Category: Digital Rakugo

Japanese Street Wisdom Podcast Episode 5 [Listen to Your Inner Voice 自分の心の声でやんなさいよ。]

On By Kanariya EishiIn Digital Rakugo, Japanese Culture, Japanese History, Japanese Language, PodcastLeave a comment

In this episode of the Japanese Street Wisdom Podcast, I will talk about a quote by Yanagiya Kosanji X (十代目 柳家小三治) who just passed away last month on 7 October 2021. He was one of the three rakugo performers to have ever been awarded the status of the Living National Treasure of Japan (人間国宝).

I was inspired to talk about the wisdom of this legendary performer after listening to an interview between him and Hayashiya Shozo IX (九代目 林家正蔵). As my diction of the Japanese quote was horrible (I’ve been away from Japan too long!), here is the actual quote:

上手くなろうと思わないことですよ。もっと下手でいいの。普通の声でやんなさい。自分の心の声でやんなさいよ。Don’t try to improve. It’s OK to be ordinary. Use your own voice. Listen to your inner voice, and let it out.

As you can see, this episode was recorded 11 days after his departure, and I found it interesting to listen to the recording now as my English translation reflected my interpretation of his message back then.

If I’m to translate it again today, I would probably say “listen to your inner voice, and let your heart speak”. I guess I understand what he meant better now.

This episode has some extra rambling and turned out like Japanese Theatre 101, but hey it’s me, my brain is pretty chaotic inside!

Thank you again, Curtis, for reminding and encouraging me to record another episode!

I am always looking for topics for the podcast, so please do comment below if you have anything you want me to talk about.

Finally, if you know where the high-fiving idea came from, please let me know also!

You can also listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

See you in the next episode!

Short Film “Half-Life”

On By Kanariya EishiIn Digital Rakugo, Educational, Japanese History, Life, Random, UpdatesLeave a comment

This year I’ve had an honour of working closely with a multi-talented artist, Fiona Amundsen.

About two months ago, our short film, which incorporates rakugo, the Aikido concept of “zanshin” (残心), and remembrance of WWII, was released on Asia New Zealand Foundation’s digital platforms.

This work was a part of “IN TOUCH arts commissions” by the foundation, and I feel very privileged to be a part of this project.

You can still view this film/ artwork, but before you watch it, I’d like you to know a few things:

  1. My family’s experience in Nagasaki is only a personalised way of remembering our mistakes as humanity as a whole. I am deeply ashamed of what my Japanese ancestors did to many Asian nations and others, and this is no way our attempt to victimise Japanese.
  2. It is our way of finding the universal message of peace in the ordinary, everyday things.
  3. Part 1 is very dark and many may give up watching the rest, but Part 2 has some humour in it based on my own experience with my grandfather. But Part 2 only makes sense if you watch Part 1…

I decided to write this first because someone who probably hadn’t watched the work nor read the interview commented as below on the foundation’s SNS:

“Great idea! Let’s remember Nanking, Rangoon, Singapore, Jakaraka [sic], Port Moresby, and many many others too shall we?”

This work was created to do exactly that!

Here is the link to our work. You can also find our interviews on the page. Some of the super intellectual comments are by Fiona 😁

You can find other commissioned work here.

May peace prevail upon us all!

Kia tau te rangimārie ki a tatou katoa!

我々と共に平和がありますように。

Eishi’s Rakugo Commentary No.4 [A New Year Visit to the Shrine 初天神]

On By Kanariya EishiIn Digital Rakugo, Rakugo CommentaryLeave a comment
Traditional Japanese Kites

Hatsutenjin (初天神) or “A New Year Visit to the Shrine”* or even more precisely “A New Year Visit to Tenjin Shrine” is one of the most widely performed rakugo stories in Japan.

As the title suggests, it is a story about a New Year visit to a shrine where Tenjin (天神) is enshrined, and it is considered an auspicious story and often performed in January.

Tenjin is the god of learning, but he was an actual historical figure called Sugawara no Michizane (菅原道真 845-903 AD) before enshrined.

Michizane was a scholar, politician, and poet of the Heian period (平安時代 794-1185). He was enshrined as a god because of his immense contribution to the academia.

Tenjin Shrine or Tenmangu is where Michizane is enshrined, and shrines all over Japan enshrine him as their patron god. Among them, Dazaifu Tenmangu, Osaka Tenmangu, Kitano Tenmangu, and Kameido Tenjin Shrine are particularly famous.

Sugawara no Michizane (菅原 道真 845-903 AD)

Hastutenjin was originally a Kamigata Rakugo** created by Shofukutei Shochiku (松富久亭松竹 DOB/ DOD unknown), the founding father of the Shofukutei (笑福亭) clan. It was exported to Tokyo by Sanyutei Enba III (三代目三遊亭圓馬 1882-1945).

Having said that…

this story is almost nothing to do with Tenjin Shrine itself, but it’s a simple lighthearted story about a relationship between a father and his son.

You can watch the story at the bottom of this post, but here is what dango looks like.

Dango

Hope you will enjoy the story!!!

* You might have noticed that my YouTube thumbnail says “The First Visit to Tenjin Shrine”, but it is mistranslated. The official translation by my master Kanariya Eiraku is “A New Year Visit to the Shrine”, but I also presented a more literal translation “A New Year Visit to Tenjin Shrine” for educational purposes.

