Amid the nasty Corona turmoi, I managed to shift my attention to kindle work. It worked nicely and there is now my rendition of an all-time Rakugo masterpiece “Ido Cup” (Ido-no-Chawan 井戸の茶碗) kindled up for circulation.
This is the second in the 12-Volume Rakugo Classics to follow the first, “The MInd’s Eye” (Shingan 心眼) already in circulation.
Rakugo, by the way, is a traditional stage art of storytelling, and people pay to enjoy them at the House of Laughter or Yose (yaw-say). It’s a solo stage for master Rakugokas to singlehandedly perform stories impersonating all characters, say, from Portia, Bassanio, and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.
The charm of Rakugo, then, lies not so much in the story itself but how it is told by each master.
“Ido Cup” is a masterpiece numerous masters have performed in competition, but I personally love the way Kokontei Shinsho, a grandmaster of storytelling, weaves out the heartwarming story in his free-and-easy style of speech. This rendition is naturally based on one of his primetime recordings.
Enjoy Japan’s yet another cultural charm: Rakugo.
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