Bunraku - The Chanter, "tayu"

The Chanter, "tayu"

The role of the "tayu" is to express the emotions and the personality of the puppets. The "tayu" performs not only the voices of each of the characters but also performs the voice of the narrator.

Located to the side of the stage the "tayu" physically demonstrates facial expressions of each character while performing their respective voices. While performing multiple characters simultaneously the "tayu" facilitates the distinction between characters by exaggerating their emotions and voices. This is also done to maximize the emotional aspects for the audience.