Images by night.sky.creative
On Saturday, October 12, Japan-America Society of Houston in partnership with Japan Society celebrated a historic evening of Japanese art and artistry at The George Theatre.
As an organization dedicated to promoting in Texas meaningful lasting understanding between Japan and America, it gave JASH great pleasure to be a part of the National Theatre’s first bunraku theater production presented in the U.S.
Founded in Osaka in the beginning of the 17th century, ningyo joruri bunraku is one the representative forms for Japanese performing arts integrating the globally influential three-person puppet manipulation technique with tayu narration and live shamisen music.
The dramatic storytelling artform is recognized as a UNESCO “masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.”
In bunraku’s Texas debut, attendees were treated to an evening filled with beauty and heartbreak through scenes from two select masterpieces of classic bunraku repertoire:
Oshichi, the Greengrocer’s Daughter, co-written by Sensuke Suga and Wakichi Matsuda in 1773, drew inspiration from an actual incident in 1683, in which a girl who fell in love with a temple page committed arson to see him again and was sentenced to death.
The Love Suicides at Sonezaki, premiered at the Takemotoza Theater in Osaka in 1703. It was written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653–1725), who is regarded as one of Japan’s greatest dramatists. Gaining significant, if morbid fame for the increase of double suicides amongst lovers in Japan in the 1700s, this piece established a new genre of plays, called sewa-mono, depicting the contemporary life of commoners, in contrast to the pre-existing jidai-mono genre that recounts historical stories. For the U.S. tour of this piece, the National Theatre paired the performance with background scenography by Kazuo Oga, art director for many classic Studio Ghibli anime such as My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke.
“We hope that you are fascinated by Japanese culture through today’s experience and motivated to visit Japan, and that you will appreciate the entire scope of the art of bunraku in its home country.”
-Mariko Hasegawa, President, Japan Arts Council
The Houston performance concluded a five (5) city North America tour with a full house and a post-performance meet-and-greet.
We are honored to have been able to share this art with our community.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for this special performance.
The U.S. tour of National Bunraku Theater is produced by Japan Society under partnership with Japan Arts Council, which is supported, in part, by Japan Cultural Expo 2.0, All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd., Kikkoman Corporation and Suntory Holdings Limited. The program is also supported by the John and Miyoko Davey Foundation and Takenaka Corporation.
This performance of National Bunraku Theater is funded in part by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.
Support was also provided by Miwa Sakashita and Dr. John Stroehlein, Akemi and Yasuhiko Saitoh, and Nanako and Dale Tingleaf.
This program is part of Houston’s celebration of the U.S.-Japan Tourism Year 2024.
