Hi all, Eishi here! How’s your day going?
Make sure to do at least one thing that excites you today!
As some of you may know, I was just about to partner up with the Asia New Zealand Foundation and start visiting Auckland high schools to deliver rakugo workshops before “Rona” hit New Zealand.
Just as many of my friends in the performing arts industry, I lost literally ALL the opportunities due to the situation the world is facing right now.
Including this partnership.
So I thought.
But, I was completely wrong!!!
A few days ago, I received an e-mail from them, asking me if I would be interested in delivering online workshops for housebound high school students!!!
Of course, I said yes!!!
Thank you so much, Asian New Zealand Foundation!!! You are AMAZING!!!
Here’s the proof 🙂
But there was an issue, though. I didn’t have a filming space…
I would’ve gone to a studio or a creative space somewhere to film learning resources, but I don’t have that luxury at the moment. I don’t have much privacy, either, as my kids are roaming all over the place… literally.
So I decided to make a part of the master bedroom into my semi-permanent recording space and named it the “Rakugo Rebel Studio”!!!
To block noises from the little cacophony artists, the “studio” will be barricaded with bed mattresses and futon as sound barriers during recordings.
We have decided to keep it until the new world begins i.e. Rona leaves us alone (my apology if your name happen to be Rona).
I will use this space to film the learning resources and possibly do live streaming sessions. Maybe I will film some YouTube videos, too!
Let’s keep on doing what we can for a better world!!!
English Rakugo NZ 
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Congratulations on your “studio” and especially on the opportunity that has been opened for you.
I’m confident you’ll make the best of it.
I was wondering… is there a reason why in rakugo, the zabuton is almost always purple and the kōza is covered with a red cloth ?
By the way, in my french-speaking part of my country, Québec, Canada, “Rona” is a line of hardware store (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/RONA). That’s just funny, nobody here had made the connection yet!
Regards,
Martin Savard
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Thank you for your lovely comment, Martin!!! Great to hear from you 🙂 Regarding the colour of the zabuton, yes, purple is probably the most common colour, but there isn’t a set rule about the colour. The interesting protocol is that the seams of the zabuton never face the audience so that the relationship between the performer and the audience will never “break up”. Koza is always red as red is the most auspicious colour in Japan 🙂 Haha, I didn’t know about Rona the hardware store!!! Thank you for sharing that with me!!! Stay safe and positive!!!
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