noun
chief puppeteer (bunraku)
In bunraku, the lead puppeteer who operates the head and right arm of the main puppet, often visible on stage. Compare with 三人遣い.
See also: 三人遣い
文楽では、主遣いが人形の頭と右手を動かす。
In bunraku, the chief puppeteer moves the puppet's head and right hand.
三人遣い refers to the three-person puppetry technique in bunraku, while 主遣い specifically denotes the lead puppeteer within that trio.
Compound of 主 (omo, 'main') and 遣い (tsukai, 'handler, user'). The reading おもづかい reflects rendaku voicing of つかい to づかい.