Fatalism and Pathos in a Bunraku Puppet Play
This podcast briefly summarizes and suggests discussion questions about the Bunraku story “Keisei Awa no Naruto.” Anime fans are familiar with Naruto, but it is actually the port city on Shikoku island nearest to the Osaka-Kobe area on the main island of Japan. Awa is the old name for Tokushima Prefecture, where this Bunraku is still performed. A puppet play would be an entertainment fit for a child, you might think. But this is a story of the utmost sadness or pathos of the human predicament. It is also similar in a way to the tragedy “Oedipus Rex,” the play by Sophocles in ancient Greece. Oedipus could not escape his fate, and neither could this poor family.Read the Transcript:https://eklavyaparv.com/edusomedia/japancasting-podcast/546-fatalism-and-pathos-in-a-bunraku-puppet-play
