Jusaburō Tsujimura () (1 November 1933 – 5 February 2023) was a Japanese puppeteer, puppet and doll maker, and art director.

Early life

Tsujimura was born on 1 November 1933 in Chaoyang,

Jinzhou Province Jinzhou Province was one of the provinces of Manchukuo. It was established 1934, when the old Fengtian Province was split into the Andong Province, Fengtian Province and Jinzhou Province. Jinzhou was mostly Chinese with Korean minorities with ...

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

, where he spent his early childhood. He moved to Japan in 1944, and lived in

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

for almost a year, leaving just before the

nuclear bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

was dropped on the city to move to Miyoshi, Hiroshima – his mother's hometown and the site of what is now his museum. At 22, his mother died, which spurred his move back to Tokyo. He began his career in Ningyōza puppet troupes, and making stage props for the kabuki theatre with the Fujinami Company. He eventually left this job in 1959, resolved to create dolls full time.

Career

At 22, his mother died, which spurred his move back to Tokyo. He began his career in Ningyōza puppet troupes, and making stage props for the kabuki theatre with the Fujinami Company. He eventually left this job in 1959, resolved to create dolls full time. He created 300 puppets for a television serial drama, ''The Story of the Eight Dogs'', starting in 1973 – bringing him fame and attention. From here he began to create his own original dolls and puppets. He became known to audiences in the west after his success as the art director and costume designer for Yukio Ninagawa's productions of both '' Medea'' and ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

''. Mae Smethurst's review of ''Medea'' provides formal analyses of Tsujimura's costumes that acknowledge his visual references to kabuki theatre: In his costumes for ''Macbeth'', Tsujimura designed color-coded period costumes. For instance, in the banquet scene,

and

Lady Macbeth Lady Macbeth is a leading character in William Shakespeare's tragedy '' Macbeth'' (). As the wife of the play's tragic hero, Macbeth (a Scottish nobleman), Lady Macbeth goads her husband into committing regicide, after which she becomes quee ...

bond through love and guilt, and wear matching red and green robes with identical hairstyling. Though he primarily made dolls and puppets, he has also made daruma wood carvings and other small toys and figurines from wood.

Death

Tsujimura died of heart failure on 5 February 2023, at the age of 89.

Exhibitions

In 1992 he had a solo retrospective that toured Japan and traveled internationally to be shown at the New York Public Library. In 2014 he had a solo exhibition of his work at the

Sano Art Museum The is a private art museum, located in the Nakata neighborhood of the city of Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan. The museum was founded in 1966 by Mishima-born Sano Ryūichi, founder of the chemical company Tekkōsha and recipient of th ...

Legacy

Jusaburō Tsujimura Doll Museum

The Jusaburō Tsujimura Doll Museum is in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. In 1951, the building changed from a bank to a post office. In 1981 it became the Miyoshi City History and Folklore museum. In 2013, it became the Jusaburō Tsujimura Doll Museum, although its second floor remains dedicated to the folklore of Miyoshi.

Publications

A 152 page monograph of his work was published by Asahi Shinbunsha in 1992.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsujimura, Jusaburo 1933 births 2023 deaths People from Chaoyang, Liaoning Puppet designers Japanese puppeteers Dollmakers Japanese art directors Artists from Tokyo Bunraku