Presenting Japanese Puppetry to the World

Overview

On this episode, we meet 2 gray-bearded North Americans passionate about Japanese traditional arts. First, we head to Tokushima Prefecture, where US-born Martin Holman leads a troupe that performs a local centuries-old form of puppet theater called Awa Ningyo Joruri. Just like Martin, about half of the group's members are non-Japanese. Then we visit the Tokyo workshop of Canadian David Bull, a craftsman who with his team of artisans produces Japanese woodblock prints following a time-honored method.