Tonda Traditional Bunraku Puppet Troupe

In 2016, the current emperor, Naruhito visited Nagahama and the Tonda Puppet Troupe performed for him and his wife.

Based in the northern part of the city of Nagahama near the shore of Lake Biwa, in Shiga Prefecture, northeast of Kyoto, the Tonda Puppets have made international performance tours to Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Germany, and thirteen times to the United States.

Unable to continue their journey home to Tokushima or to draw a paying audience because of the snow, the members of the itinerant troupe fell further and further into debt to the villagers for food and shelter.

When the weather broke, the unfortunate troupe left their puppets behind as collateral for a loan for the boat fare necessary to travel to the southwestern end of Lake Biwa and beyond.

A theater building, the Tonda Puppet Hall (pictured above right), containing a full stage, as well as rehearsal and meeting spaces, was built for the Troupe in 1991 by the government of Shiga Prefecture.

Tonda Puppet Hall, located in the city of Nagahama.
The "Scene at the Ferry Crossing," in which the young woman Kiyohime, mocked by a boatman on the Hidaka River, is transformed into demon by her own jealous rage. From a performance of Hidakagawa Iriaizakura by the Tonda Puppet Troupe.