KABUKI and BUNRAKU
Ballad of Osome and Hisamatsu) and Gojôbashi (At the Gojô Bridge), and in part two, the scene Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Pavilion) from the play Gion sairei shinkôki (The Gion Festival Chronicle of Faith) and Katsuragawa Renri no shigarami (The Katsuragawa River) were also performed. In September, the morning program consisted of the acts Men uri (The Masque Peddler), Kamakura sandai ki (Three Generations of Kamakura Shoguns) and Ise ondo koi no netaba. In the afternoon, the fourth section from Imoseyama onna teikin was performed. In Kamakura sandaiki, a younger narrator performed well, and Kanjûrô’s handling of the puppet for the role of Omiwa in Imoseyama was a great technical display. In December, according to annual tradition, the younger performers took over with a performance of the third section of Sanjûsangendô munagi no yurai. For the last ten years, the Bunraku programs in Tokyo have been bringing in 050
large audience numbers and the past year was no exception, recording an attendance of 90%. In addition, there were performances aimed at adults in the evenings (6pm start) at both theatres, and programs of the Jôruri chanting (Bunraku without the puppets). There were also several programs of younger performers, and two performances toured regionally. The leadership of the narrators has now fallen to Toyotake Sakitayû and he has shown a superb artistry in his differentiation of human characters and scene depictions during the year. Takemoto Chitosedayû, Toyotake Hanabusadayû and Takemoto Mojihisadayû have also shown the ability to take on some of the bigger sections. Furthermore, Toyotake Rosetayû has gained in strength and among the young performers, Toyotake Sakihodayû and Toyotake Mutsumidayû having managed to find their way out of some of their difficulties, and were showing great progress during the year.