Bunraku was amazing! 文楽はすごかったです！

Let's be honest, puppets are creepy.
正直言って、人形って気味悪いです。

The way their little eyes and mouths move is unnatural, and it seems like they're going to come to life at night and kill people.　
小さな目と口の動きが不自然で、夜は動き出して人を殺せそうに見えます。

So, when I went to go see bunraku at Tomiura Genki Club, I was prepared for the possibility of puppet nightmares afterward.  Fortunately, there was no such thing, because bunraku puppets are AMAZING! (But I wasn't allowed to take photographs so I will try to show you what I can with photos from the web.)
だから、富浦元気倶楽部に文楽を見に行ったら、人形の悪い夢を見る可能性があると思ってもう心の準備が出来ました。幸いに悪夢なんか何もなかったです。文楽の人形が実はすごいですから！　（でも、あのパフォーマンスは撮影禁止だったから、ネットで見つけた写真でなんとか説明してみます。）

Kiritake Kanjuro and 2 puppeteers.  You can only see the faces of the main puppet masters.

First of all...they're big, like the size of a 2nd grade kid.  Each puppet is handled by 3 people, all of whom you can clearly see, so there are no strings.  One puppeteer operates the feet, one the left hand, and the master puppeteer operates the head and right hand. They have to harmonize well in order to move as a unit, and this is while the master puppet wears giant wooden platform flip-flops (a version of geta) like this:
まず一番、この人形は大きいです、小学校２年生の大きさぐらい。３人の人形遣いが一つの人形を操ります。（糸は一切ありませんから、人形遣いを全員見えます。）一人の人形遣いが人形の足を操って、一人が左手を操って、メインの頭遣いは人形の頭と右手を操ります。スムーズに動くために、３人で息を合わせなければなりません。しかも、人形を動かしながら、その頭遣いは下のような高い下駄を履くんですよ：

I'm pretty sure I would break my ankle in those shoes.
私がこのような靴を履いたら、足首を折るかもね。。。

Before the show the puppeteers showed us the different types of puppets they use, how they operate the puppets, as well as some of the moves and tricks they use during the show.  They even let people in the audience get on stage and try some of the tricks.  I thought about trying it for a second, but considering the fact that I am clumsy and the puppets costs tens of thousands of dollars, I decided it was best to watch from my seat.
パフォーマンスが始まる前に、人形遣いさん達は使っている人形の種類、操り方、や劇で使う技などを見せて下さいました。観客もステージに上って技をやらせてくれましたし。やってみようかなぁ、と、一瞬思ったけど、自分が不器用でその人形が何百万円もかかることを覚えて、やぱり席から見た方がいいと決めました。

Anyway, the cool thing about these puppets is that, to some extent, they aren't supposed to look natural.  They have really extravagant old-fashioned clothes and stylized faces, so they look more like kabuki actors than real people. This one is a kind of clown (as you can see).
とにかく、この人形の面白いところは、ある程度、人間に見えるはずがないです。一般的な人より歌舞伎役者のように見えます。下の人形はピエロっぽいですね。

Plus, in bunraku, there are musicians on the side of the stage that provide all the music and speaking for the play - the puppeteers remain silent.  At this performance, there was one main playing the shamisen and one man singing/narrating.  I'm not sure what to call it, because the man changed his voice for each character and does dialogue, but he used an old form of Japanese narration that is closer to singing than speaking.  In order to make all of the sounds, he made some crazy faces, so it was just as interesting to watch him narrate as it was to watch the actual play.
そして、文楽ではステージの傍らに楽師がいて、その劇の音楽と語りを演技します。この場合には、語り手が一人、三味線弾きが一人いました。なんと呼べばいいかわからないんですか、その語り手が話していたと言うよりも、歌っているように聞こえました。面白い音を出すためか、結構面白い表情をしていましたから、語り手か人形、どっちを見ればいいか途中で分からなくなりました。

 an example of the performers who narrate and play background music for bunraku

Speaking of faces, the main puppet master's face was really interesting to watch, too.  He barely made any expression at all, yet in the lines of his face and eyes you could imagine he was feeling the same way as his puppet.  Kiritake Kanjuro was his name, and he controlled Oyumi, a mother who wanted to be with her long-lost child.  I felt like I could almost feel the sadness in his face as though he could feel what the puppet should be feeling. It seemed to me that this must be the mark of a true professional.
表情と言えば、あの頭遣いの顔を見るのも結構面白かったです。表情というのはあまりなかったのに、なんとか彼の顔と目のシワで描かれたものがあったというか、人形に共感しているように見えたのです。人形が（人間だったら）感じるはずの悲しみが桐竹さんの顔に見えたような気がしました。これこそ、プロというものだなぁ〜と思いました。

His son (or at least a young man with the same name) was the main puppeteer for the other puppet, Oyumi's daughter, Otsuru, and although he was technically quite good, in my opinion, his face was blank and at some times perhaps even disinterested-looking. I heard from an acquaintance there that Kiritake Kanjuro's father has been designated as something of a "living cultural treasure" by the Japanese government, and many critics expect Kiritake Kanjuro to be given the same designation as well.  I certainly hope so, too.
桐竹の息子さん（か、せめて同じ名字の若い男性）はお弓の娘人形お鶴の頭遣いだったし、結構上手だと思うけど、彼の方は本当に無表情で時々退屈そうに見えたんです。知り合いから聞いた限り、桐竹勘十郎のお父さん（２代目）は重要無形文化財保持者に認定されて、桐竹勘十郎も認定されると、批評者が期待しているらしいです。私も、それを期待しています。

Kiritake Kanjuro (left) donating puppets to The Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta in 2009.

Despite being able to clearly see the puppet masters and despite the fact that one man is singing the voices of two women, there is something about the way the puppets move that made me forget that they are puppets, as if I was watching a play with actors.  Perhaps because this was a brief show, in the end, the audience never really finds out what happens between Oyumi and Otsuru, but I know that I definitely want to see bunraku again.
人形遣いがはっきり見えても、一人の男の人が２二人の女の人の声を演じても、人形の動き方で何となく人形であることを忘れてしまい、本当の役者をみているように感じます。もしかしたら今回のパフォーマンスはこの劇の一部だけだったから、最終的にお鶴とお弓とはどうなるのか知らないです。それでも、是非また文楽を見てみたいと思います。

Thank you, Tomiura Genki Club, for this great experience, and thanks to Kim, Ebony, Sam, and Melissa for coming!

Liz