Some of the Pieces that Bunraku Bay Regularly Performs:



Kotobuki Shiki Sanbaso  寿式三番叟. A celebratory dance piece of divinely-inspired puppetry that originated in masked Noh drama, the Sanbaso is meant to who purify the theater and scatter good fortune on the audience with lively gestures that mimic the planting of rice and also suggest felicitous creatures like turtles and cranes. But the piece also includes comedy because even a puppet charged with the solemn task of blessing a venue sometimes gets tired and needs to cool off after a taxing turn on the stage. The Sanbaso opens every Bunraku Bay performance.

Lion Dance  獅子舞 . The newest addition to the repertoire of Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe is the Lion Dance, a piece performed throughout East Asia in a variety of forms. The lively and engaging Lion Dance brings good fortune to the audience--a lion bite on the head will confer intelligence on children and good health for the coming year.  But the lion himself is not always so fortunate. His slumber is often disturbed by delicate but pesky visitors.

Click here to see excerpts from the Lion Dance:

Bunraku Bay Lion Dance

Hidakagawa Iriaizakura　日高川入相花王　渡場の段. The young woman Kiyohime is in love with a man who will not return her affection. In the scene at the crossing of the Hidaka River, Kiyohime entreats a boatman to ferry her across as she pursues the object of her obsession. But the grumpy boatman has been paid by the young man not to comply with Kiyohime’s wishes. Ridiculed by the boatman for her desires, Kiyohime becomes enraged when she learns the story of her intended love’s infidelity.  Her demonic jealousy transforms both her heart and her form in ways that terrify the crusty boatman and ultimately spell doom for the hapless young man she pursues.

Click here to see excerpts from Hidakagawa Iriaizakura:

Yaoya Oshichi　八百屋お七　火の見櫓の段. Oshichi, daughter of the greengrocer, must relay information and a lost sword to her lover by dawn or he will die. But on this snowy evening with the gates of the city already secured for the night, she cannot reach him. Passing near a fire tower, Oshichi realizes that all the gates will be opened if a fire alarm is sounded. But the penalty for sounding a false alarm is death. Oshichi chooses to climb the icy tower to ring the bell, a testament of her devotion to her love.

Click here to see excerpts from Yaoya Oshichi:

Keisei Awa no Naruto 傾城阿波の鳴門　巡礼歌の段　is one of the most popular scenes performed in the traditional puppet repertoire. In the "The Scene of the Pilgrim's Song" Oyumi meets her daughter Otsuru, whom she had been forced to abandon as an infant ten years earlier in Tokushima. But now, because of the perilous situation of the girl's samurai father, Oyumi must send her daughter away for the girl's own safety without revealing that she is the mother whom her daughter is seeking. Naruto exhibits the pathos and engaging drama for which Bunraku puppetry is famous.

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New Pieces Scheduled to Debut in Fall 2009: