near his home called Ningyō no Mura. The kindness and generosity of these people, along with their dedication to this puppet tradition and support of those eager to receive puppet Ebisu’s blessings, made me want to know if Japan was home to other forms like this one. Nishikawa had shown me the book Ikiteiru Ningyō Shibai: Michinoku Kara, Okinawa Made Nihon Jūdan (Living Puppet Traditions: A Journey Across Japan: From Michinoku to Okinawa). Its provocative images of puppet forms throughout the country revealed a world of surprising traditions I wanted to explore. Many of the traditions I wanted to understand are designated local or national cultural heritage properties, and I made a list of them as I prepared for my trip. These puppets usually perform at festivals that happen only once a year at specific shrines. Arriving in Japan in September 2021, when COVID vaccines had not yet been widely distributed, I found every matsuri I hoped to attend—I had planned attending these as my initial method of connecting with the traditions—canceled. Despite this situation, during my nine months in Japan I was able to connect, in one way or another, with each of the traditions on my list, often not only seeing puppets but trying them out and meeting with the heads and members of the preservation societies who devote their efforts to these arts. I am so grateful for the time these individuals gave me and the work they do helping to preserve local puppetry forms. I also investigated some traditional forms that are not related to rituals and followed the work of contemporary puppeteers creating new shows. INITIAL CONNECTIONSMartin J. Holman, a retired US professor of East Asian Studies, who now lives in Tokushima and runs his own ningyō jōruri troupe called Tokubei-za, reached out to me in September, while I was still completing my two weeks of quarantine in a Tokyo hotel room. He invited me first to come watch, and later to help out on a performance he was doing in Hakusan, Ishikawa, his first booking in months. Two local traditional troupes were also performing at this event, introducing me to these companies and their traditions. The troupes were Fukaze Dekumawashi [fig.2] and Higashi Futakushi Deku No Mai [fig.3], each with their own 350-year history. Each does a different form of bun’ya ningyō, a precursor to bunraku. The Fukaze troupe members let me know that they were particularly eager for - 65 -
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