Car doll - Car doll

A type of puppet theater. A puppeteer sits on a three-wheeled cart called a rokurosha and operates it by himself. From the end of the Edo period to the Meiji period, Nishikawa Koryu (1824-97), who was born in Azu, Hanno City, Saitama Prefecture, and trained as a puppeteer in Osaka, improved and invented a puppet that could be operated by three people by one person. There are about 10 historical locations in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Yamanashi, etc., but currently, Nishikawa Koryu-za (4th generation Koryu) exists as a professional puppet theater in Shimo-Ongata-cho, Hachioji City, Tokyo, and there are other remaining theaters in Koyasu-cho, Hachioji City, Tokyo, Kawano, Okutama-cho, Nishitama-gun, Tokyo, and Chikumazawa, Miyoshi-cho, Iruma-gun, Saitama Prefecture. The musical accompaniment is sekkyo-bushi (a type of folk music), but with the decline of sekkyo-bushi, Nishikawa Koryu-za has switched to gidayubushi (a type of folk music). The puppeteer, dressed in black, straddles a wheel (which allows the puppet to move freely) and controls the puppet's right hand with his right hand, the puppet's head and left hand with his left hand, and the puppet's legs with his feet. The puppet's left hand is a bow-shaped archer that is placed crosswise on the neck's central skewer, and the bending of the puppet's arm and fingers is controlled by the puppeteer's right hand using the archer's string. As the puppet's legs touch the floor, there is no need for handrails as in most puppet plays, and the puppet can be performed on a flat stage.

[Masahiro Nishikado]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

人形芝居の一種。人形遣いが轆轤(ろくろ)車とよばれる3輪の台車に腰をかけて1人で操るもの。幕末から明治にかけて、埼玉県飯能(はんのう)市阿須(あず)出身で大阪で人形遣いの修業をした西川古柳(こりゅう)（1824―97）が、三人遣いの人形を一人遣いで操れるよう改良・創案した。東京、神奈川、千葉、埼玉、山梨などに約10か所の故地があるが、現在は東京都八王子市下恩方(しもおんがた)町の西川古柳座（4代目古柳）が職能人形座として存在するほか、同市子安(こやす)町、東京都西多摩郡奥多摩町川野、埼玉県入間(いるま)郡三芳(みよし)町竹間沢(ちくまざわ)に遺存している。伴奏は説経節(せっきょうぶし)であるが、説経節の衰退に伴い、西川古柳座では義太夫節(ぎだゆうぶし)に切り換えている。黒衣を着た人形遣いは、轆轤車（自由自在な動きがとれる）にまたがり、右手で人形の右手を、左手で人形の首(かしら)と左手を、足で人形の脚(あし)を遣う。人形の左手は弓形状につくられた弓手(ゆんで)で、首の心串(ぐし)に十字に添えて保つが、その腕や指の屈折は弓手の紐(ひも)で人形遣いの右手で操る。人形の脚が床に着くので多くの人形芝居に用いられるような手摺(てすり)は不要で、平舞台で上演できる。

［西角井正大］

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