Rakugo in English - Kanariya Eiraku is spreading English Rakugo to the Japanese community and around the world. He was recently invited to perform an English Rakugo performance at the St. Louis Japan Festival in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. How is Rakugo known overseas, including in the US? We asked him how Japanese humor is perceived, and about other types of storytelling by Japanese people besides Rakugo.
Pride in Japanese culture
Kawai: How do you think Japanese people in America and Japanese-Americans view rakugo? Do they view it as a traditional culture and value it highly?
Eiraku: As staff members of the Japan Festival, both Japanese and Japanese-Americans were actively involved, and I felt that they were very proud of Japanese culture, not just rakugo. Rakugo is still not very well known within Japanese culture, so it is a field with a bright future.
Kawai: Was rakugo itself a form of entertainment popular among immigrants and communities in the United States and South America before the war? Are there any records that rakugo was performed as a leisure activity in Japanese-American internment camps during the war?
Eiraku: In 1961, the New Japan Newspaper Company published a book of over 1,400 pages titled "A Centennial History of Japanese Americans in the United States," which devotes a number of pages to the performing arts from before the war to after the war, but unfortunately there is no mention of rakugo or storytelling. Kabuki, new drama, gidayu, Nihonbu, Nagauta, koto, shakuhachi, and Chikuzen biwa have been performed on the West Coast since the end of the 19th century, but there is nothing about rakugo. I have never seen any mention of rakugo performances being held in the internment camps.
Of the three Japanese performing arts, rakugo, kodan, and rokyoku, it is rokyoku that Japanese Americans are most interested in. Journalist Ito Kazuo introduces a rokyoku performer from Saga Prefecture named Momonakaken Namiemon in "Hokubei Hyakunen Sakura." Nicknamed "Nami-san," he was active in Hawaii and Los Angeles in the early 20th century. He was also popular as a talk narrator who made use of rokyoku. If I had a time machine, I would like to see Nami-san's talk.
Another notable figure is Hideo Kikuchi, a second-generation Kibei man from Los Angeles. Born in 1923, Kikuchi is known for his contributions to the preservation and development of Japanese culture through his ventures into various performing arts, including stand-up comics, rokyoku, dodoitsu, and ventriloquism, after the war. However, rakugo is not included in his list.
Adapted to foreign cultures
Kawai: When did English Rakugo first become known to foreigners? Are there more and more people who want to learn Rakugo in English? What kind of activities do you plan to do to increase awareness of Rakugo overseas?
Eiraku: It is said to have started in 1983 by Katsura Shijaku, a popular Kamigata rakugo performer, who performed a story called "The Summer Doctor" in Pennsylvania in 1984. From then until 1996, he held English Rakugo performances not only in the US mainland, but also in Hawaii and Canada. His English version of "The Zoo," which can be found on YouTube, is often performed in Kamigata under the title "The White Lion," and many later Rakugo performers have used this as a reference for performing their own English versions of the story.
His 1988 book "Shijaku's Action English Rakugo" (Nonbook) is an interesting masterpiece, even from the perspective of comparative cultural studies. This book contains the script for a story he wrote in English called "Robot Shizuka-chan," which was included in a high school English textbook (Daiichi Gakushusha) in 1988. There is no doubt that Katsura Shijaku contributed greatly to the spread of English Rakugo in the 1980s. After his death in 1999, several Rakugo performers followed in his footsteps and began performing Rakugo in English, and I am one of those who was strongly influenced by him and began performing Rakugo in English.
Sugita Bin, who is famous for his business English, is also very interested in English humor and rakugo, and has published the English script of "The Careless Messenger" in "The Connection of Japanese and Western Short Stories and Comedy" (Asahi Evening News Co., Ltd., 1981). The author himself said that he liked this book.
It seems that Nakayama Yukio, an interpreter-guide, also started doing English Rakugo at an early age. Nakayama published two books on English Rakugo from IBC Publishing and one from Kobunsha in the 2000s, but since he has passed away, it is impossible to confirm when he started. Many interpreter-guides are interested in English Rakugo. Apparently, the audience gets excited when he includes shortened versions of Rakugo or short English stories as an extract from the guidebook. Several of the students in my English Rakugo class are also working as interpreter-guides.
I think the number of people learning English Rakugo is increasing. Junior high school English textbooks also include "Ichi-ji," "Zoobutsu," "Toki Soba," and "Donuts Kowai" (a parody of "Manju Kowai"), which have inspired some junior high school students and teachers. Some teachers have started attending my English Rakugo classes because they believe that they must first learn before they can teach children. One of my students is a high school student, who told me that when he studied abroad in New Zealand for a year, he performed "Jugemu" in English there.
As for overseas expansion, I currently have students in the US, the UK and New Zealand. The best way would be for them to set up bases there and for me to join them and hold English rakugo events together, which I think would increase awareness more quickly than if only Japanese people went overseas. If I left it to them alone, there is a risk that rakugo would go in a different direction, so I think it's best to work together.
Kawai: Rakugo is a form of storytelling based on the lives of ordinary people, and its humor often includes self-deprecating and self-deprecating elements. Depending on how you look at it, you could say it's making fun of Japanese people themselves. In this regard, do you think Japanese-Americans and other Japanese-Japanese foreigners perceive this differently from foreigners?
Eiraku: The humor in rakugo is for the common people, with children making fun of adults to make them laugh. Women making fun of men to make them laugh. In the Edo period, where men were superior to women, I think that it is precisely because this is a world where that is reversed that rakugo is entertaining and loved by the common people. So I don't feel that there is any self-deprecating quality in the humor in rakugo, but it seems that some stories can be perceived as mean by foreigners. For example, stories like "Manju Scary" and "Tsubo San" are stories about cleverly deceiving someone, so unless the person being deceived is set up as someone you normally find unpleasant, they may be perceived as mean stories.
