NEW YORK -- Puppet troupes from around the globe are taking to New York stages this month as part of the Henson International Festival of Puppet Theater. The Japan representative is the extraordinary yet little-known OtomeBunraku Troupe, an all-female puppet troupe which derives from the mainstream male tradition yet breaks from it in fundamental ways.

The Otome Bunraku Troupe performs an excerpt from "Yoshitsune and the One Thousand Cherry Blossoms."

If it were not for the Japan Society's preperformance demonstration, New Yorkers might have been fooled into thinking that Otome is the mainstream.

Performing excerpts from two classics, "Yoshitsune Senbon-Zakura (Yoshitsune and the One Thousand Cherry Blossoms)" and "Tsubosaka Reigenki (The Miracle at Tsubosaka Temple)," the women use virtually the same panoramic tableaux, props, scripts and puppets as the male operators, whose performance tradition dates back to the 17th century, almost 300 years before the formation of female puppet troupes.

Unlike their male bunraku colleagues who use three puppeteers to operate one doll, the female tradition requires only one woman per doll. Conceived as a money-saving measure, this approach to the art shows no paucity of riches. The troupe has flourished for the past 33 years under the direction of 79-year-old Chieko Kiritake (who was unable to attend the festival).

Chieko is a disciple of Kiritake Monzo V (1879-1948), the founder of the first Otome Bunraku troupe around 1931. The troupe today is based in Kawasaki City, and operates under the aegis of the Hitomi-za school.

The effect produced in Otome Bunraku is quite different from classical male bunraku. The female operators make no attempt to conceal their faces (in male bunraku, the faces of two of the three operators are covered with black hoods) which causes the spectator to divide his or her attention equally between the puppeteer and puppet.

This is not entirely accidental, according to Fumiko Matsuzawa, chairperson of the Modern Puppet Center. When female bunraku was conceived in the early part of the 20th century, audiences flocked not necessarily to see the lifelike puppets, but to see the beautiful young women decked out in lavish kimono.

Today, the performers stress not their maidenly beauty (operator Yoshiko Murakami laughed and said during the demonstration that her legs wouldn't be the prettiest sight), but the tremendous skill that is required to manipulate the dolls. Not entirely unlike a mother who carries her child around her chest, the female operator ties the doll's head around her head, behind her ears and under her requisite hair bun (which conceals the string). The doll's legs are tied either directly above or below the operator's knee, depending on the doll's gender (male dolls go below, female, above). Under her loose kimono sleeves, the operator holds additional strings that can manipulate the doll's eyebrows and wrists.

According to Murakami, the "trade secret" is the long, vertical piece of metal that forms the spine of the doll. This metal spine is covered by the character's colorful kimono; the bottom part is neatly concealed underneath the operator's obi and the top part is connected to the doll's head. The spine serves to support the doll, leaving the operator's hands free to manipulate other body parts.

In performance, the result is spectacular. To the brilliant live accompaniment of the shamisen players (Koji Toyozawa and Tsugae Tsuruzawa) and Gidayu narrators (Ayakazu Takemoto and Komateru Takemoto), the operators bring their dolls to life, transferring their precise movements onto the dolls' bodies. Their dancelike motions and ever-subtle moves of the head, neck, abdomen, shoulders and legs are reflected elegantly by the dolls, which take on a life of their own.

In "Tsubosaka," operator Murakami animated Osato with intense expressions. Through elaborately detailed and melodramatic gestures, the Osato doll masterfully conveys feelings of rage when she returns to Tsubosaka Temple at the end of Act II to find her husband dead. The puppets' pantomime is further heightened with Ayakazu's high-pitched cries of, "Sawaichi, Sawaichi." As Sawaichi's puppeteer, Michiko Ban displayed equal skill in conveying the tremendous transformation that this young, pockmarked man undergoes when he regains his sight.

Playing the fox in the "Hatsune no Tabi" (Tadanobu and Shizuka in the mountains of Yoshino) scene from "Yoshitsune," Murakami brought a touch of humor to this poignant scene in which Shizuka and Tadanobu dance in the hopes of being reunited with their respective lover and master. Puppeteers Ayumi Yoshizawa and Michino Sekijima exhibited tremendous skill in navigating their dolls through a complicated fan dance which, among other things, involved having Shizuka toss her fan backward to Tadanobu, who, with a lot of help from Sekijima, handily caught it.

The only time when the dolls are released from their operators' bodies is during Sawaichi's and Osato's suicides (which occur at different times). As the Gidayu lyrics come to a climax, the operators gently untie the strings and throw their puppets over the cliff. The suicidal fall, however, isn't fatal; due to the Goddess of Mercy's benevolence, the dolls are resurrected, and in gratitude, they perform a series of bows and thank-yous that kept the audience laughing.

The five well-attended performances, Sept. 13-16, drew a diverse crowd, thanks to publicity and sales through the Henson Festival. Leon Ingulsrud provided an excellent simultaneous interpretation that attempted to describe the action, rather than provide a literal translation.

The Japan Society's careful program notes and demonstration ensured that everyone went home realizing that Otome Bunraku is not the same thing as male bunraku, and the performance ensured that it is just as marvelous and awe-inspiring.