Wayang Kulit Pictures To Print
Crispina Blomker
The forces of globalization have endangered wayang kulit, Indonesian and Malaysian shadow puppet theatre, which is arguably the most ancient form of puppet theatre in the world. Wayang kulit puppets are one-dimensional, handmade with buffalo skin painted in bright colors. A master puppeteer, the dalang, manipulates all the puppets and runs the entire play behind a taut, white linen, backlit screen. The puppetry is accompanied by an orchestra (the gamelan) of percussion instruments that set the mood and reinforce the story narration. Performances can last all night and are performed everywhere from sacred temple ceremonies, to weddings, to village celebrations. Unfortunately, in recent years the popularity of wayang kulit has been declining. Many locals have been gradually distancing themselves from the form due to lack of interest, or fear of repercussions of its use in certain regions where conservative interpretations of Islam reign.
Although the wayang kulit performance repertoire consists mostly of Hindu epics like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, these stories are modified to include folktales, local gossip, current events, history, and aspects of the dominant religion.
The staff of HowlRound Theatre Commons at Emerson College respectfully acknowledge that our offices are situated on land stolen from its original holders, the Massachuset and Wampanoag people. We pay our respects to their people past, present, and future. Learn more about native land acknowledgements.
No one would think of cutting up an Ukiyo-e print today, but in the Edo period many Ukiyo-e works were used for playing with cut-outs, such as dress-up dolls and for making models, and from these pictorial puzzles and shadow pictures. They became extremely popular in early education, and before writing and the Japanese alphabet were developed. Based on the original Shadow play, also known as Shadow puppetry, it was the only available ancient form of storytelling and entertainment, and was used flat articulated cut-out figures, (shadow puppets), which are held between a source of light and a translucent screen, (scrim), or shoji panel in the home.
In the ancient Japanese tradition of Wayang Kulit, the medium of shadow puppetry is nothing short of a metaphor for the human soul to symbolize the character's inner qualities. Shadow puppetry is considered the oldest form of puppetry in the world, and it specifically focus on folk-tales and legends of the past. Below are a few images recorded in woodblock print by Hiroshige illustrating what young people experienced through puppetry experiences in their educational experiences.
Our aim is to transmit faithfully, not only the visual beauty of the Kokeshi doll, but to add to their historical base and origins, and to impart a little of the importance of keeping alive the traditions involved in the woodworking arts.
The term wayang is the Javanese word for "shadow"[3] or "imagination". Its equivalent in Indonesian is bayang. In modern daily Javanese and Indonesian vocabulary, wayang can refer to the puppet itself or the whole puppet theatre performance. Kulit means "skin" or "leather", the material from which the figures are carved.
Regardless of its origins, states Brandon, wayang developed and matured into a Javanese phenomenon. There is no true contemporary puppet shadow artwork in either China or India with the sophistication, depth, and creativity expressed in wayang in Java, Indonesia.[8]
According to academic James R. Brandon, the puppets of wayang are native to Java. He states wayang is closely related to Javanese social culture and religious life, and presents parallel developments from ancient Indonesian culture, such as gamelan, the monetary system, metric forms, batik, astronomy, wet rice field agriculture, and government administration. He asserts that wayang was not derived from any other type of shadow puppetry of mainland Asia, but was an indigenous creation of the Javanese. Indian puppets differ from wayang, and all wayang technical terms are Javanese, not Sanskrit. Similarly, some of the other technical terms used in the wayang kulit found in Java and Bali are based on local languages, even when the play overlaps with Buddhist or Hindu mythologies.[8]
G. A. J. Hazeu[who?] also says that wayang came from Java. The puppet structure, puppeteering techniques, storytelling voices, language, and expressions are all composed according to old traditions. The technical design, the style, and the composition of the Javanese play grew from the worship of ancestors.[citation needed]
Kats[who?] argues that the technical terms come from Java and that wayang was born without the help of India. Before the 9th century, it belonged to the Javanese. It was closely related to religious practices, such as incense and night / wandering spirits. Panakawan uses a Javanese name,[clarification needed] different from the Indian heroes.[citation needed]
