Bunraku-za Playbill
A Collection of Representative Masterpieces, 1932
Cover
文楽座 十一月興行 人淨溜形淨
Bunraku-za, November performance, Puppet Theater
IHL Cat. #2737
The Goryō Bunraku-za 御霊文楽座 at Goryō Shrine 御霊文楽座
image source: The Sankei Shinbum https://www.sankei.com/article/20170225-JLENKKTV4RO4ZD4Z4CKKJDRWDM/
Goryō Bunraku-za 御霊文楽座, Interior, 1914
Insets top left - Calligraphy of the great dramatist of the puppet theater Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724) and bottom right - Chikamatsu's grave at Myoho-ji temple.*
image source: National Diet Library https://www.ndl.go.jp/scenery/kansai/data/72/index.html
Yotsubashi Bunraku-za (四ツ橋文楽座 ), owned by Shōchiku Kogyo Co., Ltd. and completed December 1929
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BUNRAKU-ZA
"Bunraku (ningyō jōruri) is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theater characterized by almost life-sized puppets accompanied by narrative chanting and shamisen music. The name bunraku is derived from a puppet troupe founded by Uemura Bunrakuken early in the 19th century. The earliest form of bunraku was introduced by Japanese storyteller Takemoto Gidaya in 1684 when he set up his own theatre in Osaka, Japan.
Founded in 1872, the Bunraku-za (Bunraku Theater), was moved within the Goryō Shrine compound in Osaka in 1884. Sold to the Shōchiku entertainment conglomerate in 1909, the Goryō Bunraku-za burned down together with its puppets and costumes in November 1926 after what has been described as "an extremely difficult managerial era" and "lost interest" by the public in the late Taishō era.
Upon opening a new theater in 1930, the Yotsubashi Bunraku Theater, the Shōchiku introduced the custom, generally maintained to the present day, of performing collections of favorite scenes from the classic plays, rather than complete performances of single plays, with the hope that shorter programs with more variety would improve attendance. In an economic climate hampered by the Great Depression and the beginning of the invasion of Manchuria, however, this met with limited success. In 1933, Japan’s national legislature, the Diet, created a subsidy to help ensure the survival of bunraku.
With the American bombing of Osaka in 1945, the theater, puppet heads, costumes, and props were destroyed a second time. The Shōchiku was able to open in temporary premises by 1946, moving to a new building in the Osaka theater district in 1956, but a general atmosphere of disillusionment in Japan during the post-war period once again robbed bunraku of its cultural value.
In 1963, the Bunraku Kyōkai (Bunraku Association) was established as a non-profit organization to insure the survival of Bunraku and the National Bunraku Theatre in Osaka (Kokuritsu Bunraku Gekijō) was established "to take over the heritage of the Bunraku-za and insure the survival of Bunraku."
In 1984, the organization opened a new theatre, Kokuritsu Bunraku Gekijō (National Bunraku Theatre), located a few steps from Dōtonbori, the traditional theatre quarter in Osaka.
On November 7, 2003, in the 2nd Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Ningyō Jōruri Bunraku was chosen as one of the UNESCO's Intangible Heritage items for its excellence.
Sources: Traditional Kyoto https://traditionalkyoto.com/culture/bunraku/ [accessed 8-5-24]; Association for Asian Studies, "History and Sustainability of Bunraku, the Japanese Puppet Theater" https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/history-and-sustainability-of-bunraku-the-japanese-puppet-theater/ [accessed 8-5-24]; Unima Internationale - World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts https://wepa.unima.org/en/japan/ [accessed 8-5-24]; National Diet Library "Goryo Bunrakuza" https://www.ndl.go.jp/scenery/e/column/kansai/goryo_bunrakuza.html [accessed 8-5-24]
Today's Bunraku-za
National Bunraku Theater (国立文楽劇場 Kokuritsu Bunraku Gekijō), photo taken 2013
image source: Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:National_Bunraku_Theatre_,_%E5%9B%BD%E7%AB%8B%E6%96%87%E6%A5%BD%E5%8A%87%E5%A0%B4_-_Panoramio_94131155.jpg
Cover
文楽座 十一月興行 人淨溜形淨
文楽座 部 金十五錢
Bunraku-za, November performance, Puppet Theater,
Bunraku-za Price: 15 sen
Overall size: 7 1/2 x 5 3/16 in. (19 x 12.9 cm)
click on an image to enlarge
Schedule and list of performances
Opening Performance: Ehon Taikōki (The Illustrated Chronicles of the Regent) from the Nijō Castle scene to the Amagasaki scene.
Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy - the Terakoya (Village School) scene.
Love Suicides at Amijima - Koharu and Jihei, scene in the Temma Paper Shop.
Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees: A Lyrical Journey to the First Breath of Spring (a.k.a. Journey with the Fox).
