< Bunraku Puppet Theater > Bunraku, also called ningyo-joruri (lit. puppetry and recitation accompanied by the shamisen), is a “trinity” performing art of recitation, shamisen music, and puppetry. This trinity, however, was not there in the beginning. Groups of puppeteers are said to have existed already in the Heian period (794–1185). And, through a combination of puppetry, joruri recitation and shamisen (stringed instrument) brought to Sakai, Osaka from China via Ryukyu (now called Okinawa), the original form of bunraku was established about 400 years ago. The mid-17th century saw a number of joruri narration schools in Kyoto, Osaka and Edo (now called Tokyo). However, when narrator TAKEMOTO Gidayu from Tennoji Village, Osaka established the Takemoto-za theater in Dotombori to attract people with his rich, fresh expressiveness and accurate description, his gidayu-bushi (gidayu narration) became synonymous with joruri. TAKEMOTO invited playwright CHIKAMATSU Monzaemon to Takemoto-za to narrate his sewamono plays that vividly pictured the society of ordinary townspeople at the time, and their plays were a huge hit among commoners. In the days of TAKEMOTO Gidayu and CHIKAMATSU Monzaemon, each doll was manipulated by only one puppeteer; it was about 260 years ago when three puppeteers came to be used to operate each puppet, as they are today. Most items in the kabuki repertoire are adaptations from bunraku plays. Even today, the top-level tayu (gidayu narrator) is considered to be of a higher standing as an artist than kabuki narrators. (Bunraku and Osaka) In the early 19th century, UEMURA Bunrakuken from Awaji Island established a joruri puppetry theater called Bunraku-za in Osaka, and the theater competed for popularity against Hikoroku-za, which was founded later. However, as Hikoroku-za and many other theaters closed, Bunraku-za became the only surviving theater that inherited the tradition of puppet joruri. This is how the word "bunraku" became synonymous with joruri puppetry as one of the representative performing arts of Osaka.

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