Kruyt[who?] argues that wayang originated from shamanism, and makes comparisons with ancient archipelago ceremonial forms which aim to contact the spirit world by presenting religious poetry praising the greatness of the soul.[citation needed]
The movement of the Javanese across Maritime Southeast Asia right up to the 20th century has also spread art form beyond its insular origin; this may come directly performed in areas where many Javanese settled such as western Selangor in Peninsular Malaysia,[9] or indirectly integrating local elements, such as the Wayang Kulit Kelantan performed in Kelantan north of the Peninsular where Kelantanese dalang was said to have learned from original masters themselves in Java.[10]
Hinduism and Buddhism arrived on the Indonesian islands in the early centuries of the 1st millennium, and along with theology, the peoples of Indonesia and the Indian subcontinent exchanged culture, architecture, and traded goods.[8][11][12] Puppet arts and dramatic plays have been documented in ancient Indian texts, dating to the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE and the early centuries of the Common Era.[13] Further, the eastern coastal region of India (Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu), which most interacted with Indonesian islands, has had traditions of intricate, leather-based puppet arts called tholu bommalata, tholpavakoothu, and rabana chhaya, which share many elements with wayang.[5][14]
Some characters such as the Vidusaka in Sanskrit drama and Semar in wayang are very similar. Indian mythologies and characters from the Hindu epics feature in many major wayang plays, which suggests possible Indian origins, or at least an influence in the pre-Islamic period of Indonesian history.[8] Jivan Pani states that wayang developed from two art forms from Odisha in eastern India: the Ravana Chhaya puppet theatre and the Chhau dance.[15]
In 903 CE, the Mantyasih inscription (Balitung charter) was created by King Balitung of the Sanjaya dynasty of the Ancient Mataram Kingdom. They state, "Si Galigi Mawayang Buat Hyang Macarita Bimma Ya Kumara", which means 'Galigi held a puppet show for gods by taking the story of Bima Kumara'.[16] It seems certain features of traditional puppet theatre have survived from that time. Galigi was an itinerant performer who was requested to perform for a special royal occasion. At that event, he performed a story about the hero Bhima from the Mahabharata.
Mpu Kanwa, the poet of Airlangga's court of the Kahuripan kingdom, writes in 1035 CE in his kakawin (narrative poem) Arjunawiwaha, "santoṣhĕlĕtan kĕlir sira sakng sang hyang Jagatkāraṇa", which means, "He is steadfast and just a wayang screen away from the 'Mover of the World'." As kĕlir is the Javanese word for the wayang screen, the verse eloquently compares actual life to a wayang performance where the almighty Jagatkāraṇa (the mover of the world) as the ultimate dalang (puppet master) is just a thin screen away from mortals. This reference to wayang as shadow plays suggested that wayang performance was already familiar in Airlangga's court and wayang tradition had been established in Java, perhaps even earlier. An inscription from this period also mentions some occupations such as awayang and aringgit.[17]
Wayang kulit is a unique form of theatre employing light and shadow. The puppets are crafted from buffalo hide and mounted on bamboo sticks. When held up behind a piece of white cloth, with an electric bulb or an oil lamp as the light source, shadows are cast on the screen. The plays are typically based on romantic tales and religious legends, especially adaptations of the classic Indian epics, the Mahabharata, and the Ramayana. Some of the plays are also based on local stories like Panji tales.[18]
The wayang comes in sizes from 25 cm to 75 cm. The important characters are usually represented by several puppets each. The wayang is usually made out of water buffalo and goat hide and mounted onto bamboo sticks. However, the best wayang is typically made from young female buffalo parchment, cured for up to ten years. The carving and punching of the rawhide, which is most responsible for the character's image and the shadows that are cast, are guided by this sketch. A mallet is used to tap special tools, called tatah, to punch the holes through the rawhide. Making the wayang sticks from the horn is a complicated process of sawing, heating, hand-molding, and sanding until the desired effect is achieved. When the materials are ready, the artist attaches the handle by precisely molding the ends of the horn around the individual wayang figure and securing it with thread. A large character may take months to produce.
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