Puppet Show Project
"The Fire of Inamura (Rice sheaves)"

Education for Disaster Prevention -- an approach from puppet plays
- Introduction of a puppet show project "The fire of Inamura" -

KOJIMA, Tadashi
(Sompo Japan)

A lot of child victims of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake put back the smile on their face by puppet plays. The author, who also suffered from the earthquake, has learned that puppet plays have a great potential beyond our imagination. Based on the above experiences, we have launched a project to dramatize a famous story of how the villagers could survive the tsunami, "The Fire of Inamura (Rice sheaves)" in our CSR activities. We called for the 17 puppet companies in Shizuoka Prefecture, which is at great risk for the Tokai Earthquake to present it as a puppet show. Premiered in Shizuoka City on January, 2004, the show has been performed 32 times both in and out of the prefecture. It deeply moved more than 8,000 people and taught horror of earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as value of life.

On January, 2005, it was staged at the meeting of the World Conference of Disaster Reduction in Kobe. The Cabinet Office of Japan introduced the script and how to bring it out as a puppet show, a shadow play, or a picture-story show on its website both in Japanese and English (http://www.tokeikyou.or.jp/bousai/inamura-top.htm). The story has been translated into nine languages and published as a picture book in eight Asian countries like Bangladesh and India. The story has become well-known to not only in Japan but also all over the world.

The Cabinet Office published the English version of DVD titled "The fire of Inamura (Rice sheaves)" as well as in Japanese and distributes them at home and abroad as one of educational materials to raise public awareness to tsunami.

Our activities have expanded from the puppet show to the various genres such as shadow play, the paper-story show, and the songs. They have beome more than just educational materials. They are the new field of art which give great emotions to children.

On June 2007, we held a class for parents and children titled "The Fire of Inamura and the Paradise for Catfishes" to learn how to prevent disasters through the puppet show at the Yokohama Doll Museum.

The powerful performance of "Konta and the Fire of Inamura," played by the Fresh, a puppet group originally formed in a school for handicapped children and their families, is sending a message how important our cooperation is in times of disaster. This new attempt focused on the disaster prevention for the handicapped children has aroused sympathy among the people.

"A little pig and a wolf build a house," a jointly-produced puppet show by the Earthquake Research Institute, the University of Tokyo and the puppet group, is the first play that dealt earthquake resistance of buildings. Children enjoyed with the character's wit and wordplay very much. After the show, Professor Yamaoka of Nagoya University performed a seismic test using house models. Children learned that the ground and the structure are essential to make houses earthquake-proof. Our activities have broadened to include earthquakes by this attempt.

Puppet plays are worldwide entertainment for children. Puppet players of deep expressiveness can teach children and families around the world the global issues like disaster prevention and environment collaborating with scientists who have the advanced knowledge. A change of awareness in a person will change his/her family. The family will change their community. Then the community will change their nation, and the nation will finally change the world. We dream that the day will soon come.

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English translation by the Secretariat of the Japanese National Committee for IYPE, 2007-07-24