角兵衛

Jōruri is a Japanese narrative music-drama tradition in which a chanter (tayū) recites and sings a story to the accompaniment of a shamisen, most famously in bunraku (puppet theater) and also in kabuki. The music shifts fluidly between speech-like recitation and heightened melody, allowing the tayū to voice multiple characters and a third-person narrator. The best-known style is gidayū-bushi, founded by Takemoto Gidayū in Osaka, which became the standard for bunraku. Jōruri’s musical language employs pentatonic Japanese scales, flexible rhythm and tempo, and a dramatic pacing that follows the aesthetic principle of jo–ha–kyū (introduction–development–rapid finale). Its repertory includes historical epics (jidaimono) and domestic tragedies (sewamono), prized for vivid vocal expression and tightly integrated storytelling.