Japanese puppet show goes local

Japanese studies director trained with a puppet troupe for three years.

By Amanda Wysocki

Published April 14, 2009

The first thing Martin Holman remembers asking Santa Claus for was a marionette.

Holman, now Japanese studies director at MU, first traveled to Japan while in college as a missionary with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While he was there, he stayed in the Osaka area where Japanese puppetry, or bunraku, is very popular.

During his second visit to Japan, he went into a theater in the same area and announced he wanted to be trained as a puppeteer.

"I didn't know there would be an opportunity for me to actually do it," Holman said. "I thought they would laugh at me, but they told me to be there the next day at 7."

Holman continued to train with the Imada puppet troupe for three years. He was the first non-Japanese person to be trained in bunraku.

After returning to the U.S., Holman helped some of his students travel to Japan and get training. Once he had enough people, Holman started the Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe.

"We're the only traditional Japanese puppet troupe outside of Japan," Holman said.

Bunraku Bay has performed in New York, Florida, Chicago, Maine, Cleveland, Utah and Idaho, as well as at the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian.

Holman said the troupe was also given the opportunity to perform at Heather Henson's puppetry festival in the fall of 2006. Henson is the daughter of the late Jim Henson, creator of "The Muppets."

In bunraku, the stories are not geared toward children, as most puppetry is in the U.S.

"The stories are all from a few hundred years ago," Holman said. "Some are a lot of music and movement, some are more dramatic and then some are comedic."

Most of the puppets used are about 4 feet tall and require two or three people to operate them.

Several students in the troupe performed Friday afternoon at Columbia's Lee Expressive Arts School.

The troupe performed Sambaso and Lion Dance. Sambaso consists of a puppet dancing with bells and a fan. During the piece, the puppet uses the props to imitate a crane and a turtle.

"Lion Dance is a newer piece for us," Holman said. "We just started it in January."

MU students Taylor Morrow, Alice Chan and Amanda Holman were part of Friday's performance.

"I normally do head and right hand for several puppets," Morrow said. "I have also worked with the left hand, which is in charge of making the puppet look natural. In case something happens, that person also has a free hand to fix something."

Morrow performed for both pieces Friday. Chan and Amanda Holman only performed during Sambaso.

Chan operated the feet for Sambaso.

"I make the puppet run, walk and dance," Chan said. "You never really see me because I am behind the puppet."

Holman said he is somewhat shorthanded for local performances this semester because many of his students are studying abroad in Japan right now.

More students will go to Japan during summer to train and the troupe performs there every summer. Bunraku Bay will also perform this September at the Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis.