Kushi Ningyo - Kushi Ningyo

A type of puppet theater. In the broad sense, it refers to a one-man puppeteer who uses a puppet stick to control the puppet's hands (called a stick puppeteer in modern puppet theater classifications), but in the narrow sense, it refers to the two-man puppeteer Shiroku Arakawa in Chichibu City, Saitama Prefecture, called Shiroku Kushi Ningyo. In fact, Shiroku is the only puppeteer who calls himself a Kushi Ningyo, and Shiroku Two-Man Puppeteer is the only one among the many puppet theaters in Japan. The puppet is about 50 centimeters in size, and the main puppeteer controls only the head and torso, while the puppeteer stands behind the puppeteer and controls both hands with bamboo skewers. The waist curtain is one meter high, and the puppeteer sits down to perform the puppet. It has a relatively short history in the Chichibu region, where puppet theater is popular, and is said to have begun around 1874 (Meiji 7). It is held on the third Sunday of April on the day of the festival at the 30th temple of Chichibu, Houn-ji, and other days, and includes performances such as "Morning Glory Diary" and "Benkei's Envoy." The musical accompaniment was originally Sekkyo-bushi, but it has now been changed to Gidayu-bushi.

[Masahiro Nishikado]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

人形芝居の一種。広義には差金(さしがね)を使って人形の手を操作する一人遣いの「差し人形」（現代の人形劇の分類では「棒遣い」）をさすが、狭義には埼玉県秩父(ちちぶ)市荒川白久(あらかわしろく)の二人遣いの「白久串人形」をさす。事実、串人形と称しているのは白久だけであり、白久二人遣いは、日本の数多い人形芝居のなかで唯一の存在である。人形の大きさは五十数センチメートル、主遣(おもづか)いは首(かしら)と胴のみ操り、手遣いがその背後から覆いかぶさるようにして竹串で人形の両の手を操る。腰幕は高さ1メートルで、人形遣いは座って遣う。人形芝居の盛んな秩父地方では歴史が浅いほうで、1874年（明治7）ごろ始められたという。秩父第30番札所法雲寺の縁日の4月の第3日曜日その他に行われ、『朝顔日記』『弁慶上使』などの演目がある。伴奏はもと説経節(せっきょうぶし)であったが、義太夫節(ぎだゆうぶし)に変わった。

［西角井正大］

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