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History Of Use

Wayang potehi is a Javanese puppet genre with origins in China.The language of performance is Indonesian. It is performed especially for ritual purposes, descended from Hokkien puppetry, known as potehi or budaixi. It shifted from Hokkien-language performance to Indonesian in the second half of the twentieth century. It is performed at Chinese temples and public fairs.

Cultural Context

Chinese or Javanese puppet performance.

Narrative

The character, Un Kauw, is a divine warrior from the Hong Sin (Fengshen yanyi) narrative. The Chinese name is Yin Jiao 尹蛟.

Description

Wayang hand puppet. The puppet, Un Kauw, has a human-like male head carved from wood, featuring sharp teeth emerging from below a pointed upper lip, a third eye on the forehead, two small faces protruding from behind each ear, and a small gold headdress perched on the receding black hair. Tall black boots are also carved from wood, as are the hands which are curved into fists with a hole bored through the centre. Legs are made from stuffed cotton, and the torso and arms of the puppet take the form of a cotton glove. The puppet’s robe has an upright collar, wide torso and sleeves, and a multi-paneled skirt hanging in front of the legs both front and back. The garment’s base colour is white, with heavy embroidery showing dragons, dragon scales, a butterfly at back, and decorative boarder motifs. The underside of the robe is lined with raw cotton.