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Storytelling
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Rakugo: History and Problems Faced Today by Bobby Chang '97
What is Rakugo? Many people have stereotyped views about Rakugo (traditional
Japanese storytelling) taken from the Japanese TV program, Shoten. Shoten, one
of the longest running Engei (vaudeville programs) has six people in kimono
(classical Japanese clothing, now used only on special occasions) solving riddles
and receiving zabuton (cushions) as a reward for amusing answers. This scene
brings a misinterpretation among the viewers who believe that "receiving zabuton"
is Rakugo. Although the performers are Rakugoka (Rakugo storytellers), the competition
between them is called Oogiri. Oogiri is transposed from a Kabuki(one of the
traditional forms of Japanese theater) term meaning the last scene in which
Rakugoka performed dances, songs, skits, and riddle solving at the end of the
yose (vaudeville theater) program. In the Oogiri, famous storytellers gather
at once and do something different from their profession to attract and show
gratitude towards the audience. In the Oogiri, one person is assigned to have
the role of a fool. Rakugo is not a group-oriented art but an individual one.
Rakugo is a form of comical storytelling where a Rakugoka creates an imaginary
drama through narration and skillful use of articulation and facial express
to show various characters. It uses no scenery or props except a tenugui (small
towel) and a sensu (fan). With a fan, the performer represents objects such
as a pipe, chopsticks, spears, swords, and hammers. Tenugui are used to represent
books or a wallet. The word Rakugo is made up of two characters; raku, meaning
"drop or fall" and go meaning "word". Although there are some exceptions, Rakugo
stories end with an ochi, or a punch line. History of Rakugo The history of
storytelling can be traced back to the 1500's, a period when Japan was a feudal
state with warring groups invading and betraying each other. The warriors were
wise not to sleep deeply or go to sleep early, due to the fear of assassins.
Entertainers called otogishu were hired to keep their master awake by amusing
him with episode and stories of famous warlords. By the early 17th century,
Japan was in peace under the Tokugawa Shoguns (military leaders of the Tokugawa
Era, 1603-1867), when the first collection of stories told by the otogishu,
Kigenyokishu, was published and gained popularity. As such anthologies appeared,
the people's interest in storytelling grew. Stories became more complex, with
changes in the tone of the dialogue and/or the gestures to distinguish characters
one from the other. Professional entertainers began to appear in the 1670's
when tsuji banashi (street entertainers) gained the town people's interest.
Unlike the otogishu who performed privately, tsuji banashi performed on street
corners, drawing crowds and collecting money before telling the climax of the
story. After forty years, these street entertainers lost popularity. In Edo
(the old name for the city of Tokyo, in use from 1180-1868), as interest in
word play and comedy grew, storytellers gradually appeared. Skilled amateur
story tellers having jobs such as artisans and doctors were invited to merchants'
private banquets to perform. In addition, these people held their own recitals
at local soba (noodle) shops before business hours. As these amateur story tellers
gained popularity, professional storytellers and the first permanent Rakugo
theater, yose (vaudeville hall) opened in Edo, in a room above a kago (palanquin)
station. The number of yose gradually increased until there were 200 in Edo.
During the Tempo Era (1831-1845) Reforms of 1841, the number was reduced to
15 and the content of the stories was limited to those with military, tragic,
or moral themes. When the reforms were abolished, the number of yose grew to
its greatest number, 392. One of the most influential people at the end of the
Edo Period (1600-1868) was Sanyutei Encho, the most respected member of the
Edo Rakugo Society. He was a master of sandai-banashi, a story in which the
storyteller takes three unrelated items at random from his audience and weaves
them instantly into a comic improvisation. Also Encho was famous for his shibai
banashi, stories mimicking kabuki (one of three classical theaters of Japan)
actors without any costume or makeup. Encho focused on kabuki because the kabuki
actor's salary increased, resulting in an increase in the admission charge.
As a result, kabuki had become too extravagant for most people, so they enjoyed
Encho's kabuki stories very much. When Japan ended the period of isolation,
in 1868, Encho raised many new storytellers, bringing a "golden age" to the
Rakugo Society. Kairakutei Black, the First Foreign Storyteller At the time
of westernization during the Meiji Period (1868-1912), a storyteller from the
West, "Kairakutei Black" (Henry Black) shared popularity with Encho. Black was
born in Australia and came to Japan during the last years of the Tokugawa Era.
His father was a British naval officer who eventually became a businessman and
later the first foreign newspaper editor in Japan. Throughout Henry Black's
stay in Japan, his interest in the world of vaudeville grew, resulting in his
becoming the first non-Japanese professional performer. Black received attention
from a relatively uneducated public. A significant accomplishment of Kairakutei
Black was recording Japanese vaudeville. During the beginning of the 20th century,
Japan was in an economic depression, resulting in the closing down of vaudeville
theaters. Two Americans from a recording company arrived in Japan looking for
traditional Japanese performers to make records for sale. Black who was an expert
in Rakugo and other traditional arts, acted as an interpreter and planned the
recordings. As a result, many performers of the Meiji Period remain on records,
including Black's performance. When I heard Black's story on CD (record transposed
to CD), he poke in such a fluent Tokyo dialect, no one could tell it was performed
by a foreigner. Rakugo in the 1920s to World War II Movies and other western
forms of entertainment gradually lured away the Rakugo audience during the 1920's
and 1930's just before the "Pacific War" (translation of the Japanese phrase
for World War II). Rakugo was forced to submit to censorship, which outlawed
a number of stories. In order to protect these outlawed stories, storytellers
buried scripts of 53 stories in a "story grave". These all related to prostitution,
liquor, and other "inappropriate" topics for a time of national hardship. Elements
of Rakugo stories Rakugo stories are made up of three elements, the makura,
or introduction, hanashi, the main story, and the ochi (or sage)which is the
punch line. The makura functions as the time in which the storyteller introduces
the theme or the subject of his story. It also warms up the audience's mood
during which the performer shortens the distance between the audience and himself
through telling kobanashi, little jokes. Usually Rakugoka at the yose will not
decide what he is going to perform until he has already started the makura.
As he warms to his audience, he selects a story from his repertory. In the modern
days, the makura has an additional function. The language of classical Rakugo,
or Koten Rakugo, uses colloquial Edo speech used several hundreds of years ago
which is unintelligible for the modern audience. The makura is now used to give
the background of the Edo period and defines old terms used in that period which
might relate to the joke at the end. The Rakugo stories are mostly made up of
dialogue in which descriptions of objects and setting are told through dialogue.
Storytellers show different characters by looking to the right or left. For
example when a merchant is talking to a samurai (military gentry, or knight),
the performers look towards the kamiza (the performers left) which represents
higher society. There are two types of Rakugo stories, shinsaku or new Rakugo
and Koten, the classical Rakugo. Shinsaku Rakugo began to appear during the
Meiji Period when storytellers told about current issues. There was no big difference
between the old and the new stories at the beginning, but as the society began
to change drastically, new stories made during the Meiji period are classified
into the koten group. New stories having a modern plot are performed frequently
to attract new audiences. The ochi is the element of Rakugo which concludes
the story. Twisted or unexpected happenings at the end of the story is one example
of an ochi. Most endings in Rakugo are made up from word play which uses puns.
The Japanese language has many homonyms depending on the way they are written.
For example koko, can have the meaning "high school", "filial piety", "pickled
vegetables" or 16 other things. Although, the existence of the ochi is characteristic
of Rakugo, ending a thirty-minute story with a five-second joke doesn't seem
reasonable. The ochi was the important element when Rakugo stories were still
kobanashi, or impromptu jokes ending within a short time. Society of the Rakugo
Storytellers Along with maintaining stories from the Edo period, the traditional
Japanese vertical society exists among the storytellers. To be a storyteller,
a person must first become an apprentice. As audiences for Rakugo decreased
gradually, there were too many storytellers for the audience available. Most
of these new storytellers were amateur performers belonging to a college Rakugo
club. When a person is accepted as an apprentice, he is on probation for six
months. People who want to become professional performers usually stay at their
master's house and learn the trade while helping with household chores. These
live-in apprentices are called uchi-deshi, a concept which only exists in the
traditional Japanese arts world. The number of uchi-deshi is gradually decreasing
for many reasons. The present housing conditions do not give a disciple the
space to live in, and the masters have to earn enough to be able to feed the
uchi-deshi. As a result many storytellers nowadays make their disciple commute
from his home to his master's. During this time, the new disciple cleans his
master's home, takes care of the children, and performs other chores for him.
This probationary period, called the minarai-kikan, allows a master to gain
an impression of his new student. After the probationary period, the master
gives the apprentice a stage name. A storyteller's name consists of two parts:
the teigo or family name and the given name. Basically, one portion of the master's
name is included in his disciple's name. In a unique case, a storyteller who
is a baseball enthusiast named his disciple, "Deadball". Another example has
to do with Akashiya Sanma, a well known comedian who comes from the Rakugo world.
