December
2008. The
Bunraku web site
is completed and released
for public users. It
documents the Bunraku
puppet theater's revival
in the second half of
the 20th century, through
more than 12,500 slides
and nearly 7,000 black-and-white
photographs of rehearsals
and performances.
December
2005. The
Freeman Foundation
has granted Columbia’s
C. V. Starr East Asian
Library $126,000 to
assist in the digitization
and online publication
of images from the
Library’s distinctive
Barbara C. Adachi
Japanese Puppet Theater
Collection. See CU
Press Release.
September
2003. The
Barbara C. Adachi
Bunraku Collection
was donated by Ms.
Adachi to Columbia
University's C. V.
Starr East Asian Library
in 2000. This extensive
collection documents
the significant post-World
War II revival of
popular interest in
bunraku, a type of
traditional Japanese
puppet theater. The
Adachi collection
spans the 1960s through
the 1990s and consists
of more than 12,500
slides and nearly 7,000
black-and-white photographs
of rehearsals, performances,
and workshops, as
well as theater programs
in Japanese and English,
texts of the plays
performed, and audio
and video recordings
of interviews with
masters of the modern
Japanese puppet theater.
The
bunraku form developed
early in Japan's Edo
period (1603-1868),
when large, half life-size
puppets, a traditional
three-stringed musical
instrument called the
shamisen, and original
dramas of contemporary
or historical interest
were combined to create
a new type of theater.
Along with kabuki, bunraku
represented a major
new form of truly popular
culture in the developing
cities of Japan. Some
of the most famous works
in the current repertory
were written by one
of Japan's greatest
playwrights, Chikamatsu
Monzaemon (1653-1725).
Although Monzaemon also
wrote for the kabuki
theater, he preferred
to write for puppets
rather than for actors
who, following the performance
practices of the time,
felt free to change playwrights'
lines as they saw fit.
Bunraku's
cultural importance
spans four hundred years,
from the early seventeenth
century to our own time.
Since the end of World
War II there has been
a revived interest in
bunraku, and Japanese
audiences have steadily
grown younger. Today
Bunraku performances
are seen advertised
in the subways and,
in 2001, were even featured
on a special subway
farecard.
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