One person, many voices
Rakugo is a form of comic storytelling in which a single performer sits on a cushion and plays every character in a tale. There is no set, no costume change and no other actor. The storyteller turns slightly to the left or right to show who is speaking, changes voice and posture, and uses a small number of props. The audience does the rest, imagining a crowded market, a drunken guest or a shopkeeper’s wife.
The word rakugo is usually explained as “fallen words,” where “fallen” refers to the punchline. The performers are called rakugoka in general use, and professionals are typically members of a guild-like system with ranks and apprenticeships.
Origins
Short, amusing stories were told in many settings in Japan for centuries, including by Buddhist preachers whose sermons used lively anecdotes. In the Edo period, storytellers began to perform for paying audiences in the growing cities. Edo, Osaka and Kyoto each developed their own habits. Performers would hold gatherings in teahouses, rented rooms and then dedicated halls, called yose. The art belonged to the same townspeople culture that produced popular fiction, woodblock prints and kabuki, and its subjects often come from ordinary urban life: merchants, craftsmen, landlords, clumsy sons and their fathers.
Rakugo continued through the modern era and gained new audiences through radio and television. It remains a living art with professional performers, amateur clubs and regular performances in theatres, and some performers have started telling stories in other languages.
The few props
Traditionally, a performer carries only two items:
- A folding fan (sensu). It can become chopsticks, a pipe, a pen, a sword, a fishing rod or a letter.
- A small cloth (tenugui). It can become a wallet, a book, a bundle of papers or a bowl.
The restraint is the point. The performer’s skill lies in making gestures so exact that the audience sees the object. Eating noodles, for instance, is conveyed by the fan, a slurp and a look of satisfaction, and it takes only a few seconds to build a whole scene. In some regional styles, a small table and a folding screen are also used for certain performances. The details vary by tradition.
Constructing the story
A rakugo story generally has three parts. There is a short introduction, called the makura, or “pillow,” in which the performer chats with the audience and subtly selects a theme. The main story follows, built mostly from dialogue. Last comes the ochi, the drop, a punchline that often turns on a pun, a misunderstanding or a surprising twist.
Many stories are part of a classic repertoire that has been passed down and slowly reworked. Familiar types recur: the foolish man who misinterprets advice, the sly trickster, the miser, the wife who is sharper than her husband. Because audiences often know the story already, the pleasure lies in the telling, in the timing and in the performer’s individual version. Performers also write new stories, which are generally called new rakugo, to deal with modern life.
Some tales are not comic at all. A smaller group of stories are ghost tales, ordinary-life dramas or moving stories about family, which are used to show a different side of the form’s range.
Craft and training
Training usually begins with an apprenticeship. A young entrant attaches himself or herself to a master, performs chores, learns by listening, and in time is given permission to perform stories taught directly by the teacher. The master’s version is learned by ear and rehearsed. Over the years, the performer passes through ranks and eventually may take his or her own students.
A rakugoka’s main skills include:
- Voice and pacing. Changing register and speed to mark characters and build suspense.
- Eye-line. Looking left or right to separate speakers, often a subtle change of angle, with the head turning only slightly.
- Silence. Timing pauses before the punchline. The importance of the beat before a joke resembles the role of ma in other Japanese arts, a comparison that reflects interpretation rather than the performers’ own wording.
How it relates to other arts
Rakugo shares a seated narrative approach with older chanted storytelling, while differing in being spoken rather than sung. It also borrows from other genres. Kabuki and bunraku plays have been adapted into rakugo stories, and some rakugo have in turn become stage works. The shared world of the Edo townspeople links them.
Another thread is humor itself. Wordplay is central, and it can be hard to translate, so subtitled or English-language performances often include notes or adapt the jokes. Seasonal and festival references also appear, since the stories follow the yearly calendar of town life.
Attending a performance
Rakugo is typically performed in small halls where several storytellers take turns, with short breaks and sometimes other acts such as music or juggling. The mood is relaxed. Audiences laugh openly, and a first-time viewer need not know the stories. The best preparation is to listen for the tone of voice, notice the head turns, and let the performer’s gestures guide you. Even without full understanding of the language, many visitors say they can follow the shape of a scene, which says something about how precisely a seated person with a fan can tell a story.