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National Theatre
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Address: 4-1 Hayabusacho, Chiyoda-ku
| About Theatre |
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The National Theater is the best place to see different currents
of Japanese theatrical art. The National Theater contains two
halls: the Large Hall with a seating capacity of 1,654 and the
Small Hall with a capacity of 594. The Large Hall is the place
for the main public performances, including kabuki, byuo, which
is a Japanese traditional dance, folk performing arts and gagaku,
which is Japanese court music. In the Small Hall, one can get
acquainted with other forms of Japanese theater, which are hogaku
(Japanese traditional music), medieval performing arts, ryukyu
performing arts and Bunraku. Bunraku is a traditional Japanese
puppet theater. Bunraku is popular among both Japanese and foreign
audience. The National Bunraku Theater is located in Osaka,
but if one wants to see the Bunraku performance in Tokyo, he
should go to the National Theater.
In Japan Bunraku has almost the same popularity as kabuki and
noh theater. Kabuki and Bunraku are closely related with respect
to the plays content. Bunraku puppet performance combines puppet
manipulation, narration and shamisen music. The dolls that appear
on the stage during the Bunraku puppet show are about one meter
tall. They are manipulated by up to three persons, each one
is responsible for separate part of the puppet's body. The puppets
have rich mimicry: their eyes move, their eyebrows rise in surprise
or frown in anger, their mouth opens and the hands moves gracefully,
the gesture is realistic. The dolls wear rich colorful costumes
designed especially for the show, and each scene of a performance
looks like a beautiful Japanese picture. The puppeteers improve
their mastery through the whole life, as they are supposed to
work in perfect union. They carry the doll to the stage and
stay visible during the performance. Their main goal is to create
an illusion that the puppets are alive and make the audience
forget about the puppeteers' presence on the stage.
The narrator tells the story to which the puppets perform and
imitate dolls' voices. He has to shout, to whisper, to laugh
and to cry for all the characters of the play. The shamismen
accompaniment is also very important. He provides not only musical
accompaniment for the play, but also sound effects, as he's
responsible for the sound of rain, wind, thunder and other phenomenon.
Most of the plays in the Bunraku repertoire are classics written
in the 18th century. The stories are usually tragic: a woman
in love suffers from her loneliness, a child decides to die
for his father, a warrior is sent to death by his perfidious
master and other sad plots. The Bunraku performances are dedicated
to eternal themes, which are love, friendship, family, honor,
duty, betrayal, death.
The Bunraku Theater has its beginnings in the 15th century,
when blind itinerary entertainers recited sad stories to lute
accompaniment. The first use of a puppet by vagrant actors dates
back to the 16th century. For many years the Bunraku art was
inherited from father to son. Recently the Bunraku was recognized
as sophisticated theatrical art of great importance. Nowadays
students of theatrical schools perceive the Bunraku mastery.
The National Theater offers classis Bunraku performances. English-speaking
guests are provided with earphone guides with plot explanations.
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