Although he does not perform Rakugo, his name was given by his master, Shofukutei
Matsunosueke, one of the leading Rakugo storytellers in Osaka. The origin of
Sanma's name comes from his family business, which was processing sanma (a type
of fish). The storytellers are usually given the same teigo. In Sanma's case,
the teigo, Shofukutei, is a traditional Rakugo name which might be disadvantageous.
So the master gave a new teigo, "Akashiya" coming from his own real name Akashi,
and thereby gave Sanma's name a new nuance. Storytellers names change as they
are promoted in the Rakugo society, so that one person will eventually have
received a series of different names as he rises in rank. The disciple is given
the rank zenza which officially makes him a storyteller. Along with doing chores
for his master, he begins to work in the yose theater. The zenza works backstage
at the yose where he helps the elder performers dress in kimono, serves tea
to people, and plays the taiko (Japanese drums) for the debahayashi. Debahayashi
is the music played on the shamisen (three-stringed lute) so that each performer
is accompanied by his theme song as he goes on stage. The music varies from
Kabuki to folk songs and anything that can be played on shamisen. One storyteller
goes on stage all year long with "Jingle Bells". After four to six years of
zenza life, the young storyteller is promoted to the next rank, futatsume. The
futatsume storytellers are more independent as they are free from their masters
and backstage work at the yose. The master fed and supported his young disciple
economically during the zenza period, but now there is no more such support.
The young storyteller must now begin to increase his repertoire of stories.
The highest rank of shinuchi, or star performer, is given after ten years of
being a futatsume. He is approved as a master storyteller and can now take in
apprentices himself. At this point, the storyteller is called shisho (master),
different from the term nisan (brother) during the futatsume period. Decline
of Rakugo in the modern era In the present day, Rakugo is becoming less attractive
for many reasons. One is the appearance of Rakugo storytellers wearing kimono
and sitting on zabuton. Due to drastic changes in fashion and style, the kimono
has become a traditional form of clothing. Many storytellers joke about their
appearance, "Right now no one sits on zabuton except for a Rakugoka and a bell
in the butsudan (the household shrine)" (Aoki) Along with the storyteller's
appearance, the content of the stories seems old fashioned. The time setting
of classical Rakugo is in the Edo Period, where many customs and objects of
the time have become obsolete. For example, nagaya, traditional tenement housing
where the characters of the Rakugo world used to live, are no longer found in
Tokyo. "Many things are replaced because of western influence. As a result objects
found in Rakugo are out of date and not understood by modern people. The performers
themselves do not understand nor can they imagine how some traditional things
were used. For example, the kiseru (pipe) has been replaced by cigarettes. Storytellers
use their fans to represent a pipe, but none of them have actually used it before.
I showed many storytellers how to use the kiseru," says Toshikazu Miyamoto,
ex-manager at Nikkatsu Production who has worked with many storytellers. Rakugo
has become difficult to understand for the audience, so some storytellers began
to perform Shinsaku Rakugo or modernistic Rakugo. A Shinsaku has a modern plot
which may eventually becomes classified as classical Rakugo in the future. Present
problems of the Rakugo world and the vaudeville theaters Another problem is
the number of places for performing Rakugo. There are five yose in Tokyo, which
show Rakugo daily. The five yose are, Suehirotei in Shinjuku, Suzumoto in Ueno,
Ikebukuro Engeijo, Asakusa Engei Hall, and the National Vaudeville Theater run
by the government. The yose program is divided into kamiseki (1st -10th of the
month), nakaseki (11th -20th), and shimoseki (21st-30th). The remaining 31st
of the month might be part of the shimoseki program, or called yoichikai (one
day remainder program) and have a special program. The ten days of the yose
program rotates among the two Rakugo organizations: Rakugo Kyokai and the Rakugo
Geijitsu Kyokai. Most of the storytellers belong to one of these groups but
there are two minority groups which do not appear in the yose. The yose programs
consists of the afternoon show (12 noon- 4:30) and the night show (5:00-9:00)
where approximately fifteen Rakugoka perform in each show. Between several Rakugo
performances, there will be an iromono performance to create a variation in
the program. An iromono performance might be manzai (two-person comedy), mandan
(one-person comedy), kyokugei (juggling), jijyutsu (magic), or something else.
The two major problems facing the yose: no adequate place for performance and
economic support for the storytellers. Each storyteller is given approximately
fifteen minutes on stage though the tori, the last performer, might get 30 minutes.
