This is great news! I have been dying to see a bunraku play for ages. Now, if I get the chance to go to Osaka, I’ll actually have an idea of what they’re saying/doing!
I think I would like to see the play twice…first without any translation at all, and second with the translation :)
Here are a few more bunraku links:
Japan-Zone.com: Bunraku
Japan-Guide.com: Bunraku
The National Bunraku Theater [in Osaka]
Artelino.com: Bunraku
The National Theater of Japan’s Bunraku dictionary
The National Theater of Japan’s Introduction to the World of Bunraku
There’s a mystery/horror anime called Karakuri Zoushi Ayatsuri Sakon, or Puppet Master Sakon, which is all about a boy named Sakon who does bunraku (and solves murder cases). I’m still not sure where Sakon lives, but the OP (which is fantastic, by the way–it’s performed by Fukuyama Yoshiki, who many people remember as Basara‘s singing voice) shows what I believe to be the Fushimi Inari Shrine (check the last picture from this post at Sushicam, and you’ll see the torii gates that I believe I’m seeing in the OP). The show is kind of creepy and kind of beautiful.
I’ll have you know, though, that I wanted to see a bunraku play long before I ever really got into anime. (You know, back around the time AJ was the one renting anime, and I was the one saying, “No, I don’t really like it…” Ah, how things change.)