(text from the program) The art of puppet performing developed in Japan in the 8th century. Since that time, Japan has a long tradition of traveling storytellers and traveling puppeteers. At some point, these two art forms joined. Bunraku is a highly sophisticated form of puppet theatre featuring large puppets, maninpulated by up to three men, narrators or tayu, and shamisen musicians. However, the beginning of what is now called Bunraku was 1684, when Takemoto Gidayu set up his own theatre in Osaka. Indeed, much of the Bunraku repertoire consists of stores about the merchant class, many of which are still popular today. Japan's National Bunraku Theatre is located in Osaka.