Japanese Humor:”Rakugo”4

This casual thesis on Rakugo concludes with a closing episode on recent Rakugo-related developments I observe at home and abroad and a future path for Rakugo likely to trace.

The late Katsura Shijaku, an Osaka Rakugo master and the de facto initiator of “Rakugo in English”, left an invaluable heritage the art of Rakugo owes much of its modern evolution to, particularly its path to the international scene. I know of a number of Japanese and western Rakugo narrators who have followed the paths opened up by Shijaku largely in the style inherited from him.

His influence is quite apparent in the way many of such English-speaking Rakugo narrators perform in the style of Osaka Rakugo or popularly called Kamigata Rakugo. Regional disparities are a fine sauce, no doubt, but often overshadow certain fundamental charms of Rakugo as an art.

What I am driving at is: there is more than a hee-haw in the authentic art of Rakugo; there are elements in Rakugo that makes you ha-ha one way and lets you play in the world of sophistication in another. Tokyo Rakugo or Yedo Rakugo has just that element in style that contemporary English Rakugo narrators are yet to learn.

Finally, cultural gap is such that what’s funny to us may not be that funny to you westerners, but this story will tickle us all for sure. In fact, it’ll burst you into a dry laughter and, while it does, kind of leads to a moment of puzzled meditation: there’s something in this story, something that makes you kind of think hard on – something seemingly meaningful.

Well, now. Here’s the story – for you not just to quietly “read” but to vocally narrate just as it’s spelled out – with, of course, well-thought-out “ma” or in-between breaks. Good luck.

……………………………………………………………

Somewhere in Yedo – you know the old capital of Japan now called Tokyo – there lived a man who just loved cherries so much. He loved cherries and, of course, cherry trees and cherry blossoms as well.

He loved cherries so terribly much that he enjoyed eating the seeds along with them. Seeds after seeds, year after year; and one season, one of them put out buds on top of his head.

A pal found that out one day:

“Hey buddy, what’s that you have on top of your head?”

“?”

“The thing right there on top of your head, …looks like a baby tree…”

“(Rubbing the ’thing’ atop his head) Yeah, that’s my headache. Looks like a tree growing up here…all of a sudden and so quick, too.”

“Umm, what tree do you think that is?”

“No slightest idea….”

In a year’s time, the tree grew into a good-size cherry tree, and come spring, it bloomed. It bloomed so beautiful that people flocked to view the blossoms – drinking sake, having a good time singing aloud and making all sorts of noises.

Well, he somehow stood it all the first year; but then, the following year he couldn’t bear the fuss on top of his head any longer. So, he had the cherry tree cut down.

His pal found that out and said:

“Nice and flat, uh? Too bad that dandy cherry tree is gone, though.”

“Thank Holy Buddha.”

A rainy season came; it rained day after day and the cavity left after the cherry tree turned a tiny pond. Out gone the cherry tree; in born a pond just right in size for small fish to breed.

Another year past, the pond turned a favorite fishing ground for children. Day after day, the kids flocked fishing, and soon enough grownups joined them fishing all day long to keep him awake for days on.

Sleepless, hopeless and helpless, he decided not to go on living any longer. One evening, he stood by the pond, prayed to Buddha for mercy and jumped into the pond and killed himself.

……………………………………………………………

The story is titled “Atama Yama” (Mt. Head) and often used to prelude a longer story of some substance. As you see, this story is funny and mentally intriguing. My message to you is that the art of Rakugo is no simple joking; it’s more a melting pot of all human sentiments in one – comic, cynic, suggestive, enlightening, etc. in one cosmos of human behaviors.

So, my friends, don’t you ever make light of Rakugo. It can be the king’s road to Japanese culture at large, as even more serious forms of Japanese culture share with Rakugo certain underlying traits common to all the rest of the “things Japanese”.

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関連記事

  1. Japanese Humor :”Rakugo”1

  2. Japanese Humor: “Rakugo” 3

  3. Japanese Humor: “Rakugo” 2

  4. Modesty – the Way of Nature

コメント

    • 島村泰治
    • 2017年 1月 09日

    Amber-san

    Keiko reminded me of your posts on Rakugo pieces, and, sure enough, I found two of them there and read them with thanks.

    You know, it’s quite a coincidence that we’ve come in touch the way we did, thank Sho Kan-non for that.

    Yes, your remark on Atama Yama is right on the dot in the sense that it symbolizes the depth and substance of Rakugo yet uncultivated by most Rakugo fans at home and abroad – and that’s where I intend to come in. That is, there is more to Rakugo than most people look at it superficially.

    I’m looking forward to meeting you on whichever day Keiko and you agree on prior to the meet over tea with Komochi-san next month. There’s plenty to talk about.

    So, thanks for your comments. Do that again whenever you feel like it. Pardon any flip of my fingers – my right thumb occasionally refuses me behave as it should.

    Shimamura

    • amberforest
    • 2017年 1月 08日

    Life is full of contradiction. What I’ve got as a key message through the story “Atama-Yama” is paradox. His favorite cherry seeds brought about the unfavorable situation by the cherry tree. People were happy with the cherry tree and the pond on top of the man’s head while he was unhappy with them. The ending was shocking and a bit confusing, but if I try to understand this story in this paradoxical way, I think he killed himself on the surface, but he saved himself in essence. Life is full of intriguing contrasts, indeed. That’s why life is worth living. Before I die I want to live my life to the fullest in this world of challenging yet rewarding contradiction.

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