In Rakugo, there are some stock characters that show up over and over in multiple stories.  One of such Rakugo-verse dwellers is Hachigoro (八五郎).  His nicknames are usually: “Hachi”, “Hats-an”* (八っつぁん), or “Garappachi”* (ガラッ八).

Hachi is a happy-go-lucky clown type.  He is usually quite likeable but an infamous scatterbrain.  He is a bigmouth and has a tendency to act on half-baked knowledge.

Wherever he goes, chaos ensues.

In one story, he ends up becoming a monk.  In another, he gets promoted to be a samurai warrior.  He is possibly the best known character in Rakugo along with Kumagoro (熊五郎) and Inkyo (隠居） (whom I will introduce in other articles!).

This man mainly appears in Edo Rakugo (Tokyo Rakugo) but barely gets a cameo appearance in Kamigata Rakugo (Osaka Rakugo).

* These spellings are for pronunciation purposes only.