The traditional performing art of bunraku (ningyō jōruri) involves three puppeteers together operating a cast of single puppets, with a gidayū bushi to the side comprising a story-teller (tayū) and a shamisen player (shamisen- hiki) seated on a round platform (yuka).
Originally, the gidayū bushi was a male preserve, but it becomes known as a joryu gidayū when women take those roles in the absence of a puppet performance — and among the leading female narrators is 78-year-old Komanosuke Takemoto, a designated national living treasure.
To hear Komanosuke in action is to be astonished. That's because, though the stories require her to use old and difficult Japanese, and though she must portray many characters both male and female, the way she enunciates in such a wide range of voices is so clear and dramatic that it resonates in the listener's heart and soul.