The original manuscript for Miyao Shigeo’s important book on bunraku puppets.
Miyao Shigeo (1902-1982) was most known as a manga artist. At the age of 17 he started training under artist Okamoto Ippei (1886-1948) and worked at the Tokyo Mainichi newspaper, later moving to the Tokyo Maiyu (evening) newspaper in 1922. Here he made his debut serialised comic called Manga Taro, and later created a popular humorous manga for children called Dangokushisuke manyuki (The Adventures of Dangokushisuke) outside of his work with the Maiyu newspaper.
Miyao was also well known as a researcher of Edo-period customs. He wrote several books and articles on the topics of Edo-period theatre, folklore, toys and more. The present work is the original manuscript for Miyao’s Bunraku ningyo zufu – ‘illustrated book of bunraku puppet dolls’. Bunraku is Japan’s traditional puppet theatre which originated in Osaka. The puppets themselves are highly technical to craft, with all sorts of clever features to allow different expressions and movements on stage when handled by master puppeteers. Miyao’s book is a detailed, illustrated introduction to these puppets including the heads, hands and feet, wigs, props, puppeteers, and backstage scenes of puppets.
Provenance/publishing: a loosely inserted piece of paper in the beginning of the book explains that Miyao wrote this manuscript in the Taisho period (1912-1926) and it was later published in the Showa period. The first edition was published by Jidaisha in 1942, and it is also explained that this manuscript was deaccessioned by the publisher. A later, posthumous edition was published by Kano Shobo in 1984.
