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Private company

Bunraku Bay Puppet Theater

American puppet troupe

Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe (known since 2011 as "Bunraku Bay Puppet Theater") is an American puppet troupe that performs the traditional Japanese puppet drama commonly known as ningyō jōruri or Bunraku. Based in Columbia, Missouri, the Troupe is directed by J. Martin Holman, retired professor of Japanese language, literature, and theater at the University of Missouri, and the first non-Japanese to train and perform in the traditional puppet theater in Japan.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

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Narutowikibunrakubay
Photo: User:Boonrock, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons3

Bunraku Bay Puppet Troupe (known since 2011 as "Bunraku Bay Puppet Theater") is an American puppet troupe that performs the traditional Japanese puppet drama commonly known as ningyō jōruri or Bunraku. Based in Columbia, Missouri, the Troupe is directed by J. Martin Holman, retired professor of Japanese language, literature, and theater at the University of Missouri, and the first non-Japanese to train and perform in the traditional puppet theater in Japan. The original puppeteers of Bunraku Bay Puppet Theater were trained in Japan by members of three traditional puppet troupes: the Tonda Puppet Troupe, founded in the 1830s in Shiga Prefecture, Japan; and the 300-year-old Kuroda Puppet Troupe and the Imada Puppet Troupe of Iida, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. In recent years most members of Bunraku Bay have spent summers training with the Imada Puppet Troupe.2

Sources

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