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English rakugo!
Dec. 3rd, 2014 23:59So as I have mentioned, I've been reading a manga about rakugo, which at least some people have called "tradtional Japanese stand-up comdey, done sitting down", Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjû by Kumota Haruko, but I had never really thought of going to rakugo because while my Japanese is pretty good, there's a big difference between being pretty good at modern Japanese and being able to understand spoken Late Middle Japanese i.e. Edo-ben, which is what a lot of classical rakugo monologues are in. But when I saw posters on campus for rakugo in English for free, I jumped at the chance, and I was really glad I did.
The rakugoka in question, Tatekawa Shinoharu, started off by telling us how he became familiar with rakugo at the age of 26, which is very late, but loved it so much he quit his job and became an apprentice rakugo storyteller. He's a journeyman now, and since he graduated from Yale, his English is perfect. He translates his stories himself, and did three of them--"Tenshiki," "Sakamon," and "Jugemu." It was really funny, and also really impressive how just one guy could create such a multitude of characters with only two props (a hand towel and a fan) and without moving. Shinoharu-san made some interesting points, namely that there being only one performer is what allowed them to play an infinite number of parts, and that wearing kimono means that they can be anyone in any time period. Apparently a few rakugoka like him write their own modern stuff, so that definitely comes in handy.
I didn't ask about women being rakugoka because, quite frankly, that seemed like it would be needlessly rude, particularly in a Q&A that already was getting into the heavy territory of whether rakugo has a future, given that the audiences are generally pretty old. Shinoharu-san seems to be doing a lot of things to try to bring rakugo into the modern performing arts world, including his English rakugo performances, although he's too junior to actually express an opinion about what rakugo should do. In any event, it was highly entertaining.
The rakugoka in question, Tatekawa Shinoharu, started off by telling us how he became familiar with rakugo at the age of 26, which is very late, but loved it so much he quit his job and became an apprentice rakugo storyteller. He's a journeyman now, and since he graduated from Yale, his English is perfect. He translates his stories himself, and did three of them--"Tenshiki," "Sakamon," and "Jugemu." It was really funny, and also really impressive how just one guy could create such a multitude of characters with only two props (a hand towel and a fan) and without moving. Shinoharu-san made some interesting points, namely that there being only one performer is what allowed them to play an infinite number of parts, and that wearing kimono means that they can be anyone in any time period. Apparently a few rakugoka like him write their own modern stuff, so that definitely comes in handy.
I didn't ask about women being rakugoka because, quite frankly, that seemed like it would be needlessly rude, particularly in a Q&A that already was getting into the heavy territory of whether rakugo has a future, given that the audiences are generally pretty old. Shinoharu-san seems to be doing a lot of things to try to bring rakugo into the modern performing arts world, including his English rakugo performances, although he's too junior to actually express an opinion about what rakugo should do. In any event, it was highly entertaining.