wibble* He's so kind to me...

The First Segment

The puppets were quite lively and their actions and expressions were amusing. At one point, the puppets took turns 'resting' from their dance, patting their heads and fanning themselves with the fans they used to dance with, their eyebrows expressing amusement and gained a laugh from the audience from their antics. They even used real suzu bells (two different links here), widely known as reindeer bells.

The person/people who gave the voices for the puppets truly did it in the style seen in this video:

The Second Segment

I was quite shocked that there was killing and death! :O This was before I had read the pamphlet lol One puppet even had a little hankerchief to wipe away the tears shed at the situation between them, and the emotions displayed were quite amazing for puppets. The narrator did a great job of the voices for each character in the apropriate dialect of the time, and gender.

Oh, and I thought the heads in the bag were pillows, so my first thought was 'PILLOW FIGHT! :D'

The Third Segment

I think I liked this best. There was some 'snow' falling in the winter scene (did I mention each scene background was different? It was amazing!) and somehow I felt the chill of winter in the scene. The low drum signaled the falling snow, and immediately reminded me of that episode of Fuurin Kazan where Uesugi's brother was ill and a a piece of snow fell onto a tree branch. This segment was quite touching as the father, who yearned to see his son again, was blindfolded, but had the blindfold removed by his son's wife, who sobbed in shame of her weakness to uphold the father's wish of not seeing his son.

The play was wonderful! I'm glad I found out about buying tix! It was pure coincidence! I was looking for tickets and shows online in Nagoya, and found out about a show in my own city when I went to the city hall that same week! GO ME!

If anyone wants the Japanese images of the segment summaries, please let me know! ^^ Although I doubt anyone would want it LOL I plan to cross post this to other communities, so sorry for the crossposting!

Comments

[wongkk.livejournal.com]

[ A-ha! That's clever!! How do you get over the layout like that?? I tried to read this before and then cheated and went over to your twin post at UG. ]

It's a fascinating article cos you've come out of it almost like a convert! I'm going to Japan in March (mm - can you guess why??!) and I'd like to ask my Japanese friend in Tokyo to take me to some theatre but I'm clueless as to which type I might enjoy. Think your post might have sorted it for me ;)

You've given me a puzzle too: what does "4 out of 6 friends" mean?? What happened to the other two??

Thanks for going to the trouble of putting up the photos. Sadly, the Japanese version of the text is no use to me but the English edition was very interesting to read. I can feel my theatre bluffers rating rise!

[shinimegami21]

[not sure what you mean! ^^;;; I just posted as usual >.>]

oooooo! you should definitely see a bunraku play when you come! :D (for the concerts *cough* the tix shouldnt be too expensive...at least i wouldnt think so!

one was sick, and another had to take care of her mom who was sick

lol glad you enjoyed the post! I was afraid no one would read it, or care...:/