Nori Sawa (full name Noriyuki Sawa) is an internationally acclaimed Japanese puppeteer, actor, director, and educator based in Europe, primarily in the Czech Republic. He was born in 1961 in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. After working at the Hitomiza Theatre in Tokyo, he went on to study puppet theatre in France and later at the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU) in Prague, where he has been teaching since 2000.
In his work, he combines Japanese theatrical traditions with European puppetry and modern expressive theatre. He is known for original productions such as Macbeth, King Lear, and Kaguya – The Bamboo Princess, in which he uses puppets, masks, movement, music, and a strong visual language without the need for spoken words. His performances have been presented in more than 25 countries worldwide, and he regularly conducts workshops at prestigious universities such as Stanford, Northwestern, and the University of Chicago. He has received numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Medal, the Grand Prix at the International Puppet Theatre Festival in Ostrava, and an acting award at the festival in Subotica. He was the main creator of the MOCCO project for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (realized in 2021) and is an active member of the international organization UNIMA.
