Awa Ningyo Joruri Performance: Japanese Drama performed by professional puppeteers from Tokushima Prefecture

Join us for this 90 minute program including an explanation and a video of Awa Ningyo Joruri,  a demonstration and hands-ons experience of how to operate the large puppets, and the performance of "Keisei Awa no Naruto, The Scene of the Pilgrim’s Song"

Ningyo / Narutoza Puppet Theater

Narutoza Puppet Theater was formed in 1980, when its founding director Kobayashi Shunsei, his family, and six other friends joined together to create the troupe, occasioned by the receipt of two puppet heads that had been carved by the master Oe Minosuke IV, a native of Naruto City who had created most of the puppet heads that were used by the Osaka Bunraku Puppet Theater after their puppets and equipment had been destroyed during the War. The two puppets that Narutoza received were Oyumi and Otsuru, the mother and daughter characters in the play Keisei Awa no Naruto. Starting with performances at local schools in Naruto, the troupe collaborated with children’s organizations to produce pieces that were performed at the Otsuka Art Museum. They also performed at the grand opening of the outdoor stage at the Bart Garden theme park and at Nishinomiya Shrine in Hyogo Prefecture, among others, always seeking to convey the charm of traditional Awa puppetry to audiences within and without Tokushima Prefecture. Currently, puppeteers ranging in age from their 30s through their 70s perform with Naruto Puppet Theater under the leadership of the third director, Murakami Kyoko.