Sightseeing>Heritage>Bunraku Puppet
Bunraku Puppet Performance
Unlike puppet shows for kids, "Bunraku" Puppet Performance is
known for the 4-century old performing art.
This Osaka-born performance depicts the transient of life.
It's like Shakespean tragic stories.
The story is narrated by men sitting on the stage. Although their words
are difficult to understand even for Japanese, the expression from narrators
can tell the deep emotion of puppets.
Suprisingly, narrators don't use microphone set in a big audience hall.
Puppets are half-size of a human being made of woods.
They are usually manipulated by three men whose faces are also visible
on the stage, but clever audience shouldn't see them.
The movement of puppets have to be as natural as one of real people.
Tickets are available around 2300yen to 4800 yen. One-scene ticke is sometimes available at between 1000 to 2000yen.
The stories are classic so you can know the stories before you actually see the stage.
Registered as UNESCO's intangible asset.
About Bunraku http://www2.ntj.jac.go.jp/unesco/bunraku/en/
National Bunraku theater is located in Minami (southern part of Osaka city), near Nihonbashi station.