Please note: I’m discussing the traditional bunraku puppets, and not the more bastardised Western version, otherwise known as table-top puppetry. These two are quite different, and if you read the above intros to each puppet type, you will discover how different they are. Here you can find a tutorial and pattern on making a table-top puppet.

Well, people are stupid and don’t bother reading the full text. So here’s the short answer: there are no books, patterns, tutorials, videos or anything else in existence - that I’m aware of - that teaches you how to build a traditional bunraku puppet. There… now for the people who have the patience, read on as to why this is so…

Normally I write a basic tutorial on making each type of puppet. However, for this one, I don’t feel comfortable doing it, for two reasons:

1. Traditional bunraku puppets are the domain of Japanese puppeteers. It’s considered a national cultural treasure, as the puppet is made and used only in Japan (that is, it started in Japan and is not native to any other country or culture in the world), and even bunraku puppeteers from Japan must get permission just to use the term ‘bunraku‘ (otherwise they call it by the other name, ningyo joruri). Whilst I don’t feel as though it would be ’stealing’ or a copyright infringement - it wouldn’t be anyway - to post a how to here, I do feel as though I’m stepping on someone else’s toes.
2. Although I’ve taken a ningyo joruri masterclass, the puppet that I built did not turn out well, with the movement of the head severely limited (ie. non existent). As such, I hardly feel confident enough to make a tutorial of a quite complicated puppet with such limited experience and of a good quality. Sadly, I’m going to have to wait until I have enough time to fully sit down and make another three or four traditional bunraku puppets before being confident enough to give a tutorial on it.

Don’t despair though! If you’re willing to experiment a little and make some guesswork, you can use my class notes, video and pictures to make your own version based on the puppet I made. (Please don’t copy the character itself, as this was something I made for a short film) Alternatively, you can find bunraku intros like this one, and others on the net, and books, which while don’t provide step-by-step patterns, certainly do point you in the right direction of how they are made. There are a few teachers out there - most in Japan - that might be able to teach a class; if you’re American, there are a number of bunraku troupes out there. 

Finally, you can also check out these videos by Ehow. Whilst they are aimed at what I define as table-top puppetry, the more complicated traditional bunraku puppets also use wrist controls for operating the arms; and so the videos can therefore be adapted to a traditional bunraku puppet. It’s not clear to me whether Ehow will continue to add more videos to the section on making bunraku puppets; they have been online for several months now, and I’m guessing they will not address traditional bunraku. Frankly, this is the reason why, a) there are no tutorials on making bunraku puppets and no patterns, and b) so many people want more info on making them. It’s because Japanese puppeteers keep these secrets held pretty close to their chest: my masterclass was probably an event I will never be able to repeat for a good twenty or thirty years, that’s how rare they are.

You may wish to read the article about buying these puppets. 

(Also, I do believe there tends to be an inherent confusion with puppeteer using the term ‘bunraku‘ to apply to any rod or table-top puppet, which is bad because they simply aren’t interchangeable. One refers to a style that is Japanese, with a particular building methodology, the latter refers to puppets that while being performed in a similar method, hardly shares the same building techniques. Furthermore, the word ‘bunraku‘ is actually a name; the name of a well-known Japanese puppeteer who helped popularised the style of theatre in Japan. So it’s hardly useful to apply the name to a type of puppet which doesn’t represent the traditional style. I wish the puppetry community wouldn’t muddy the waters, since the general public may be wanting to learn about building table-top puppetry instead of traditional bunraku, and it makes it that much harder to find and filter through the appropriate information available out there on the net)

You may also want to read the post about rod puppets. And you may also want to read my post on where to buy bunraku puppets.

This post AKA bunraku puppet template

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