bunraku

Where does the word "bunraku" come from? It comes from Japanese Bunraku-za, and was adopted directly into English (20th century).

Bunraku’s story begins in Japanese: Bunraku-za meant “a puppet theater troupe's name.” Named after Uemura Bunrakuken, a puppeteer whose troupe revived the traditional art. It reached English by 20th century as bunraku. Borrowed as a general term for Japanese traditional puppet theater. Today, bunraku means a traditional Japanese form of puppet theater performed with large, intricately controlled puppets.

1. Stage 1 · Japanese · early 1800s Bunraku-za "a puppet theater troupe's name", named after Uemura Bunrakuken, a puppeteer whose troupe revived the traditional art.
2. Stage 2 · English · 20th century bunraku "a traditional Japanese puppet theater form", borrowed as a general term for Japanese traditional puppet theater.