In the Bunraku theater, the wig master is also the hairdresser as it is said that a person who is not able to make a wig is not capable of dressing the hair. Hairdressing is an exacting art. Requiring a great deal of knowledge about each particular role, the situations in which the characters find themselves and the historical period in which the play takes place. Also essential is a sensitivity to the individual needs and characteristics of the puppeteer handling the role, as well as an awareness of a myriad of other details. Nonetheless, hairdressing is not as complicated as it may initially appear.
Hairstyle speaks volumes about each and every character.
An audience knowledgeable in the basics of traditional Bunraku theater can immediately identify the age, gender, social position, occupation and, in the case of females, the marital status of the role portrayed in much the same way that an American audience can read Hollywood stereoytpes. What really makes Bunraku hairdressing an art is the lovely, delicate balancing of the proportions of hair adjusted to each individual head for each role to give just the desired effect. Take, for example, the perfect arrangement of the strands of hair that fall loose for a woman who is just getting up after love-making. Without the sensitivities of an artist and the knowledge of a scholar, the beautiful wigs seen in Bunraku today could not be made. Not all the artists in the theater appear onstage.