Adachi, Barbara C., 1924-2004

Bunraku, one of the world's most highly developed forms of puppet theater, is an unusually complex dramatic form, a collaborative effort between puppeteers, narrators, and musicians. First developed in the seventeenth century, Bunraku was officially recognized as a "masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity" by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 2003.

Barbara Curtis Adachi (1924-2004), who lived most of her life in Tokyo, witnessed her first Bunraku performance in 1935, at the age of eleven. Her extensive involvement with the troupe began in the 1960s and continued throughout the rest of her life. She attended over four decades of Bunraku and kabuki performances, conducted over one hundred interviews of performers and craftsmen, and took thousands of photographs of both traditional Japanese theater and crafts. Adachi toured with the National Bunraku Troupe both in Japan and in the United States, appearing with them for demonstrations, lectures, and television performances. Adachi, a former columnist for two Tokyo newspapers, lectured widely on Japanese crafts and theater, and wrote several books including "The Voices and Hands of Bunraku" (1978) and "Backstage at Bunraku" (1985).

The Barbara Curtis Adachi Bunraku Collection at Columbia's Starr East Asian Library represents four decades of close contact and respectful collaboration between Adachi and the Japanese National Bunraku Troupe, the leading performance group of Bunraku in the world. Adachi's numerous superb photographs of rehearsals and performances reflect the depth of her understanding and knowledge, as do the other diverse artifacts she selected over the years for inclusion in her collection. The comprehensive combination of visual, audio, and textual materials provide researchers with the foundation for studying all aspects of the Japanese puppet theater in modern times, and for studying these aspects in relation to each other.

Barbara Curtis Adachi (1924-2004) was born in Harbin, China, in 1924, to American parents. While her father headed Citibank's operation in Japan and China, she moved back and forth between Japan and the United States, attending an American school in Tokyo and Chatham Hall in Virginia, and graduated from Smith College in 1945. She then returned to Japan to work as a civilian with the Allied Occupation Forces in 1946 and married an American attorney of Japanese descent in 1949. Adachi lived in Tokyo until 1986 when she moved back to the United States, but often visited Japan for the rest of her life. She was a columnist for two Tokyo newspapers, Asahi Evening News and Mainichi Daily News. In the latter newspaper, she wrote a series of half-page feature articles called "Hands of Japan" from 1971 to 1981, based on her interviews with Japanese craftsmen and performing artists. Her book, The Living Treasures of Japan, published in 1973, also treated Japanese craftsmanship, in which fourteen Living National Treasures (holders of Intangible Cultural Properties) were portrayed. She regularly wrote newspaper reviews on Bunraku and kabuki performances, museums and traditional craft exhibits. Her professional knowledge of Bunraku was especially well known and represented in two of her publications, The Voices and Hands of Bunraku (1978) and Backstage at Bunraku (1985).

Barbara Curtis Adachi (1924-2004), who lived most of her life in Tokyo, witnessed her first Bunraku performance in 1935, at the age of eleven. Her extensive involvement with the troupe began in the 1960s and continued throughout the rest of her life. She attended over four decades of Bunraku and kabuki performances, conducted over one hundred interviews of performers and craftsmen, and took thousands of photographs of both traditional Japanese theater and crafts. Adachi toured with the National Bunraku Troupe both in Japan and in the United States, appearing with them for demonstrations, lectures, and television performances. Adachi, a former columnist for two Tokyo newspapers, lectured widely on Japanese crafts and theater, and wrote several books including "The Voices and Hands of Bunraku" (1978) and "Backstage at Bunraku" (1985).

Adachi was a member of many organizations including the Japan-America Women's Club, the Asiatic Society of Japan, Nadeshiko Kai, food organizations and writers' associations. She served as president and was a member of the College Women's Association of Japan (CWAJ) and gave lectures on Bunraku and Japanese handicrafts at its annual lecture series as well as at other organizations such as the Tokyo American Club.