Already in the Heian period (794-1185), itinerant puppeteers known as kugutsumawashi traveled around Japan playing door-to-door for donations. In this form of street entertainment, which continued up through the Edo period, the puppeteer manipulated two hand puppets on a stage that consisted of a box suspended from his neck.
A number of the kugutsumawashi are thought to have settled at Nishinomiya and on the island of Awaji, both near present-day Kobe. In the sixteenth century, puppeteers from these groups were called to Kyoto to perform for the imperial family and military leaders. It was around this time that puppetry was combined with the art of joruri.