Performance starts at 3:00PM finishing at 10:30PM with 50 total minutes of intermission between plays.
Foldout playbill for the performance
文楽座辻番付 Tsuji banzuke
Preface
top section: Welcoming and introductory comments for the November performance, "A Representative Collection from the Eighteen Famous Plays," the last performance of the year.
* for a complete transcription and translation of the introductory comments click here.
middle section: Information on ticket sales and pricing, with tickets ranging from 3 yen 50 sen for a first class floor seat to 80 sen for a third class seat. An announcement about footwear.
bottom section: Advertisement for Nagai-nitieido insatsu sho, an Ōsaka printing company.
p. 6-7
Nijō Castle Scene from Ehon Taikōki - roles and players (jōruri narrators and puppeteers) and story
p. 4-5
"About the Puppet Theater" (cont.)
p. 2-3
"About the Puppet Theater" - Development of the puppet theater, establishment of the Bunraku-za and description of puppet heads
p. 12-13
right page: Myōshin-ji Temple scene from Ehon Taikōki - roles and players (jōruri narrators and puppeteers) and story
(cont.)
left page: Evening Under the Moonflower Trellis scene and Amagasaki scene from Ehon Taikōki, roles and players (jōruri narrators and puppeteers) and Evening Under the Moonflower Trellis- story
p. 10-11
Myōshin-ji Temple scene from Ehon Taikōki - roles and players (jōruri narrators and puppeteers) and story
(cont.)
p. 8-9
right page: Nijō Castle scene from Ehon Taikōki - roles and players (jōruri narrators and puppeteers) and story
(cont.)
left page: Scene at Myōshin-ji Temple from Ehon Taikōki - roles and players (jōruri narrators and puppeteers) and story
p. 18-19
Amagasaki scene - story (cont.)
p. 16-17
Evening Under the Moonflower Trellis scene - story (end) and Amagasaki scene - story
p. 14-15
Evening Under the Moonflower Trellis scene - story (cont.)
p. 24-25
The Village School scene and scene of Matsuō's Examination of the Decapitated Head from Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy - story (cont.)
p. 22-23
The Village School scene and scene of Matsuō's Examination of the Decapitated Head from Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy - roles and players (jōruri narrators and puppeteers) and story
p. 20-21
Amagasaki scene - story (cont.)
p. 30-31
The Village School scene and scene of Matsuō's Examination of the Decapitated Head from Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy - story (cont.)
p. 28-29
The Village School scene and scene of Matsuō's Examination of the Decapitated Head from Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy - story (cont.)
p. 26-27
The Village School scene and scene of Matsuō's Examination of the Decapitated Head from Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy- story (cont.)
p. 36-37
The Temma Paper Shop scene from Love Suicides at Amijima - story (cont.)
p. 34-35
The Temma Paper Shop scene from Love Suicides at Amijima - story (cont.)
p. 32-33
The Temma Paper Shop scene from Love Suicides at Amijima - roles and players (jōruri narrators and puppeteers) and story
p. 42-43
The Temma Paper Shop scene from Love Suicides at Amijima - story (cont.)
p. 40-41
The Temma Paper Shop scene from Love Suicides at Amijima - story (cont.)
p. 38-39
The Temma Paper Shop scene from Love Suicides at Amijima - story (cont.)
p. 48-49
A Lyrical Journey to the First Breath of Spring from Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees - roles and players (jōruri narrators (cont.) and puppeteers) and story (cont.)
p. 46-47
right page: The Temma Paper Shop scene from Love Suicides at Amijima - story (end)
left page: A Lyrical Journey to the First Breath of Spring from Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees - roles and players (jōruri narrators and puppeteers) and story
p. 44-45
The Temma Paper Shop scene from Love Suicides at Amijima - story (cont.)
p. 54-55
right page: Bunraku Theater Seating Guide
left page: list and description of amenities and other theater related matters
p. 52-53
right page: photographs of the Kabuki-za
left page: Osaka Kabuki-za November Performances Participation and Performance by Geijutsuza (Art Theater) with the Full Participation of All Tokyo Shinpa (new theater) Troupe"
p. 50-51
October's Bunraku Theater News Journal
文樂座消息日誌
Back Cover
advertisement for Face Powder Club クラブ 白粉 Kurabu Oshiroi
"Face powder that brings out the true beauty of a lady with brightness and liveliness."
p. 56 and inside of back cover
right page: Bunraku Theater dining hall guide
left page: list and description of amenities and other theater related matters
left page: colophon in right margin and advertisement for the Bunraku Banquet Hall
Colophon details:
昭和七年十月卅日印刷 printed October 30, 1932
昭和七年十一月一日發行 published November 1, 1932
大阪・四ツ橋文楽座 Ōsaka: Yotsubashi Bunraku-za
發行人 大塚良三 publisher: Ryōzō Ōtsuka
編輯 成山桂三 editing: Naruyama Keizo?
