| Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s Bunraku Stage | |
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Origin |
Chikamatsu Monzaemon |
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Type |
Puppet Stage |
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Effects |
Lets one inhabit a caricature puppet that behaves the true ways they wish or suppress |
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Downsides |
Performers are compelled to commit double-suicides following the play’s structure |
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Activation |
Musical Backing? |
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Section |
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| [Source] | |
Origin[]
Chikamatsu Monzaemon (real name Sugimori Nobumori, 1653 – 6 January 1725) was a Japanese dramatist of jōruri, the form of puppet theater that later came to be known as bunraku, and the live-actor drama, kabuki. The Encyclopedia Britannica has written that he is "widely regarded as the greatest Japanese dramatist". His most famous plays deal with double-suicides of honor bound lovers. Of his puppet plays, around 70 are jidaimono (historical romances) and 24 are sewamono (domestic tragedies). The domestic plays are today considered the core of his artistic achievement, particularly works such as The Courier for Hell (1711) and The Love Suicides at Amijima (1721). His histories are viewed less positively, though The Battles of Coxinga (1715) remains praised.
Bunraku is an author's theater, as opposed to kabuki, which is a performer's theater. In bunraku, prior to the performance, the chanter holds up the text and bows before it, promising to follow it faithfully. In kabuki, actors insert puns on their names, ad-libs, references to contemporary happenings and other things which deviate from the script.
Effects[]
Places one in an unresponsive comatose state and shuffles their essence into the point-of-view of a controllable wooden puppet. A stage surrounds them with blurry audiences in the far distance, while the world around contains settings for whatever scenery fits the play’s story. It scales down to allow for multiple scene changes and even exiting the stage to reappear dressed different or leave until a later act.
The puppets appear to be a flanderization of their most notable traits such as looks and temperament. All the dolls, each an average person “cast” for the tale, behaves without a filter. Everyone will behave as not their self-destructive self, but as the version they keep hidden from ordinary life. Whether they progress or burden themselves depends on how the others overreact. Often ends with the characters indicting themselves beyond reputational repair. Lovers especially will feel the urge for double suicides in keeping with the traditional plot of the plays.