- Bungo Yoshida
Bungo Yoshida (
May 3 ,1934 –January 16 ,2008 ) was aJapan esepuppeteer , who built a whole new audience for the traditional puppetering form of "bunraku " by combining it withrock music .Born as Teruo Takahashi in 1934, Yoshida was initiated into the Bunraku theatre as a disciple of
Tamagoro Yoshida II in 1951, changing his name to Kotama Yoshida. For twenty years, he performed mostly female roles, until switching to male roles in the 1970s. Concerned by falling audience numbers and a lack of young people taking up "bunraku", Yoshida combined the ancient artform with his love of rock music, which he combined for a 1980 adaptation of "The Love Suicides at Sonezaki " ("Sonezaki Shinjū") with the music written and performed by Japanese rock musicianRyudo Uzaki , and occasionally with a liveorchestra . [ [http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/17/2140418.htm Japanese puppeteer Yoshida dies] ,Australian Broadcasting Corporation , January 17, 2008.]He was formerly married to the American television personality and essayist
Edith Hanson . Yoshida died at his home inOsaka onJanuary 16 ,2008 after suffering from liver cancer. [ [http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8U6TUQ80&show_article=1 'Bunraku' theater puppeteer Yoshida Bungo dies at 73+] , "breitbart.com", January 16, 2008.]References
External links
* [http://www.glopad.org/pi/en/record/person/1001577 Yoshida Bungo] , Global Performing Arts Database
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