印刷者 永井太三郎 printer: Nagai Tasaburō?
Preface to Playbill - Detail
click on image to enlarge
The Last Performance of This Year
November Performance
A Representative Collection from the Eighteen Famous Plays
As the yellow chrysanthemums compete with the beauty of the white chrysanthemums, we sincerely wish you good health and happiness. This November marks the final performance of the year for the beloved Bunraku Theater. The lineup includes the famous “Terakoya” by [jōruri narrator] Tsudayu, “Kamijina” by [jōruri narrator] Tosadayu, and “Amagasaki” by [jōruri narrator] Koutsubodayu, among other masterpieces.
The young performers will also showcase their energetic performance in “The Journey of a Thousand Cherry Trees” (Senbon zakura michiyuki). The puppeteers, the matchless Eiza and Bungorō, will be actively performing from the grand opening to the finale, making this the only splendid production of this autumn.
We hope you will come early and help us achieve unprecedented success with your kind support.
November, Showa 7 (1932) Bunraku Theater
本年最後の總出演
十一月興行
代表的十八番揃ひ
黃菊の葉り白菊の美ともに競ふてよろしき候ます〱御健勝の御晴やかさを謹んで祝福申上げます、借て、御愛 好切なる文樂座人形淨環環の十一月は本年最後の出演興行と仕り語り、物も津太夫の寺子屋、土佐太夫の紙治內古靱太夫の尼ヶ崎と極め付十八番を揃〈若手逃また「千本櫻道行」に元氣一杯の熱演を見せ人形の双璧榮三文五郎共に大序より大切まで大活躍の豪華でこれこそ今秋唯一の敦産でございます御厚情切なるみなさまの御授によつて空前の盛況を嵐ち得ますやうお早々とおはこび下さいまし。
昭和七年十一月
文樂座
Brief Summary of Plays
Source: The Bunraku Handbook, Shuzaburo Hironaga, Maison des Arts, Inc., 1976
Ehon Taikōki ("The Illustrated Chronicles of the Regent" or "The Tycoon's Exploits") - Written by Yanagi Chikamatsu, Kosuiken Chikamatsu and Senyoken Chikamatsu and first staged at the Wakadayuza Theater in Osaka in 1799, this play depicts the rise to power of the Tycoon Hideyoshi Toyotomi, who ruled Japan late in the 16th century, following his victory in a battle against Matsuhide Akechi, who had assassinated Nobunaga Oda, the supreme warlord in the Honnoji Temple in Kyoto. In the play fictitious names are used for these characters. (p. 44)
Sugawara Denju Tenari Kagami ("Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy") - Written jointly by Izumo Takeda, Senryu Namiki and Shoraku Miyoshi, it is considered one of the three masterpieces of bunraku. It proved so popular that it played at the Takemotoza Theater continuously from August 1746 to March 1747.
The play has an historical background. Michizane Sugawara was a famous poet and calligrapher who, in the middle of the ninth century, was appointed by the Emperor as Minister of the Right, one of the two principal Ministers of the Government. A competing minister Shihei Fujiwara plotted against Michizane who was sent into exile where he died. Later his reputation was not only redeemed but he became deified as the god of calligrapy and Temmangu shrines were erected throughout Japan.
The play uses the birth of triplets in Temma, Osaka to weave a tale of divided loyalties of the brothers between their duty to their patron Michizane who named them at birth and their father who hold great antagonism for each other. (p. 348-349)
Shinju Ten no Amajima (Love Suicides at Amijima) - On the night of October 14, 1720, Jihei a paper merchant at Temma, Osaka, and Koharu, a courtesan of the Kinokuniya tea house at Sonezaki Shinchi, committed a double suicide at the Daichoji Temple at Amjima. Monzaemon Chikamatsu, the greatest dramatist of bunraku, wrote this play based upon that incident. It was presented for the first time at the Takemotoza Theater on December 6, 1720. In 1778 Haji Chikamatsu revised this paly and renamed it, "Shinju Kamiya Jihei," also known as "Ten no Amaijima Shigure no Kotatsu." (p. 314)
Yoshitsune Sembon Zakura (Yoshitsune and the One Thousand Cherry Trees) - Written by Izumo Takeda, Shoraku Miyoshi and Senryu Namiki, Yoshitsune Sembon Zakura was first staged at the Takemotoza Theater in 1717. Along with Kanadehon Chushingura and Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami, it is known as one of the three masterpieces of bunraku. It deals with episodes centering around Yoshitsune, younger brother of the Shogun Yoritomo, and the fugitive generals of Heike Clan, Koremori and his uncle Tomomori, after its defeat by the Genji Clan headed by Yoritomo. (p. 388-389)