Bunraku – traditional Japanese performing arts, which is a national cultural treasure. The performances of Bunraku theater involves puppets height of about one meter, operated by puppeteers – the master and his assistants. The puppet performances are accompanied by the game on a three-stringed lute - the shamisen and sing-song narration joruri performed by the storyteller.

The first puppet shows in Japan were arranged by a group of traveling performers in the X-XI century. Its name, this type of theatre was named one of the first Directors of the performances in the eighteenth century was Uemura Burakumin. View Bunraku were very popular in the Edo period. As the Kabuki theatre, the puppet theatre was the entertainment that is enjoyed by common people. The performances of Bunraku has had such a strong impact on the audience that some pieces had to reject. So, the play "the Suicide of lovers on the island of sky networks", the plot is similar to "Romeo and Juliet" and is based on real events, was banned because he caused a lot of suicides.

Osaka was considered the capital of Bunraku for many years, and today the art of Bunraku is strongly associated with this city. National Bunraku theater in Osaka is located in the district Chuoku, quarter, Sanitizer. This is the fourth state theatre in Japan and the main Bunraku theater in the country. The troupe most of the year holds in his tours around the country and abroad, and in Osaka gives performances in January, April, June, August and November, with each home session lasts about 15-20 days.

The first theater in Osaka was built in 1872 in dotonbori, and was called Barracuda. In 1984, the theatre moved to a new modern building and was renamed the National Bunraku theater. The relocation and renaming of the theatre even provoked an outcry from the indigenous people of Osaka, but giving the theatre designated an important cultural property reconciled them with these changes.

The National theatre building consists of five floors, which are the main and small halls, space for rehearsals and lectures, dressing rooms, and a Museum and restaurants. In the theater are 28 narrators, 19 musicians and 37 puppeteers and craftsmen who create dolls and engaged in their repair.