“Nippon Bunraku at Meiji Shrine” AnnouncedDemonstrating Japanese culture from Harajuku, at the intersection of traditional and modern culture

The Nippon Foundation held a press conference yesterday, February 6,  at its headquarters in Tokyo, to announce a series of Bunraku puppet theater performances – Nippon Bunraku in Meiji Shrine – at Meiji Shrine in Harajuku, Tokyo, in March.
Bunraku is one of Japan’s representative traditional performing arts, and The Nippon Foundation launched the Nippon Bunraku project in 2014 to promote awareness of Bunraku’s value. Beginning with Roppongi Hills in Tokyo in March 2015, performances have been held in six locations to date, and are scheduled to continue until 2020. The March performances will be held in front of the Ichi-no-Torii entrance to the Meiji Shrine grounds, near Harajuku Station.
Seating for each performance will be limited to roughly 120 persons, enabling everyone in the audience to watch the performance up close. The stage was specifically built for this project from Japanese cypress at a cost of roughly ¥100 million, and can be knocked down and reassembled but is roughly the same size as a standard, permanent Bunraku stage. Audience members at Nippon Bunraku performances are encouraged to bring food and drink to enjoy the performance in a leisurely atmosphere. To allow even more people to enjoy this set of performances, there will also be a standing-room section allowing people to watch without buying a ticket, and the length of each performance has been shortened to roughly one hour.
The location is at the edge of the grounds of the tranquil forest surrounding Meiji Shrine, across the Yamanote train line from Harajuku, a center of the latest fashion and culture. Holding performances at this intersection of traditional and modern culture will breathe new life into the classic art of Bunraku.

Details of Nippon Bunraku in Meiji Shrine
Dates and times: March 9 (Saturday) – 12 (Tuesday)

	Doors open	Performance starts
1st performance	12:00	13:00
2nd performance	15:00	16:00
3rd performance	18:00	19:00

Price: ¥1,000 (All seats are general admission)
Organizers: The Nippon Foundation, the Nippon Bunraku project
Producer: The Nippon Bunraku project, in cooperation with Bunraku-Kyokai
Special assistance: Meiji Jingu (Meiji Shrine)
Support: Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Shibuya Ward
These performances are being held based on the comprehensive agreement for cooperation between Shibuya Ward and The Nippon Foundation, signed in October 2017.

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