11/09/2026
Reaching Out to the Regions through Okeiko: Bunraku Training-Rehearsal with Recital-Performance
As part of the project “Reaching Out to the Regions through Okeiko: Bunraku Training-Rehearsal with Recital-Performance,” supported by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) through the National Committee on Dramatic Arts of the Subcommission on the Arts (SCA), the University of the Philippines Center for International Studies (UPCIS) Bunraku Ensemble, under the leadership of Prof. Amparo Adelina C. Umali, III, Founding Artistic Director, successfully conducted a series of Bunraku training-rehearsals in the three major islands of the Philippines in August 2026.
The training-rehearsal series introduced teachers, students and emerging theater practitioners to Bunraku, the traditional Japanese puppet theater inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Participants received hands-on instruction in the fundamental techniques of Bunraku puppetry, particularly the coordinated three-person one puppet manipulation system: the Omozukai (head and right hand), Hidarizukai (left hand), and Ashizukai (feet). As part of the practical training, participants also learned Ebisu Mai (Dance of Ebisu), a traditional Bunraku dance piece that the UPCIS Bunraku Ensemble itself learned from the Naoshima Onna (Women) Bunraku under the tutelage of Bunraku master Yoshida Bunshi of the National Bunraku Theatre.
The training-rehearsal also encouraged participants to explore Bunraku as a medium for expressing local stories, experiences, and contemporary Philippine realities, while retaining the essential principles of the traditional form. As a sustainability component, one Bunraku puppet complete with costume was provided to each partner institution, enabling participants to continue practicing the techniques and developing locally rooted creative work beyond the training-rehearsal.
The first training-rehearsal was held on August 3–7, 2026 in Butuan City, in partnership with The Kulture Revival Events Core Inc hosted by its CEO and Artistic Director Sai Collado. Sessions were conducted at the Tinampuso Art Gallery managed by Carlito Camahalan Amalla, a founding member of the UPCIS Bunraku Ensemble and at the Balai-Bagani Healing Arts Gallery managed by Collado.
The program brought together teachers and students from National Libertad High School, Timber City Academy, and Butuan School for Arts and Technology. The UPCIS training team was led by Umali, together with Bunraku team-teacher Amalla and Andrea Grace Rodelas, student assistant and member of the UPCIS Bunraku Ensemble.
The second training-rehearsal took place on August 14–17, 2026 for the Dulaang Sipat Lawin of the Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA) Theater Arts Program, at the Multipurpose Hall, Senior High School Campus, Tranca, Bay, Laguna, under the supervision of PHSA Junior High School Theater Arts Program Adviser Christina Joy M. Cardenas and Senior High School Theater Arts Program Adviser Fredyl Hernandez. Both Cardenas and Hernandez are PHSA Theater Arts alumni (Batch Lucrecia Urtula- Juan Nakpil 2000) The training-rehearsal was facilitated by Umali, a PHSA Theater Arts alumna (Batch Buencamino 1983), with Rodelas and Anjoryin Keezhia Caoile, serving as students assistants.
The third and final training-rehearsal was conducted on August 28–31, 2026, at the University of the Philippines Cebu for members of UPSTAGE – UP Students Theater Arts Guild for Education, under the supervision of Mark Andy Pedere, with the support of Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Palmy Marinel Pe. Both Umali and Pe are PHSA alumni of Batch Buencamino 1983, with the latter from the Visual Arts program.
The training was facilitated by Umali, together with Ms. Kim Quinola, faculty member of the College of Human Economics, who presented techniques for creating puppet costumes and demonstrated puppet dressing. Rodelas and Tanya Marpuri, who is also a member of the UPCIS Bunraku Ensemble served as student assistants.
With NCCA-SCA support, the project brought Bunraku training-rehearsal to secondary schools institutions in Mindanao and Luzon and a tertiary institution in the Visayas, helping expand opportunities for the continued practice, creative adaptation and transmission of Bunraku in the Philippines in commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of Philippine–Japan Diplomatic Relations.
