It took me a bit to get to show these, partially because of our own recent live performance, partially because this artist is a genius in character design and has a ton, literally a ton of puppets, that is also the reason why I have to write about him also in several posts.

Here is 飯室康一 Iimuro Koichi from Atelier Minomushi, based in Kyoto:

Josiane Keller ” 飯室康一 Iimuro Koichi – あとりえミノムシ Atelier Minomushi” (2015)

He also studied (same like Isshi-za’s Isshi Youki’s father) four years under the legendary Takeda Kinosuke 竹田喜之助 (1923 – 1979), in who’s honor there is a yearly puppetry festival in August, the Kinosuke Festival in Okayama:

http://www.kinosukefes.com

He died unexpectedly on his way home from rehearsal in a motorbike accident at a relatively young age; here you see a photo of him and above it one of his piece “Snow Child”, of which exists is also a picture book (probably one of the most charming puppetry plays I have ever come across):

Josiane Keller  竹田喜之助 Takeda Kinosuke and 雪ん子 (“Yukinko”/snow child) in Koichi Sensei’s workshop (2015)

Iimuro Koichi is working with both: traditional Japanese and contemporary marionettes and about 70% of his productions are geared to a children audience, the rest for adults.

Here is the link to his homepage: http://mino3064.com/

Also he is working together with his wife, Mrs. Iimuro Makiko

Josiane Keller “Iimuro Koichi and Makiko – Atelier Minomushi” (2015)

and one permanent assistant, puppeteer Ayako Bando, who trained with Iimuro Sensei and who also runs her own productions aka “JIJO”:

Josiane Keller “JIJO aka Ayako Bando” (2015)

She is actually human and here you can see her wearing a self-made bunny mask (I visited the studio when they were preparing her performance “バナナ裁判 Banana Trial“, with technical support of Kohei Matsumura and animation by Makiko Sukikara).

The link to her personal site is here: http://ayajijo.com/

Finally, let’s show some of the Minomushi marionettes:

Josiane Keller “Minomushi marionette – Samurai” (2015)

Josiane Keller “Minomushi marionette – Samurai” (2015)

Josiane Keller “four traditional Minomushi marionettes: three men and a monkey (and a crane with short neck)” (2015)

this one I found very beautiful and because of how she is hanging there also particularly spooky:

Josiane Keller “Minomushi marionette – a lady” (2015)

There is plenty more to show, but enough for today, please check back for more!