Context: Bunraku is a form of puppet theatre which was operating in Japan in Shakespeare's time. It combines storytelling, music and puppet manipulation. Traditionally a Bunraku performance is accompanied by a chanter/narrator at one side of the stage who speaks all the parts. At the other side is a musician who plays a three-stringed instrument called a shamisen. In the early 1700s the puppeteers came out from concealment and started to appear in full view of the audience when operating the puppets. The main puppeteer operates the head and right hand, a second works the left hand and a third the feet. | 
