What Is a Bunraku Puppet Wrist Control?

Series Summary

Bunraku puppets are Japanese puppets ranging in size from two to four feet tall. Most of these puppets require three people to operate: one to control the right hand, one to control the left hand, one to control the feet and legs and the main puppeteer to control the right hand and head. The audience can see the puppeteers, who often perform with black hoods over their heads. Puppetry such as Bunraku is a theatre art of the highest order with some of the most amazing sets, costume design and character creations you will ever see. Sure, we’ll always have primitive puppets for children’s television shows and cheap comedies. But please remember that the world of puppetry goes far beyond those silly sock puppets into a fascinating universe of delight and imagination.

In this free puppet lesson video, you will learn how to make a controller which operates the hands of a Bunraku puppet. Our expert puppeteer will tell you what building materials you need, then demonstrate all the steps of constructing your very own puppet controller.

Video Transcript

"Hi. So today we're going to be talking about how to build a bunraku, a Japanese bunraku, puppet style wrist control. What this contraption allows a puppeteer to do when inserted into a puppet. And I'm going to use Rufus here, Rufus is a marionette but he can help out for our purposes, is control the up down movement of the hand. The way the control works is the first part of the rod represents the forearm of the puppet. And then this little doohickey is just standing in for a hand. The puppeteer grasps the grip, rotates the toggle, and it moves the hand with this piece of bungee cord marking the elbow of the puppet. Bunraku is a three hundred or more year old Japanese puppet tradition. Incredibly beautiful two to even five foot tall puppets are manipulated by two, one, two or three performers dressed in black and visible overtly on the stage. For more information about bunraku, that's b-u-n-r-a-k-u puppetry you can look at the puppeteers of America homepage."