The Fire of Inamura

“The Fire of Inamura” is a dramatic puppet performance entirely narrated in sign language by hearing impaired performers with visual aids or signage interpreters for non-healing impaired persons who attend the performance.

Puppet theater has a long illustrious reputation in Japan. Traditional bunraku puppet theater was founded in Osaka in 1684, and has enjoyed national and international fame as an artistic symbol of Japanese culture.

In 1980 a new branch of puppet theater was established -- the “Deaf Puppet Theater,” which is a collaborative effort of hearing impaired and normal hearing persons.

This new puppet genre theater is devoted to entertaining and educating the hearing impaired in the 104 schools for the deaf throughout Japan. Themes include old folk stories, and dramatic plays to explain what to do in case of natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunami, and fires.

“The Fire of Inamura” is based on a true story about a village in Wakayama Prefecture that is swept away in 1854 by a tsunami following a major earthquake. The story first came to the attention of the English speaking world when Lafcadio Hearn translated a Japanese language version of the events in the late 19th century.

The Nippon Foundation, which supports the work of the Deaf Puppet Theater, will be the venue for a lunchtime performance of “The Fire of Inamura” on 24 February in the foundation’s first floor lobby area.

A verbal narration will be provided for non-hearing impaired people, while the hearing impaired will watch the performance with the help of sign language commentary. The play will be presented from 12:10 to 12:50 PM on 24th February. Attendees are welcome to bring their lunch.

This colorful puppet presentation is about a local celebration of the annual rice harvest in 1854 of Inamura Village, located by the sea in Wakayama Prefecture. An earthquake strikes the area during celebration preparations at the sea side site where the festivities will take place.

Puppets depict Inamura villagers celebrating the rice harvest

It happens that the mayor, Gohei, is standing on a hill near the village when the earthquake occurs and notices that the sea is rapidly receding in the distance, a sure sign of an impending tsunami. Thinking quickly about how to warn the villagers, he decides to set fire to the rice harvest “stooks” (rice stacked in vertical bundles) to draw the attention of his compatriots.

Seeing the rice harvest on fire, the villagers race away from the seaside location to put out the fires in the fields which are at a higher elevation. As they arrive at the fields, Gohei directs them to climb the nearby hills, thus saving them from the devastating tsunami that relentlessly surges over the coastline destroying everything and everyone in its path.

Rice stooks

The villagers are saved and the waters from the tsunami put out the stook fires. This famous folk story swept Japan, and has been used ever since to educate school children about how to react in case of fires, earthquakes, and tsunami.

The Deaf Puppet Theater performs many plays with three concepts in mind:1) to create a puppet show for people with or without disabilities to enjoy, 2) to raise awareness and sensitivity towards hearing impaired persons, and 3) creating modern approaches to puppet theater themes and the development of new puppets.

Deaf Puppet Theater is building on the rich cultural heritage of Japanese puppetry to create a newly evolving contemporary art and educational form.