A Summary of "Keisei Awa no Naruto"

 This is from the English translation provided to me by the puppet theater.

    In this play, Jurobe and his wife Oyumi are living in Osaka.  Their only daughter was left behind in their hometown Awa province, present day Tokushima prefecture, and she is being taken car of by her grandmother.  Jurobe was ordered to look for a treasured sword of his master in the Awa Clan.

>>>This is where the segment of the play I saw begins.<<<

    While Oyumi is doing some sewing, a ten-year-old pilgrim girl comes to the house of Jurobe saying, "I am a pilgrim.  I am here to beg your favor."  Since the girl has speaks with the Awa dialect, Oyumi asks many questions and realizes that she is her daughter, Otsuru, who was left in the care of Jurobe's mother.  Oyumi learns from Otsuru that she has been traveling alone on a pilgrimage in the hope of meeting her missing parents.  Oyumi embraces Otsuru and almost reveals her identity, but then refrains for fear of involving Otsuru in a dangerous situation.  

    While Jurobe and Oyumi began looking for the sword, they disguised themselves at thieves.  Over time, they became real thieves so they were wanted by the police.  Oyumi, after an agonizing dilemma, decides not to tell Otsuru she is her mother and firmly tells her daughter to leave the place with a tearful farewell.

>>>This is where the segment I saw ends.<<<

    Jurobe returns home and says that he met a pilgrim girl.  He found that she had a lot of money so asked her to give him the money so he can make repayment (I'm not entirely sure what this means, but that is what is written).  The girl becomes scared and refuses his request and cries for help.  Jurobe then covers her mouth to make her quiet, unintentionally suffocating her without realizing it is his daughter.

The puppet manipulation, the music, and the tone of singing conveyed all of Oyumi's emotions without need to understand the words.  It was very clear where Oyumi was speaking with Otsuru and where she was speaking to herself in an aside.  Each puppet is controlled by three puppeteers.  The chief controls the head and right arm.  The second controls the left arm.  The third controls the legs.  The third has to perform in a half-crouch.  In the past it was about 10 years of training to be a second or third puppeteer and 20 years to become a chief.

Here is Otsuru coming to the house.

And here is Oyumi sewing.

This is after the play.

The music is primarily played on this three string instrument called a shamisen.  It is played with the paddle (at the very bottom) called a bachi.

Since the chief puppeteer needs to be able to work and see higher, he or she uses wooden clogs.  To minimize the sound from walking straw cushions are wrapped, kind of like rope, on the bottom.  If the chief is particularly short and the second is taller, these clogs may be as high as 15-20 cm (8") or more.

The insides of the puppet's head is very complicated.  By manipulating strings, the eyes closed and mouth can opened.  Since the default positions are open eyes/closed mouth, there are springs inside.  The easy ones to see in this picture are the black curved bits.  Traditionally they were made from baleen.

Before we watched the performance and toured the small museum there was an informational video about the history of puppet theater in Japan and Tokushima prefecture, specifically.  One woman had been interviewed for it.  She started a successful and long running group in Tokushima after she moved here when she was married.  Her father-in-law suggested she do it, so she started.  It was very interesting learning what she said about it.  English translations are always difficult to fully trust because there is so much nuance and implied meaning in many statements.  However, she said one thing she has learned is in order to perform well you must experience life.  Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, hope... you have to know all of it from your own life before you can express it in the puppets.  At the same time, the puppets help you know your emotions.  A creative outlet along with embracing life is important for us all.