difficult for us to get all the nuances of the constructions taking place simultaneously all around us. I had the good fortune to return to Japan in April 2023 and, with Yamaguchi, attend the first remounting of this annual festival in four years. We followed the puppeteers and watched as they carried the figures, the faces still concealed, from Tenszushi Shrine to Suwa Shrine. At Suwa Shrine they performed their dances, popping up and traveling in circles from within the circular cloth curtain that forms their playing space. According to a sign at the performance venue, each of these figures is “a sacred vessel for a deity.” They also represent elements of now lost dengaku performances.CONCLUSIONWhile my research was focused primarily on traditional forms, I also enjoyed seeing the work of puppeteers creating new shows in contemporary styles. I caught performances of Saji Erina’s Uttervision company, Nozomi Nagai, and Kurotani Miyako, at the precious performance space Kurotani has set up in her home. I was able to see Hitomi-za’s Deaf Theatre troupe perform in Yokohama, and attend rehearsals and then the performance of Miyagi Satoshi’s Gilgamesh, which included puppets by Sawa Noriyuki. Yamaguchi was helpful in explaining to me the surprising appearance of puppets dealing with complex issues, like LGBTQ rights, on the television show Nehorin Pahorin. The show’s unique mix of childish animal figures voiced with documentary, recorded interviews with subjects personally affected by the issues at hand is something I have not seen anywhere else. And, of course, during my time in Japan I went to several performances at the National Bunraku Theatre in Osaka. I also had the great fortunate to take a one-day workshop with master performer Yoshida Kanya. I am a true admirer of bunraku, like so many others, even though I have searched out and found joy in discovering so many other Japanese puppet performance traditions. Even with COVID closures and constraints, I found Japan to be a country vibrant with both old and new forms of puppetry. I was impressed with the creativity, diversity, and abundance of figures and manipulation techniques and warmed by the enormous generosity of artists and scholars who shared their arts and traditions with me. I am also very aware of the myriad struggles those charged - 76 -
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