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KAWASEMIZA Puppetry

Poetic marionette performances
invited by Canada, Spain, Korea, Hong Kong, Hungary, USA, Taiwan, Iran, Morocco, Tunisia, and Israel

'Silent Poems'
(collections especially for adult audience)
'Dreams in a Toy Box'
(collections especially for children)


* received the Best Quality of the Artist Animation Award by BEKESCSABA, Hungary International Puppet Festival in 1996
*received the Best Individual Award by Japan Children's Art Association, Tokyo Best Children's Performance in 1996

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Idea /Direction/Art design: Y.Yamamoto, Arrangement: I.Masumura
Puppeteers: Y.Yamamoto & I.Masumura
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'Dreams in a Toy Box' & 'Silent Poems' are the collection of various puppets' images, which has been refined since Kawasemi-za's establishment of 1982 and now consists of over 30 images.
This has been invited to perform at international puppet festivals in many countries and received 'The Best Quality of the Artist Animation Award' in Hungary in 1996

An ordinary stage changes into the broad sky, the ocean, and mountains, and variety of puppets fly lightly into the air with their wings of imagination and flow in the water.
Without words, puppets and puppeteers create poetic worlds, which have attracted so much audience. ''Dreams in a Toy Box'' speaks to everyone's heart softly and inspires everyone's imagination.
Only puppets can create such fantastic worlds on stage.
Usually the duration of 'Dreams in a Toy Box' or 'Silent Poems' is 60-70 minutes with 7 - 8 pieces selected depending on the audience (children or adults) .


This is my dream!
By Professor Shigeru Ito

Pinoccio's dream might have been to move vividly like a real human being. Then this dream has been come true with Kawasemi-za's puppets. The puppets freely move, run, fly and stop, supported by special techniques and sophisticated handling. Besides, they become happy, feel lonely, play cheerfully, challenge more, and eventually set themselves free toward the audience.
When you see them, you will find yourself saying, ''Here it is! This is my dream, I have been wanted to live in this way.''
Shigeru Ito, Professor
Faculty of Humanities & Sciences
Kobe Gakuin University

The top level of puppet-creation and performance in the world
By Mr. Isamu Takahata

Once you see the masterly performance of Mr. Yoshiya Yamamoto's puppet-play, you cannot forget it. He puts the life into the puppet as if he were a magician.
The puppet moves lively as a real living creature. This level of mastery is one of the tops of the world. 'Silent Poems' performed by Mr. & Mrs.
Yamamoto is a beautiful fantasy without using any words. Only the puppets and their movements bring the audience into dream-like fantastic worlds.
When children and adults saw this puppets' performance, they would love to come back to see this again.
Isamu Takahata, Mr.
Animation Film Director



Japanese legendary spirits from 'BEKESCSABA'
news article of Hungary on July 4, 1996

All audience felt they saw a very unique puppets' performance. This show attracted not only the citizens but also professionals. It happened just yesterday morning. Much audience was brought into another illusionary world. Mr.Yamamoto and Ms.Masumura moved with puppets very smoothly all the time.
They created real lives on the stage. Mr. Yamamoto and Ms. Masumura moved in black costumes behind the puppets and sometimes attracted our attention because of some voice and movements they produced. Water spirit, wood spirit, and snow spirit appeared in the poetic scenes on the stage. Their lives were short but their images shall live forever in our minds.


Japanese puppets' performance attracted children and adults in Rabat
from 'Liberation' news article (Morocco, October 6, 2002)

The technical and expressional skills of puppets' performance. Kawasemi-za performed Japanese marionette show in Rabat in Wednesday. The two puppeteers have both skills in high quality. Based on the traditional technique of Japanese puppetry, Kawasemi-za presented a very unique puppets' performance; no one had ever see.
Pieces from 'Dreams in a Toy Box' & 'Silent Poems'
Chasing the Dream
YAMU of the Sea
MITOCHONDRIA
Wave
Rhapsody of PAN
Flowers & a Donkey PLATERO
GABA's Taking a Walk
MEDUSA
A Horse Owned by ARIAL, the Spirit of the Wind
HIDRA's Dance
Monky SANDAYU's Umbrella Dance
The Water Imp
TINK & NEESIKA
A Pierrot UI: Dreams on a Swing ELPHINE
A Baby Dog SHEAP's Acrobatics
etc.

Chasing the Dream
Memories of summer. Chasing a butterfly with a netcBut the truth is that we were chasing our 'yearning' in the dream
Rhapsody of PAN (God of shepherds and flocks)
A tiny fairy Pan wakes up in the box and flies to me.
A Horse Owned by ARIAL, the Spirit of the Wind
A wooden horse has a life of wind created by Arial from the play "Tempest" written by Shakespeare. A whisper of the wind, a lark of the wind, The wooden horse granted a life by the wind runs high above into the sky.
The Spirit of Water -TSURARA, the Water Imp
The spirit of water, the water imp, appears in Japanese folklore. This is a story of the last water imp that survived in this world.
YAMU of the Sea
A boy was born from the sea. Waves were his friends, and beaches were his playgrounds. When this boy with pure eyes grew up, he said good-bye to his Mother Sea, and left for the Great Ocean.
HIDORA's Dance
This mysterious creature lives far out in the space. Does it have eyes or not? Could it be a spider or a starfish? It roams in the space, crawls on the ground, and dances about.
TINK & NEESIKA
Mischievous fairy, Tink, and a hard-working teddy bear, Neesika. They compete, they joke, and they fight. But they are good friends.


Please contact Ms.Takae KONUMA, overseas coordinator of Kawasemi-za for further information, if you have interests in having this performance in your country. >>contact form