The time limits the storytellers to shorter stories. Also the stories performed
have the tendency to lean towards easy ones which will amuse the audience. Stories
requiring skill are rarely told in the yose and thereby limit the number of
stories performed. In the old days when there were hundreds of yose in Tokyo,
storytellers might perform at five or six halls in one day. Right now it is
possible to perform only at two yose. The yose has a special way of paying the
storytellers. The admission fee paid by the audience is split into half: one
for the owner of the yose and the other half for the group of storytellers.
First, however, the Rakugo organization deducts the cost of hiring the people
who play the hayashi, maintaining the organization office, and paying for the
zenza (who receives a fixed sum of 1200 yen a day). The remaining amount is
not divided equally among the number of performers. The pay depends on the position
in the Rakugo Society, whereby older performers receive more than the younger
ones. For example, a futatsume storyteller might earn 4 yen per person in the
audience. If the hall holds up to five hundred people, the maximum wari (commission
received by the storyteller) is 2000 yen. The yose does not fill up all the
time and the pay might not cover the transportation fee from his home to the
hall. As a result, these performers can not earn a living by only performing
in the yose. Besides the yose, the storytellers will have to perform outside
of Tokyo or sponsor their own performances. By sponsoring himself, a storyteller
has more time to prepare difficult stories for the stage. Along with telling
stories, younger performers might work at other jobs such as the master of ceremonies
at a wedding party, or a reporter for a television company to support himself.
"Hall Rakugo" refers to performing Rakugo whereby broadcasting companies sponsor
performances at public halls. These public halls are larger than the yose, holding
thousands of people. The name of the story performed by the storyteller is not
announced on the program in the yose. In "Hall Rakugo" the title of the story
is announced beforehand,so as to attract Rakugo fans. For the storytellers,
yose is the place to practice their stories in front of a live audience whereas
"Hall Rakugo" takes priority for earning money. Compared to twenty years ago,
the number of programs showing Rakugo on TV has decreased annually. Right now
there are five programs showing Rakugo and these have shifted from prime time
to the midnight hours. Tokyo Rakugo has been replaced by young entertainers
from the Yoshimoto Kogyo group in Osaka, a city in the Kansai area (a term applied
to the area which includes Kyoto, Kobe and Osaka). Although there are comedians
in Tokyo, the Kansai people performers are more famous. In Tokyo, comedians
like Beat Takeshi have gained fame from his black humor. Takeshi's humor comes
from the Rakugo storyteller, . Takeshi is one of Danshi's non-Rakugo disciples
and carries the performing name, Tatekawa Kinnosuke. Tokyo storytellers do not
appear on TV as do the Osaka storytellers. Osaka storytellers such as Katsura
Sanshi, Katsura Bunchin, and Shofukutei Tsurube appear on many TV shows. These
names are well known to all generations, and people tend to think that the Kansai
accent and lifestyle is more appealing. This is one of the reasons why Osaka
storytellers are known nationally. Yoshimoto Kogyo is a company with rakugoka
and other performers which aggressively finds outlets where their talent can
perform. On the other hand, the Rakugo organizations in Tokyo are non-profit,
and just serve as a gathering of storytellers. The Rakugo organizations should
be like Yoshimoto Kogyo in Osaka: finding outlets for their storytellers in
the TV world. If there are equivalents of the Osaka storytellers Sanshi and
Bunchin in Tokyo, they would be a good advertisement for Tokyo Rakugo. There
should be two types of storytellers: traditional storytellers and "talent" storytellers.
During the present decade, the Rakugo world has appealed to the media with much
good news. Two female storytellers were promoted to shinuchi, the highest rank
in the Rakugo Society. This broke four hundred years of an exclusively male
society of storytellers. Another happening was that Yanagiya Kosan, the oldest
storyteller, became the first rakugoka to be appointed a "Living National Treasure"
(a term used to refer to people in the field of traditional arts or crafts who
have been designated 'Bearers of Important Intangible Cultural Assets' by the
government). As these news events are reported, the Rakugo Society remains active.
Unlike Bunraku, Kabuki, Noh, Kyogen (various kinds of classical theater) and
other traditional art, Rakugo is a valuable historical resource. It does this
by keeping an old tradition and telling stories of the Edo Period. On the other
hand, Rakugo is flexible and new Rakugo are created for new audiences. Rakugo
has two faces: one as a traditional art passing down stories of the past and
the other as a form of entertainment.
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