{"product_id":"bunraku-ningyo-kashira-puppet-head-ー人形-洋-甘利洋一郎-阿波木偶-一谷嫩軍記-熊谷直美","title":"Bunraku Ningyo Kashira Puppet Head ー人形 洋 (甘利洋一郎) “阿波木偶 一谷嫩軍記 熊谷直美”","description":"\u003cp\u003eA powerful Awa Ningyō Jōruri puppet head (kashira) representing the warrior Kumagai Naozane in the celebrated eighteenth-century drama Ichinotani Futaba Gunki by Ningyō Yō (Amari Yōichirō). The head belongs to the expressive kadome-gashira (“angular-eyed head”) tradition associated in Awa puppetry with forceful male roles and specifically with Kumagai in this play. Carved in wood and finished in layers of polished gofun, the face is animated by an ingenious internal mechanism allowing the eyes, heavy applied-hair eyebrows and mouth to move, transforming its expression from stern composure to extraordinary martial intensity. It is accompanied by a signed wooden placard identifying the character and artisan reading: “Awa Dekō Puppet: Kumagai Naozane from Ichinotani Futaba Gunki.” It is 20 x 17 x 43 cm (8 x 7 x 17 inches) including the stand, and is in excellent condition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAmari Yōichirō, who works under the professional name Ningyō Yō, was a student of Tamura Tsuneo and is associated with the preservation and continuation of traditional Awa puppet-head construction. The Awa puppet-history source is especially useful because it records that in 1982, five craftsmen including Ningyō Tsune and Ningyō Yō undertook the restoration of 39 fire-damaged historic heads by such masters as Tenguhisa, Tenguben, Ningyōtomi, Ningyōchū and Ningyōtomo. Through restoration, they studied the construction and techniques of these earlier masters.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAwa deco, refers to the distinctive puppet tradition of Awa Province, present-day Tokushima. Deku\/dekō is an old word for a wooden puppet or figure particularly associated with Awa Ningyō Jōruri. This is related to Bunraku, but I would not simply call the object a “Bunraku puppet.” Awa Ningyō Jōruri developed its own exceptionally important regional tradition, with distinctive puppet makers, heads (kashira), performance practices and rural puppet theatres. This is not an antique head in the Edo\/Meiji sense, but a modern work made within the living Awa puppet tradition using techniques transmitted through the restoration and study of historic Awa kashira. That grant the head a very specific lineage connecting the modern craftsman to masters such as Tenguhisa and Ningyōtomi.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIchinotani Futaba Gunki identifies the play from which the character comes. It was first performed as ningyō jōruri at Osaka's Toyotake-za in 1751 and was adapted for Kabuki the following year. It draws upon the famous Battle of Ichi-no-Tani episode from the Heike Monogatari. The drama centers particularly upon the relationship between the Genji warrior Kumagai Naozane and the young Taira nobleman Atsumori. It remains one of the great works of both the puppet and Kabuki repertoires. n the historical Heike Monogatari, Kumagai encounters the beautiful young Taira warrior Taira no Atsumori at the Battle of Ichi-no-Tani in 1184. Realizing that Atsumori is roughly the age of his own son, Kumagai hesitates to kill him, but ultimately does so. Deeply affected by the experience and the brutality of warfare, he eventually abandons the warrior life and becomes a Buddhist monk. In the Joruri\/Bunraku version Ichinotani Futaba Gunki radically elaborates the story. In the play, Yoshitsune secretly intends that Atsumori be saved. Kumagai therefore sacrifices his own son Kojirō in Atsumori's place, presenting Kojirō's severed head as though it were Atsumori's. Having fulfilled this terrible obligation, Kumagai renounces the world and takes Buddhist vows. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Amari Yo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51120386244855,"sku":"K1608","price":206100.0,"currency_code":"JPY","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0658\/7472\/3063\/files\/2026-08-2915.47.46.jpg?v=1793842672","url":"https:\/\/kuramonzen.com\/products\/bunraku-ningyo-kashira-puppet-head-%e3%83%bc%e4%ba%ba%e5%bd%a2-%e6%b4%8b-%e7%94%98%e5%88%a9%e6%b4%8b%e4%b8%80%e9%83%8e-%e9%98%bf%e6%b3%a2%e6%9c%a8%e5%81%b6-%e4%b8%80%e8%b0%b7%e5%ab%a9%e8%bb%8d%e8%a8%98-%e7%86%8a%e8%b0%b7%e7%9b%b4%e7%be%8e","provider":"Kura Monzen Gallery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}