TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – It is hard to imagine a group of people from various backgrounds who had gathered together in Chiayi City out of enthusiasm for Taiwanese glove puppetry would shoot this traditional art form to fame within just few years, but SamadhiTang Creative Puppet Troupe, with their devotion to puppet making and manipulation, has already amassed a huge fan base around the world.

Walking around the exhibition room currently held in an old house in Twatutia (or Dadaocheng，大稻埕), visitors are welcomed to touch the exquisitely handmade puppets gently and even hold them if they have enough strength.

A puppet usually weighs more than 10 kilometers, and puppeteers have to hold it over their shoulder in order to let it appear on stage.

“We usually take turns to manipulate puppets for a 90-minute show, as their weight is a great burden for puppeteers,” Yen Jen-hung (嚴仁鴻), executive director of SamadhiTang, told Taiwan News.

The reason for the puppet’s heavyweight lies in the head, torso, and in particular, costume of the puppet. The heads are made of wood and the torso molded acrylic. Each puppet wears layers of fabrics with satin lining and stitched patterns, and their accessories are no less abundant.

A character may wear a head pin made as if a beaming halo or be shouldered with pads made of carved wood inserted with tiny rubies. There are also characters holding chains of colorful beads or a scroll made of patterned fabrics and rolled by two golden metal bars with a dragon decoration on each end.

All the customs are designed in accordance with the characters and stories, which are created by Yen. He took inspiration from various classic stories, such as martial arts novels and religious stories.

With the stories the costume designer Chen Yu-feng  (陳有豐) would then discuss with puppet designer Liu Kuo-an (劉國安) to come up with suitable customs for each character with elements ranging from the Japanese kimono belt to Buddhist totems.

As a result, the puppets are so beautiful with details extremely delicate that it is safe to say they are not only puppet props, but also works of art.

When the troupe goes abroad for exhibitions and performances, they have to carefully wrap the puppets with bubble wraps and put each of them in a separate box for delivery.

The troupe had created more than 140 glove puppets by 2016, and among them, the most popular one is the Peacock King of Wisdom (孔雀明王).

“The Peacock King of Wisdom is particularly popular among Japanese fans, and they would follow him on tour," said Yen, joking “His popularity is probably due to his good look and muscles.”

However, fans do not just follow the troupe on tour or join them as volunteers. In fact, some fans are so passionate about the puppet characters that they even dress up as their favorite ones.

Those cosplayers are very devoted, they produce exactly the same clothe as the characters and do the hair and make-up just like whom they cosplay, Yen said.

Yen said cosplay fans often gather at SamadhiTang's exhibitions, which has become an interesting spectacle for visitors as they can see human-sized characters standing side by side with the authentic puppet exhibits.

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3279748



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不只是人偶：布袋戲偶變成台灣明星

有粉絲因為太愛他們所崇拜的戲偶角色，就把自己和戲偶裝扮成和戲偶一模一樣的髮型和服裝。

記者：鄧佩儒

台北(台灣新聞): 很難想像來自嘉義市的一群不同背景的人，因為對台灣布袋戲偶的熱情，在短短幾年內因為創新傳統藝術形式而成名，三昧堂創意木偶團隊，憑藉著他們對布袋戲偶的精緻創作和創新演出的奉獻，已經在全球積累了龐大的粉絲團。

走在大稻埕古色古香的展覽室周圍，他們歡迎遊客輕輕地這些觸摸精美的手工木偶，對於擁有足夠的力量的民眾，他們也會讓他們試著操作戲偶。

一尊三昧堂的布袋戲偶通常重達近10公斤，操偶師必須把戲偶舉高過肩，讓它站在戲台上。

一場布袋戲表演，操偶師通常操縱木偶進行90分鐘的演出，有時候操偶師都需要輪流上場，因為這些戲偶的重量對操偶師而言是很大負擔。

戲偶重量的原因在於偶頭，身體，尤其是戲偶的服裝。 頭部由木頭製成，手腳則是塑膠開模而成。每個戲偶穿著緞面布，加上襯裡和電繡圖案等布重疊而成，其配件也毫不遜色。

一尊神佛系列的角色可能會在頭上戴著一大串針狀的飾品，代表神佛的法輪光環，或者是用木頭雕刻且鑲有小紅寶石的襯墊的肩膀作為鎧甲。還有人物持有五顏六色的寶石的佛珠或由電繡織物製成的捲軸，中間有金色的金屬條可以讓卷軸開合，兩端都有龍頭裝飾。

所有這些神佛角色和他們的外表裝扮，都是有所本，是參考原本佛經的人物和故事進行創新設計的。設計師從各種經典故事中吸取靈感，如武術小說和宗教故事。

由設計師劉國安設計整體戲偶造型，偶衣師陳有豐製作戲偶衣服，為每個神佛人物創造適合的造型外觀，包括從日本的和服腰帶到佛教圖騰的元素。

他們創作出的戲偶是如此華麗精緻，每個細節都非常細膩，可以說是不僅僅是布袋戲偶，更是一件件藝術作品。

當三昧堂出國參加展覽和表演時，他們必須請藝術品包裝公司的專業人員仔細地把木偶包裹起來，並將每尊戲偶放在一個為他們特製的盒子裡才能安全運送。

一直到2016年，該劇團創造了140多尊戲偶作品，其中最受歡迎的是“孔雀明王”（Peacock King of Wisdom）。

「孔雀明王在三昧堂的日本粉絲中特別受歡迎，不管他去哪裡都有他的粉絲追著他」，”嚴仁鴻總監開玩笑說：「他的高人氣可能是因為他有俊俏的外表和強壯的肌肉。」

但是，粉絲們不僅僅是擔任志工跟隨三昧堂到處巡迴展覽和演出，有粉絲對於他們最喜歡的木偶角色，喜歡到甚至打扮成和戲偶一模一樣，也就是COSPLAY角色扮演。

這些角色扮演者非常專業，他們要求和戲偶人物一模一樣，無論是穿著的衣服布料，頭髮的顏色，造型的飾品，以及等比例放大的衣服，都嚴格的要求和本尊一樣。

嚴仁鴻總監說，這幾位COSPLAY表演者們經常會在三昧堂的展覽與活動中出現，這已經成為粉絲們和記者們很想看的景象，因為他們可以看到真人大小的布袋戲人物與真正的木偶一起並肩，畫面很讓人震撼。