Seiwa Bunraku Theatre (清和文楽館) 清和文楽館
Since 1992 it has been the only theatre in Kyūshū built for bunraku: the puppets are moved by farmers.
Bunraku (人形浄瑠璃) is puppet theatre accompanied by the narrative singing jōruri and by the shamisen, the three-stringed instrument. In Seiwa it began around 1850, when some inhabitants of the former village, fans of jōruri, bought puppets from a travelling company from Awaji island and learned the technique; hence the broad gestures of the puppets, which are said to have arisen so that they could be seen in the poor light of fires and candles. The company, made up of farmers, performed on the country stages of shrines. It declined at the end of the Meiji era (1912), resumed in 1926, and in 1960 two holders of the puppet technique were designated prefectural Intangible Cultural Properties; in 1979 the whole company was, and the village made it the flagship of its revival. The theatre was built in 1992 as a project of Kumamoto Artpolis (the prefecture's architecture programme), in wood, designed by the architect Ishii Kazuhiro, with stage, hall and exhibition in three buildings; since 1994 singers and shamisen players have also returned, and there are about two hundred performances a year.
Kumamoto
