COLUMBIA -- It’s a form of entertainment that’s been around for more than 300 years.

A traditional Japanese puppet show is coming to Columbia.

Marty Holman got his first puppet from Santa Claus when he was just five-years-old. Today, Marty is the coordinator of Mizzou’s Japanese studies program and the director of the Bunraku Bay Japanese Puppet Troupe. Marty was the first non-Japanese person ever to be trained in Bunraku puppetry which dates back to 1703.

Holman said, “You have all of these different puppet heads. The bodies and heads are interchangeable. A lot of the characterization involves the voices that are provided for the characters, but then also the puppeteers can change the characterization just as an actor can change characterization with a different walk.”

If you are operating a single puppet as a single puppeteer, then you have complete control. That’s not the case with Bunraku.

“One of the problems with Japanese puppetry is the coordination because it takes three puppeteers to operate a single puppet," Holman said. "You have one person who’s operating the puppet’s head and the puppet’s right hand. A second person operates the puppet’s left hand. A third person operates the feet. 

Getting those three people to move together to operate a single being is probably the most difficult aspect of the traditional puppet theatre.”

The puppets are about 4 feet tall with wigs made from real human hair. Puppeteers don’t hide from the audience, but they do try to disguise themselves by wearing black robes and hoods.  All performances are family friendly for both children and adults.

“The thing that I probably enjoy the most is the audience enjoying the performance,” Holman said.

Marty Holman’s Japanese puppet troupe will have a joint performance with another puppet troupe visiting from Nagano, Japan at Mizzou’s Jesse Hall on Monday night.