On August 5, 2014, Mr. Shinoharu Tatekawa – a promising young Japanese rakugo performer – visited Tokyo Tech for the third time. We organized this rakugo performance primarily to introduce Japanese culture to international students and visitors here at Tokyo Tech, although Shinoharu commented, “I hope the audience gains something deeper than just an introductory experience of Japanese culture.”
Shinoharu started the performance with a brief history of rakugo and explained how the performance depends on one’s imagination. “When a performer takes off his gown (haori), it signals the beginning of the story,” Shinoharu explained, before removing his own haori and starting a performance of Tenshiki, a classic comedy story involving a Buddhist priest, who is pretending to be a smart aleck, and a wise disciple. Even though Shinoharu almost always starts his performance with Tenshiki, it is possible to enjoy the same rakugo story again and again, even when performed by the same person. After this first performance we had a lively Q&A session.
Finally, Shinoharu performed another classic comedy called The Liquor Gate, the story of a samurai residence which banned alcohol due to an unfortunate drunken incident. However, a hard-drinking samurai resident secretly acquires some good Japanese sake from a liquor shop. If you would like to know what happens next, please join us at next year’s performance.
Following the event, I was able to get some impressions from the audience:
“The rakugo performance by Shinoharu was really impressive. He used different voices to create various characters and kept the audience interested in the plot. Although the stories are originally Japanese, he conveyed the meaning concisely in confident English. I hope that he can bring his brilliant performance every year to our program participants!”
Wentao Tang (CAMPUS Asia student from China)
“This was the first time for me to see rakugo. It was very well done and I’m still thinking about it now. It is very difficult to translate the traditional story into English while retaining Japanese culture and humor. But Shinoharu really did it. I think his rakugo is a good way for foreigners to learn about Japanese culture enjoyably.”
Xiaoying Liu (CAMPUS Asia student from China)
“Shinoharu Tatekawa is awesome! I was especially impressed with his ability to use rakugo to convey Japanese humor in a form that makes native English speakers laugh. He put on a terrific show.”
Brian Woodall (TiROP Visiting Scholar & Georgia Tech professor)
“We thoroughly enjoyed the rakugo performance by Shinoharu Tatekawa! I particularly enjoyed the Q&A session where Shinoharu explained how he had to alter the traditional Japanese story for an English-speaking audience so that the humor was not lost. I would love to see him perform again!”
Joyce Woodall (from US)
Kana Nishino
International Cooperation Planner/Associate Professor International Office
On August 5, 2014, Mr. Shinoharu Tatekawa – a promising young Japanese rakugo performer – visited Tokyo Tech for the third time. We organized this rakugo performance primarily to introduce Japanese culture to international students and visitors here at Tokyo Tech, although Shinoharu commented, “I hope the audience gains something deeper than just an introductory experience of Japanese culture.”
Shinoharu started the performance with a brief history of rakugo and explained how the performance depends on one’s imagination. “When a performer takes off his gown (haori), it signals the beginning of the story,” Shinoharu explained, before removing his own haori and starting a performance of Tenshiki, a classic comedy story involving a Buddhist priest, who is pretending to be a smart aleck, and a wise disciple. Even though Shinoharu almost always starts his performance with Tenshiki, it is possible to enjoy the same rakugo story again and again, even when performed by the same person. After this first performance we had a lively Q&A session.
Finally, Shinoharu performed another classic comedy called The Liquor Gate, the story of a samurai residence which banned alcohol due to an unfortunate drunken incident. However, a hard-drinking samurai resident secretly acquires some good Japanese sake from a liquor shop. If you would like to know what happens next, please join us at next year’s performance.
Following the event, I was able to get some impressions from the audience:
“The rakugo performance by Shinoharu was really impressive. He used different voices to create various characters and kept the audience interested in the plot. Although the stories are originally Japanese, he conveyed the meaning concisely in confident English. I hope that he can bring his brilliant performance every year to our program participants!”
Wentao Tang (CAMPUS Asia student from China)
“This was the first time for me to see rakugo. It was very well done and I’m still thinking about it now. It is very difficult to translate the traditional story into English while retaining Japanese culture and humor. But Shinoharu really did it. I think his rakugo is a good way for foreigners to learn about Japanese culture enjoyably.”
Xiaoying Liu (CAMPUS Asia student from China)
“Shinoharu Tatekawa is awesome! I was especially impressed with his ability to use rakugo to convey Japanese humor in a form that makes native English speakers laugh. He put on a terrific show.”
Brian Woodall (TiROP Visiting Scholar & Georgia Tech professor)
“We thoroughly enjoyed the rakugo performance by Shinoharu Tatekawa! I particularly enjoyed the Q&A session where Shinoharu explained how he had to alter the traditional Japanese story for an English-speaking audience so that the humor was not lost. I would love to see him perform again!”
Joyce Woodall (from US)
Kana Nishino
International Cooperation Planner/Associate Professor International Office