Month: December 2019

Pop Goes 2019! Recap of This Year

On By Kanariya EishiIn Updates4 Comments

Have I told you I’m the last minute person?

It seems like Year 2019 is almost over, and it is already the New Year’s Eve here in New Zealand.

Tomorrow is 2020.

Unnecessarily a futuristic sounding year.

Perhaps, a movie called something like “2020: A Space Odyssey” would really take off.

I just wanted to thank you very much for all your warm support this year!!!

Rakugo is literally IMPOSSIBLE (bold, capital, italic, and underlined) without the audience, so I really owe you everything!!! Doumo arigatou gozaimasu!!!

Here’s my belated annual report of what I have achieved this already retro sounding Year 2019:

  • I performed rakugo at a conference for Kiwis who are going to the 2020 Olympics.
  • I performed rakugo at the Consul General’s residence for the Auckland Consular Corps, a group of consul generals from various countries. The Consulate General of Japan Website has a few photos from the performance.
  • I have launched the rakugo club, and we now have 5 active members. Also, we have been offered to use Albert Park Keepers Cottage as our base.
  • I got involved in developing a play called “The Wall” with Babel Theatre and delivered a rakugo master class for them.
  • I had my animation voiceover debut on “Tales of Nai Nai“!!!
  • I found a producer who is willing to help me promote my rakugo in New Zealand and beyond from 2020!!!
  • And all the fantastic shows at The Spreading Tree, high schools, retirement homes, libraries, and others.

All these were possibly thanks to your loving support!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I would like to give special thanks to (in the alphabetical order):

Asia New Zealand Foundation, Auckland Council (Creative Communities Scheme), Auckland Libraries, Auckland Museum, Auckland Playback Theatre, Babel Theatre, Baruk Jacob, Becky Kuek, the Consulate General of Japan, Creative New Zealand, Fumio Togashi, Sifu Gary Young, Ian Kennedy, Janman family, Julia& Tessa Clement, Kanariya Eiraku Shisho, Kanariya Jincho, Kirsty Sharp, Kristine Ohkubo, Kumiko Imai, Miki, Musashi Restaurant, Naoe Hashimoto, New Zealand Japan Society, Square & Sums, The Spreading Tree, and my loving whānau!!!

Happy New Year, everybody!!!

Introducing Rakugo Characters No.3 [Inkyo 隠居]

On By Kanariya EishiIn EducationalLeave a comment

One of the most common characters in rakugo is Inkyo (隠居 いんきょ). He appears in a countless number of stories, and many rakugo start by a visitor knocking on the door of Inkyo’s house.

“Inkyo” literally means “to retire”, but it usually means a retired old man when it is used as a title.

Inkyo is the elder, the go-to person in the community. Everybody respects this gentle and wise leader. He is the source of wisdom.

However, he can also be vain and superficial. He sometimes has hard time accepting his ignorance. He can be misleading to cover up his lack of knowledge though it is often not on purpose.

As I wrote in the article called The Definition of Rakugo?, almost all characters in rakugo have flaws, and Inkyo is not an exception. Their flaws make them real and immensely likeable and approachable. They are like us, doing their best to live and enjoy this thing called life.

If you have missed the first two characters, here are the links:

Character No.1: Hachigoro

Character No.2: Kumagoro

Introducing the First Rakugo Family From New Zealand!!!

On By Kanariya EishiIn UpdatesLeave a comment

It has been almost exactly two months since I organised the first English rakugo club meeting.

We now have five core members along with some one-off participants here and there, and we have even been offered a free venue! It has been growing much faster than I had expected before taking that dreadful first step.

We decided it was about time to choose our rakugo family name (teigou/ yagou) to nurture a sense of belonging.

We really wanted something very New Zealand, a name that would sound Japanese yet reflect the essence of this country.

Luckily, the Japanese language shares the identical vowels and most consonants with Māori, so we decided to find a Māori word to inspire us.

The most obvious word was Aotearoa, the Māori name of New Zealand, which means “the land of the long white cloud”. We considered “Aotearoya” to make it sound more like a rakugo family name, but it was a bit mouthful and didn’t quite flow.

Then, we decided to explore the origin of the name “Aotearoa”.

It is said that when the first Māori explorer Kupe discovered New Zealand, his wife said,

“He ao, he ao! He aotea! He aotearoa!”

“A cloud, a cloud! A white cloud! A long white cloud!”

“Aotea” is a beautiful word!

I checked the Māori dictionary and found that it also meant a kind of greenstone. One of their ancestral canoes (waka) was also called “Aotea”.

It was a perfect word for our family name.

However, as it lacks respect to use such a precious word without their permission, we decided to get an inspiration from the word but turn it into a different word.

So…

our name was finally chosen.

Announcing our rakugo family name…

Here are the names of our performers who have already chosen their names:

碧て家令宝（あおてや　れいほう）

Aoteya Reihou

碧て家ぷけ子（あおてや　ぷけこ）

Aoteya Pukeko

碧て家一馬（あおてや　かずま）

Aoteya Kazuma

and me

鹿鳴家英志（かなりや　えいし）

Kanariya Eishi

This is just the beginning! We will rock Auckland, New Zealand, and beyond!!!