A Rakugo Performance was included in the TiROP / TKT CAMPUS Asia Summer Program 2015, marking the fourth time the cultural event was offered to international students and the Tokyo Tech community.
Rakugo is a traditional verbal performance art dating back to the Edo period, some 300 years ago. A single performer sits in the middle of the stage, and performs by himself the dialogue of various characters and stories. The “raku” in Rakugo means “punchline,” and “go” means “story,” so Rakugo is “a story with a punch line.” This year, the theme was “Rakugo as the art of imagination.” Though a Rakugo performer does not use special tools and does not explain very much, he expresses a wide range of emotions with only minimal props and movements.
Shinoharu Tatekawa, a disciple of Shinosuke Tatekawa, one of the most famous Rakugo artists in Japan, gave the performance, as in previous years. After Shinoharu explained the basis of Rakugo, he performed the well-known classic story Jugemu. Jugemu is the story of a boy with an extraordinarily long name. Next, Shinoharu performed the classic story Chiri Tote Chin. Two men appear in this story, and they try to cheat a man who is pretending to know everything. The two use rotten Tofu (bean curd) and tell him it is “very special food from Taiwan called chiri tote chin.” Can you imagine what happened when that man ate chiri tote chin?
After those two funny classic stories, Shinoharu performed his original story The Important Thing. This is the story of grandfather and his grandson. The grandfather loved to tell proverbial phrases to support his funny little lies to his grandson. Years after their funny conversation, the grown-up grandson remembers the most important thing his grandfather told him. The kind of story is called “Ninjo-banashi”, or an emotional-styled story. Shinoharu once said “I tried classic funny stories in English, and many foreign audiences enjoyed them. However, I’m not sure whether this kind of original emotional story will be welcomed by them.”
He had nothing to fear. The audience member were so moved, some of them were almost crying, including me!
After three stories, we had a Q&A session. Shinoharu performed one more short story to explain the range of Rakugo.
Now, let me introduce audience members’ voices to conclude this report.
Honestly speaking, before watching the Rakugo show, I didn’t expect this kind of traditional Japanese performance would still be so attractive to modern people, even people from different culture background. But it turned out that I really enjoyed myself during the show and kind of fell in love with Rakugo. The reason for the popularity of Rakugo, as the performer said, might be that Rakugo touches the common life of common people. The stories can be shared by people of all ages and all nationalities, and can bring laughter and warmness to the audience. In that sense, Rakugo is like a cup of tea to me. It’s not as strong as alcohol, or as sharp as soda, but it can provide the long, nice aftertaste. （Yangzi from Tsinghua University）
Today was the first time I heard the word Rakugo — actually the second after I was told there would have been a Rakugo performance — but I’m sure it won’t be the last one! It was a very enriching experience: I’ve done theatre and improvisation myself, but seeing how one person alone and kneeling can make you imagine scenes with several people and with jumps in time, that is simply great. It’s an amazing art and it is a unique opportunity to see it performed in English. Highly recommended, in the worstcase, you will still laugh a lot at the jokes included in the stories!
（Elena from Chalmers University of Technology）
The Rakugo Performance helped highlight the cultural similarities between Japan and the West, showing that all cultures can laugh and learn the same way. I was very impressed by the skill of the performer, and his ability to adapt to his audience. It is clear that his years of training and study have paid off. I especially liked his extra story about the driving monkey! Rakugo is an experience in Japanese culture that everyone should try.
(Brad from Carnegie Mellon University)
I sincerely hope we will have another opportunity to welcome Shinoharu Tatekawa to Tokyo Tech!
By Kana Nishino, Associate Professor, International Office
A Rakugo Performance was included in the TiROP / TKT CAMPUS Asia Summer Program 2015, marking the fourth time the cultural event was offered to international students and the Tokyo Tech community.
Rakugo is a traditional verbal performance art dating back to the Edo period, some 300 years ago. A single performer sits in the middle of the stage, and performs by himself the dialogue of various characters and stories. The “raku” in Rakugo means “punchline,” and “go” means “story,” so Rakugo is “a story with a punch line.” This year, the theme was “Rakugo as the art of imagination.” Though a Rakugo performer does not use special tools and does not explain very much, he expresses a wide range of emotions with only minimal props and movements.
Shinoharu Tatekawa, a disciple of Shinosuke Tatekawa, one of the most famous Rakugo artists in Japan, gave the performance, as in previous years. After Shinoharu explained the basis of Rakugo, he performed the well-known classic story Jugemu. Jugemu is the story of a boy with an extraordinarily long name. Next, Shinoharu performed the classic story Chiri Tote Chin. Two men appear in this story, and they try to cheat a man who is pretending to know everything. The two use rotten Tofu (bean curd) and tell him it is “very special food from Taiwan called chiri tote chin.” Can you imagine what happened when that man ate chiri tote chin?
After those two funny classic stories, Shinoharu performed his original story The Important Thing. This is the story of grandfather and his grandson. The grandfather loved to tell proverbial phrases to support his funny little lies to his grandson. Years after their funny conversation, the grown-up grandson remembers the most important thing his grandfather told him. The kind of story is called “Ninjo-banashi”, or an emotional-styled story. Shinoharu once said “I tried classic funny stories in English, and many foreign audiences enjoyed them. However, I’m not sure whether this kind of original emotional story will be welcomed by them.”
He had nothing to fear. The audience member were so moved, some of them were almost crying, including me!
After three stories, we had a Q&A session. Shinoharu performed one more short story to explain the range of Rakugo.
Now, let me introduce audience members’ voices to conclude this report.
Honestly speaking, before watching the Rakugo show, I didn’t expect this kind of traditional Japanese performance would still be so attractive to modern people, even people from different culture background. But it turned out that I really enjoyed myself during the show and kind of fell in love with Rakugo. The reason for the popularity of Rakugo, as the performer said, might be that Rakugo touches the common life of common people. The stories can be shared by people of all ages and all nationalities, and can bring laughter and warmness to the audience. In that sense, Rakugo is like a cup of tea to me. It’s not as strong as alcohol, or as sharp as soda, but it can provide the long, nice aftertaste. （Yangzi from Tsinghua University）
Today was the first time I heard the word Rakugo — actually the second after I was told there would have been a Rakugo performance — but I’m sure it won’t be the last one! It was a very enriching experience: I’ve done theatre and improvisation myself, but seeing how one person alone and kneeling can make you imagine scenes with several people and with jumps in time, that is simply great. It’s an amazing art and it is a unique opportunity to see it performed in English. Highly recommended, in the worstcase, you will still laugh a lot at the jokes included in the stories!
（Elena from Chalmers University of Technology）
The Rakugo Performance helped highlight the cultural similarities between Japan and the West, showing that all cultures can laugh and learn the same way. I was very impressed by the skill of the performer, and his ability to adapt to his audience. It is clear that his years of training and study have paid off. I especially liked his extra story about the driving monkey! Rakugo is an experience in Japanese culture that everyone should try.
(Brad from Carnegie Mellon University)
I sincerely hope we will have another opportunity to welcome Shinoharu Tatekawa to Tokyo Tech!
By Kana Nishino, Associate Professor, International Office