Takeda Puppet company　[Related materials/Takeda family history]

Takeda family history

Waseda university professor emeritus, Doctor of Letters, Kawatake Toshio (August Heisei 10, 1998)

The Takeda lineage which made its name immortal in the history of Japanese puppet theater starts with Takeda Omie who created the stage Karakuri in the 17th century. It continued with Takeda Izumo1 who built the foundations of today's Bunraku by establishing Osaka’s Takemoto company. Izumo2 also, as a Joruri playwriter, became the main author of masterpieces starting with the excellent "The Treasury of Loyal Retainers" (Kanadehon Chushingura), giving birth to the golden age of puppet theater. Hereafter, we counted eight generations of Takeda until the Meiji era.

In Showa 30 (1955), the string puppet expert Yuki Magosaburo changed his name to Takeda Sannosuke according to Kawatake Shigetoshi and Tokugawa Musei’s recommendation in order to rebuild the Takeda puppet company in Tokyo.

Takeda Sennosuke, his disciple out of Takagimura in Shinshuu‘s Ina valley, built the "Takeda practice room" as a place of tradition and creation, he was also active in the movie industry with one of his comrades, the puppeteer Takeda Kinnosuke. Through overseas performance he positioned Japan’s puppet theater in the world, gained influence through UNIMA (International Puppetry Association) and international contests and he was selected as one of the 7 best puppeteers of this century. He has also supported the conclusion of the puppet theater friendly cities agreement between Charleville- Mézières (France) and Iida, he received a lot of honors for his many achievements.

In Heisei 2 (1990), Sennosuke moved back to his hometown, rebuilt the Takeda practice room and donated it with his collection gathered inside and outside of Japan to the city of Iida. The Takeda Sennosuke Memorial International Marionette Museum is a grand project to commemorate generations of the Takeda family, a nucleus within the international contribution regarding puppet theater, which was built thanks to Iida city.

※A karakuri is a traditional Japanese mechanized puppet.

※A Joruri play is a traditional Bunraku play including songs.