Dogugaeshi – An Art No Longer Lost

After interviewing Basil Twist about his journey to the creation of screen-centric Japanese folk puppetry, Dogugaeshi – meaning “flipping mechanics”, I went to see the show. It was hypnotic. (Click to read the interview.)

A muslin-like curtain across the 3’x10’ stage is hand drawn by a shadowed puppeteer, then again twice as staging area is reduced. Wood clappers, Ki, traditionally mark the start and end of a performance. We see gray-scale shifting screens made to look like the film of an original Dogugaeshi that inspired this creation. Sounds are of the ocean. Downstage a white fox puppet – revered Kitsune – appears with a candle, then blows it out. Basil Twist calls this fox his spirit guide.

Stage left, Yumiko Tanaka plays shamisen and later, a large, stringed instrument called Koto. She looks straight ahead, wrapped in focus. The artist’s soundscape is comprised of impressionistic/ritualistic music, historic melodies, and a few contemporary tunes. Live performance layers onto intermittent recording. Japanese vocals, expressive sounds and drums add texture.

The Fox and Yumiko Tanaka

Patterned or gilded screens glide into place slowly creating the interior of an opulent palace seen in perspective as we look down a hall. There are time-honored geometrics, waves, whirlpools, clouds, dragons, tossed fish…Walls are made of window pane screens, moldings are decorated with additional patterns. Small puppets in silhouette have hauled carts up mountains or sailed boats – to build the structure.

Narrower gilded panels move back and forth like a line of dancers. Water sounds – rain, waves – reveal a whirlpool. The fox peers out, pops up, joins Tanaka on a turntable. Bright light celebrates the hall. Very slowly, screens shift revealing dirt, cracks, tears; ripped paper floats down, frames tumble. Sound is ghostly. Debris falls through the floor. Time passes. Decay wins.

We hear contemporary Japanese radio surfing – even moments of rock and roll. Glimpses of skyscrapers, a suspension bridge through clouds (modern photography with a nod to Hokusai), kimonoed dancers, and projected red arches appear and retreat in a mélange of photography and art. There’s a brief video clip of old women recollecting an original Dogugaeshi only they are left to describe. Panels show Mt. Fuji and the sun, another nod to Hokusai. Candles rise from the floor. The fox dances. The creature symbolizes both good fortune and a trickster. We hear hummmmm.

Screen art becomes more representational. Creatures, a tree through the seasons, fauna. Light piano is delicate. Circles indicate the Zen mind. 1920s music gives way to classical violin. A flute is eerie. Dissonance reflects the past giving way to the present. Shadow puppeteers pull curtains closed. “Here’s a tradition that was created and withered away. And here’s how it came back,” Basil Twist comments during a talkback. An excerpt of translated lyrics from the last song: Your longevity will last a thousand years/Like the highest mountain top covered in snow…

Without Japan Society’s commission and Basil Twist’s intoxicated imagination, this art would have remained with broken screens and dusty puppets in the basement vault of Awaji Ningyo Jouri Museum.
(Twist didn’t borrow, he recreated.) I feel lucky to have experienced the unique style, spectral echoes and virtuosity of the piece.

Photos by Richard Termine

Japan Society presents
Dogugaeshi
Creation and Direction by Basil Twist
Puppeteers: Basil Twist, Kate Brehm, Ben Elling, David Ojais, Jessica Scott
Musical Director/Sound Engineer/Musician- Yumiko Tanaka
Projection Designer- Peter Flaherty
Commissioned by Japan Society 2003; Premiered at Japan Society 2004

Ningyo! A Parade of Puppetry continues starting October 3. Click for full program.