Bungoro Onstage

A related but undated print depicting the Bunraku puppeteer Yoshida Bungoro during a stage performance, likely from the same period of sustained documentation that produced Sekino's 1953 dated version. The onstage viewpoint emphasizes the theatrical spectacle: elaborate costuming, the physical strain of puppet manipulation, and the choreographed stillness that defines Bunraku performance. Sekino's composition likely isolates the puppeteer and ningyo against a simplified background, directing attention to gesture and form. His handling of the complex layered blacks of Bunraku costume — achieved through overprinting and careful registration across multiple blocks — demonstrates the technical demands his theater subjects placed on his printmaking practice.