** Rakugo from the Kansai region especially from Osaka and Kyoto

Photos Credit

Japanese Kites: Momotarou2012, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Reference

落語手帖　矢野誠一

Eishi’s Rakugo Commentary No.3 [Nopperabo のっぺらぼう]

On By Kanariya EishiIn Digital Rakugo, Educational, Japanese Culture, Japanese History, Rakugo Commentary, TriviaLeave a comment

[You can watch this rakugo story at the bottom of this post. Please let me know what you think of it!!!]

In my personal opinion, this is one of the uniquest rakugo stories of all.

This is not because it is a pure ghost story with very little laughter but mainly because it was inspired by a story written by Lafcadio Hearn or better known in Japan as Koizumi Yakumo (小泉 八雲 1850-1904).

The story of Nopperabo had already existed as folktales before his writing, but it was him who made it famous.

In 1850, Patrick Lafcadio Hearn was born in Greece to a Greek mother and an Irish father. Due to family complications, he moved to Dublin and then to the United States where he worked as a newspaper reporter.

As a correspondent, he was sent to French West Indies for 2 years, and then finally ended up in Japan where he spent the rest of his life.

He got married with a Japanese woman and became a Japanese citizen himself.

He is the reason why I am so attached to this story.

Someone from overseas bothered enough to learn, live, and love the Japanese way, and he shared his learning with the west and ended his life as a Japanese citizen.

I feel so closely to this man perhaps because I am in a little similar situation myself as someone who has spent more than half of his life overseas and married to a non-Japanese woman.

Whenever I perform this story, I think of him, and I feel immensely honoured to carry on with his story.

Going back to the story itself, it had already existed as I mentioned earlier.

There is a mention about Nopperabo in Sorori Monogatari (曽呂利物語 そろりものがたり) in 1663.

The fascinating thing about this particular Nopperabo is that he was over 2m tall!!!

In general, people believed that animals such as foxes, racoon dogs, or mujina (Japanese badgers) turned into Nopperabo and tricked humans.

In Koizumi’s version, the culprit was a mujina.

You can read the original story here on The Project Gutenberg website. As you can see, the term “Nopperabo” is somehow not used in his story.

Now you can watch Nopperabo below and see how the original evolved into a rakugo story.

References

のっぺらぼう

Lafcadio Hearn

Eishi’s Rakugo Commentary No.2 [Jugemu 寿限無]

On By Kanariya EishiIn Digital Rakugo, Japanese Culture, Japanese History, Rakugo Commentary, Trivia3 Comments

[The recording of this story is at the bottom of this post.]

Jugemu (寿限無) probably is one of the best-known rakugo stories in Japan along with Time Noodles (時そば) and Scary Manju (まんじゅうこわい).

It is also one of my favourite stories to perform for people who are new to rakugo.

This tale is about this Japanese boy who had an unnecessarily long name, which would cause all sorts of problems. I am very glad that my name is NOT…

Jugemu jugemu
Gokouno surikire
Kaijari suigyono
Suigyoumatsu unraimatsu furaimatsu
Kuneru tokoroni sumutokoro
Yaburakoujino burakouji
Paipo paipo paipono shuringan
Shuringan no gurindai
Gurindai no ponpokopi no ponpokona no
Chokyumei no chosuke

(*There are some different variations.)

The exact origin of this story is unclear as its basic structure appears in many books and folktales.

The prototype of this story is found in Shasekishu (沙石集) or “Sand and Pebbles”, which was a collection of Buddhist parables compiled by a monk called Muju (無住) in 1283.

It was widespread, and the same concept can be found in Kyogen and a traditional lullaby from Shinano Azumigouri Yamato Village (信濃安曇郡倭村).

One of the scary variations I have heard of before is that Jugemu drowns because his name was a bit too long…

Just like the original Grimms’ Fairy Tales, some stories became un-PC, so they have been rewritten over time as rakugo is not only a traditional art but a popular art at the same time.

(My Jugemu might be more appropriate to be called “New Zealand Jugemu”! 😁)

References

落語手帖　矢野誠一

沙石集

Eishi’s Secret Film Project Revealed!

On By Kanariya EishiIn Digital Rakugo, Goals, Life, Updates4 Comments

How are you all doing? Eishi here AGAIN!

Thanks to my voice issues, I’ve been finding my creative outlet in writing this week. Hope you are not sick of reading my version of War and Peace.

The title today is a…

click bait…

but I am telling you more about the film project that I mentioned in another post.

It is an Asia New Zealand Foundation funded film project, and it will be directed by the dangerously talented film director/ academic extraordinaire, Fiona Amundsen.

This will probably become one of the most important works in my life as a rakugo performer and a human being.

It is all Fiona’s concept, and I just happen to be someone with the knowledge and skills that she needs to complete her project.

As a film director, an aikido practitioner, and a good human being who understands the utter stupidity of war, she came up with a concept to combine the remembrance/ reminder of the mistakes humans committed in WWII, the aikido concept of Zanshin, and the Japanese traditional storytelling of rakugo.

We connected closely especially because of our stance on war, and we have decided to create something that would hopefully show better options for fellow humans.

As some of you may know, I lost my great grandfather and other family members in Nagasaki, and my grandpa and great uncle were both hibakusha.

So I have a very strong reason to get involved in a project like this.

We have just started working together yesterday, so I thought this is a good time to let you know.

For those who want to know more about this project, please read Fiona’s interview. It was written for Tokyo Biennale, but we are trying to create the New Zealand version of this film/ installation.