Designer Takahiro Sato interviews Bunraku performer Sakiju Takemoto. One narrator tells the entire tale, the shamisen describes the scenes, and three puppeteers manipulate a single puppet as one. This section thoroughly explores everything from the structure of this supreme entertainment, a trinity of performers, to the future of Bunraku as envisioned by this young hope.
※This interview was originally published in April 2023. In April 2024, it was announced that he would become a apprentice under his senior brother, Takemoto Oritayu, change his surname from Toyotake to Takemoto, and take the name ‘Takemoto Sakijudayu’.
-KUDEN rinlife Magazine vol.1
Writer:Takahiro Sato
Photo: Nobuyuki Arai