One of the world's treasures is dance and movement, and one of these is the Japanese Bunraku puppet theatre. Sometimes Bunraku goes to different places in the world; there are are some Bunraku groups at universities; there is Bunraku on YouTube. But of course, the very best is to enjoy the Bunraku puppets in the homeland of their birth: the National Bunraku Theatre in Osaka, the Awaji Bunraku Theatre, the Otome Bunraku Group.
The Otome Bunraku Group is very special because it is a women's group (in what is traditionally a man's world.) The teacher is a woman, Mitsuko Yoshida-sensei, now 96 years old. Their performance is wonderful and does not always rely on a traditional puppet stage.
They can perform everywhere, and here at Shotoku-an Yuka-san and Mitsue-san delighted neighbours and children and tea students. It is very difficult to talk about magic; so it is even more difficult to talk about puppets that magically come to life. In the hands of these two women, pieces of silk-covered wood just spontaneously arose as ordinary members of a tea-gathering. She was first guest. He was last guest. They were so lovely and so natural, sitting there with such grace and elegance, watching a young girl offer a bowl of koicha. The host Yui-san, and the two puppets Osome-san and her boy-friend Hisamatsu-san, are actually about the same size. It was truly beautiful.
How to describe the joy of preparing a bowl of tea is already not so very easy, because it has so much to do with the ambience of light and shadow, gesture, hidden meaning, a code shared by host and guest; how to describe the joy of watching a block of wood receive a bowl of tea in her hands, and actually show enjoyment with the nod of the head, the slight raising of an eyebrow, an imperceptible movement of the shoulder, the voice coming from out of nowhere? Now, this is ordinary magic!
Oldest guest was Nakagawa-sensei, 93 years old. Youngest guest was Yura, not yet born.
The scroll in the tokonoma is the single word "NOW," brushed by the Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.
Central to this Bunraku performance of human beauty at Shotoku-an, was the traditional offering of "A Bowl of Tea for Peace into the Four Directions." The occasion was the opening of the winter fire.