大学共同利用機関法人 人間文化研究機構　国立民族学博物館

Performing arts

• TO 1972
• Javanese, Java Island, Indonesia

These puppets, made of buffalo hide, are used in wayang kulit ‘shadow puppet play’. Wayang kulit is usually performed from the night to dawn of such rituals as circumcision and marriage. The wayang puppeteer, called a dalang speaks, sings, operates puppets, plays percussion with his hands and feet, and conducts the accompaniment, all by himself. Episodes from the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic, are often presented in wayang kulit.

• TO 2017
• Kinh (Viet), Hong Hoa (Red River Delta), Vietnam

Puppets used in water puppet theater are attached to the end of long poles, held and manipulated by puppeteers standing in a hut on a pond. Equipped with various devices, the puppets can move to and fro, to left and right, on the water surface in front of the hut, while moving their heads, arms and legs. Some puppets can also turn, climb the poles of the hut, or blow fire.

• TO 2043
• Burmese, Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma)

In Myanmar, puppets (youk-the in Burmese) are regarded as an orthodox classical performing art, along with drama and dance. Youk-the is one of the most difficult performing arts, in terms of sophisticated techniques. It is said that youk-the was sometimes played over several days on end, featuring an episode from Jataka ‘tales of Buddhism’.