人形浄瑠璃を支える徳島の木偶 Footprints of the Puppets “AWA DEKO”
Footprints of puppet,“AWA DECO”
AWA DECO, supporting puppet theater in Japan It’s said that there were about 200 Hakomawashi Puppeteers centering on the west Tokushima from the end of the Edo period to Meiji era. All through the year they went on tour mainly West Japan, but each places in Japan. Not only Hakomawashi Puppeteers performed but played part in like salesperson by demonstrating excellent AWA DECO, like Tenguhisa’s works. So, we can still see AWA DECO in puppet theater all over the Japan. Besides Tenguhisa, there are many puppet sculptors who had have talent in Tokushima. For example, Oe Minosuke 4th put much effort into restoration of Bunraku-za theater after the end of the WWⅡ, and recently Amari Yoichiro bears the sculpting and repairing DECOs of the puppet theater of each Japan. As above, the sclptual technique of Tokushima gains all Japan’s confidence. In late years, some new approaches that we can experience DECO’s elaborate techniques have started using the shape storage of AWA DECO by 3D archives and the 3D output device.
HAKOMAWASHI PUPPETEER A Hakomawashi troupe consists of 2～3 persons. They stored several puppets in crates, carried them on shoulder-poles and moved throughout Japan. The unique characteristic is a puppeteer manipulates one puppet by oneself narrating Joruri.
TENGUHISA Tenguya Hisakichi or Tenguhisa in short was born in Kokufu-cho,Tokushima in 1858. All through the era of Meiji, Taisho, howa he has continued to make puppets, it’s said that more than 1,000 puppets were made by him.