Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe is an American puppet troupe that performs the traditional Japanese puppet drama commonly known as ningyō jōruri or Bunraku

Bunraku

, also known as Ningyō jōruri , is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theater, founded in Osaka in 1684.Three kinds of performers take part in a bunraku performance:* Ningyōtsukai or Ningyōzukai—puppeteers* Tayū—the chanters* Shamisen players...

. Based in Columbia, Missouri

Columbia, Missouri

Columbia is the fifth-largest city in Missouri, and the largest city in Mid-Missouri. With a population of 108,500 as of the 2010 Census, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 164,283 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone County and as the...

, the Troupe is directed by J. Martin Holman

J. Martin Holman

James Martin Holman, Jr. is a literary translator, professor, puppeteer, and puppet theater director. He received a BA in Japanese from Brigham Young University and did graduate work in Japanese literature at the University of California, Berkeley.Holman lived in Japan for more than ten years as a...

, professor of Japanese language, literature, and theater at the University of Missouri

University of Missouri

The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...

, and the first non-Japanese to train and perform in the traditional puppet theater in Japan. The original puppeteers of Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe were trained in Japan by members of three traditional Bunraku puppet troupes: the Tonda Puppet Troupe, founded in the 1830s in Shiga Prefecture

Shiga Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan, which forms part of the Kansai region on Honshu Island. The capital is the city of Ōtsu.- History :Shiga was known as Ōmi Province or Gōshū before the prefectural system was established...

, Japan; and the 300-year-old Kuroda Puppet Troupe

Kuroda Puppet Troupe

The Kuroda Puppet Troupe is a traditional Japanese puppet troupe in the style commonly known as ningyō jōruri or bunraku based in the city of Iida in Nagano Prefecture...

 and the Imada Puppet Troupe

Imada Puppet Troupe

is a traditional Japanese puppet troupe in the style that is commonly known as Ningyō Jōruri or Bunraku, based in Iida, Nagano.-History:The Troupe traces its origins to 1704, when a group of villagers purchased puppets to use in Shinto religious rites during the local shrine festival...

 of Iida

Iida

-People:*Kaori Iida , a Japanese singer and artist*Iida Umanosuke , director of the anime series Hellsing -Other:...

, Nagano Prefecture

Nagano Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano.- History :Nagano was formerly known as the province of Shinano...

, Japan. In recent years most members of Bunraku Bay have spent summers training with the Imada Puppet Troupe.

The "bay" of the Troupe's name derives from its origins in the Bay State of Massachusetts, where it was founded in 2004, and the "bei" of the Japanese word "Beikoku" (米国), which means America.

The Troupe's repertoire consists largely of traditional pieces from Edo Period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 Japan and includes the Kotobuki Shiki Sanbasō 寿式三番叟 (pictured right), a lively, celebratory dance piece that opens a program of puppet theater; Yaoya Oshichi

Yaoya Oshichi

, literally "greengrocer Oshichi", was a daughter of the greengrocer Tarobei. She lived in the Hongō neighborhood of Edo at the beginning of the Edo period. She attempted to commit arson after falling in love with a boy. This story became the subject of joruri plays...

　八百屋お七 or Date Musume Koi no Higanoko　伊達娘恋火子, the story of a young woman who must climb a fire tower and sacrifice herself on a snowy night to save her lover; Hidakagawa Iriaizakura　日高川入相花王, a scene both comic and exciting in which a young woman's raging jealously transforms her into a demon serpent; the Lion Dance or shishimai 獅子舞, a puppet version of the dance performed frequently at festivals throughout Japan; The Dance of Ebisu or Ebisumai 恵比寿舞, a comic piece featuring the traditional fisherman deity; and Keisei Awa no Naruto 傾城阿波鳴門　(pictured left), the most widely-performed puppet scene in Japan, in which a woman meets the daughter she had been forced to abandon as an infant ten years earlier.

Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe has performed at a range of venues across the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, among them the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

 in Washington DC, the University of Chicago, the Japan Society in New York City, and the Iida Puppetry Festival in the city of Iida

Iida, Nagano

is a city located in southern Nagano Prefecture, Japan.Located on the Iida Line, an old local train line that runs through the valley of the Tenryū River in the southern Japan Alps, Iida lies 90 minutes northeast of the major city of Nagoya by automobile via the Chūō Expressway...

, Nagano Prefecture

Nagano Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano.- History :Nagano was formerly known as the province of Shinano...

, Japan. The Troupe also offers workshops on traditional Japanese puppetry and demonstrations of puppetry techniques.

In October 2009, Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe completed a US tour jointly with members of the Imada Puppet Theater, with performances at Willamette University in Oregon, the University of Colorado in Boulder, the University of Missouri in Columbia, and at Princeton University in New Jersey. Bunraku Bay again performed with the Imada Puppet Theater at the Toronto Summer Music Festival in Canada in July 2010.