"One aspiring to become a puppet operator would have to spend 10 years to master the handling of the puppet's feet and another 10 years to be able to operate its left hand," says Yoshida Bunjaku, 79, one of two omozukai (principal puppeteers) awarded the title of Living National Treasure. "While he is learning . . . he is supposed to watch what the omozukai, who is constantly giving him signs, does on stage."
For the past 55 years, Bunjaku has been in charge of the approximately 400 kashira (puppet heads) that belong to the National Theater of Japan: 30 types of male heads and 10 kinds of female heads. For every bunraku (traditional Japanese puppet) performance in Tokyo, Osaka or other parts of the country, Bunjaku, using his formidable knowledge of the art form, selects the heads which he considers most appropriate for the roles in the forthcoming plays.
The heads of bunraku puppets are each carved from a single piece of Japanese cypress from the Kiso Mountains. But as Bunjaku told The Japan Times in a recent interview, "The material should be more than 60 years old, and it should be dried thoroughly after being immersed in river water for several years."