Yotarou is the epitome of stupidity, and is teased by Yagoro and Kumagoro, but even though he is teased, he is loved by everyone, firmly accepted and integrated into the community. I try to portray this side of him. There is a story called "Dog's Eyes." A dog's eye is gouged out to fix a human's eye, and some foreigners may think that this is animal cruelty. However, there are also foreigners who enjoy this story, and there are various reactions.
Discovering humor in English
Kawai: You have performed English Rakugo in many countries. What were your performances like in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Laos, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and other countries other than the US? Please tell us about a performance that left an impression on you. Also, do you feel that there are differences in the humor and culture of laughter depending on the country? Please give us some concrete examples.
Eiraku: It's often said that British people like sarcastic humor, and when I performed in Britain, I felt that the reaction was no different to that of Americans. They laughed at the same parts. The funny parts are the same when performed in Japanese. I think the humor in rakugo is universal. "Jugemu" is actually better received in English than in Japanese. "Kohome," which has a lot of laughs, is said to be a masterpiece, but it's also well-received in English.
Even in English, its status as a masterpiece remains unshakable. By performing rakugo in English, you can truly appreciate how well-crafted the story is. In that sense, I believe that by performing rakugo in English, you can understand the fun and depth of rakugo on a deeper level. This is something that those who only perform it in Japanese cannot understand.
For example, when we performed "Jugemu" in the UK, we got laughs in parts that wouldn't be funny in Japanese. After Jugemu's mother comforts the baby Jugemu, the following narration is inserted:
"When this child grows up, he will go to school."
The English translation is simple: "He grew up and started to go to school." But after I said this sentence in English, everyone laughed. I was performing it on stage and was a little stunned, thinking, "What?! What's so funny about this sentence?" When I asked the audience later, they said it sounded like the child grew up as the mother called out his name: "Jugemu Jugemu Goko no Surikire Umizarisuigyogyo no Mizuyukimatsu Unraimatsu Furaimatsu." This is a reaction I would never have imagined if I had only been doing Japanese, and this is one of the joys of doing English Rakugo.
In English Rakugo performances, we often include workshops. First, we explain the Rakugo upper and lower parts (kamishimo), and how to use the folding fans and hand towels. After that, we prepare some short stories and divide the audience into groups to practice, and those who wish can sit on the stage and perform. This is especially popular in school performances. We have also held these events in New Zealand and Laos, and from the students' perspective, it is exciting to see their friends up on stage performing.
In Denmark, the workshop participants were theater people, so we held a full-scale workshop. After an explanation of rakugo, the participants talked about their own works, Danish humorous stories and folk tales in the form of rakugo, which I found very interesting. At this point, it was more like cultural exchange than a performance. I think that these workshops will make English rakugo more familiar to the people of that country and increase the repertoire of English rakugo.
Joining the Japanese community
Kawai: What is Nisei Week in America? Is it different from other Japanese festivals?
Eiraku: Nisei Week is a Japanese-American festival that began in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles in 1934. This year marks its 90th anniversary, but due to gaps during the war and the COVID-19 pandemic, this year marks its 82nd anniversary. In 1934, it was not long after the Great Depression, so the festival was held to mark economic recovery and also as a bridge between the first and second generation. Even today, the name remains Nisei Week, but it is seen as "an opportunity for everyone to celebrate traditional Japanese culture, regardless of cultural affiliation."
The year I attended was the 75th anniversary in 2015. Events include a beauty contest called Nisei Queen, the Tanabata Festival, and Aomori's Nebuta floats. Actress Tamlyn Tomita was chosen as Queen in 1984 while she was a university student. At the end of the festival, a parade is held with famous Japanese people riding in convertibles. In the past, actors Sesshu Hayakawa and George Takei have served as the parade's guests of honor (grand marshals). This gives it a more glamorous impression than other Japanese festivals.
In the summer of 2015, I was able to participate in Nisei Week with the help of a local Japanese person, Tuck Minei. It was a great pleasure and honor for me to feel like I had become a part of the Japanese community. I held a rakugo performance at the Miyako Hotel in Little Tokyo. This is the hotel where Shohei Otani's heroic figure is currently painted on the exterior wall. The venue was full, and the audience laughed a lot. After the festival, I received a certificate of commendation, which became a nice memento. I met Sunny Seki, a picture book writer who I met at this festival, and have since met him several times at the Arizona Japanese Festival. The Nisei Week festival is held every August, and I hope to participate again someday.
Kawai: I heard that in St. Louis you had an exchange with a Japanese person who is doing storytelling in America. What kind of entertainment is storytelling? What do you tell and how? Is it a type of comedy?
Eiraku: At the Japan Festival, I met Yasu Ishida, a storyteller from Japan. He is based in Ohio and works mainly in the Midwest as a professional storyteller and magician. He appears at Japan Festivals around the country and gives performances at schools.
This time, he said that he would perform at another Japanese festival soon after the St. Louis Japan Festival. There are only four storytellers from Japan in the United States, including him, and he has repeatedly invited me to move my base to the United States. It's not going to be an immediate thing, though.
When you look at the performances of Yasu Ishida and his master Kuniko Yamamoto, you can see that they are not only storytelling using rakugo and folk tales, but also have a strong visual element using magic, kendama, tamasudare, origami cranes, masks, musical instruments, etc., making it easy for children to understand. Yasu also performs the Wazuma "Butterfly Dance." Rather than comedy, the performance has a strong nuance of introducing Japanese culture.
One of Yasu's jokes is that the reason why Japanese people are bad at English is not because of Japanese people, but because of the textbooks used in Japan. The reason is that they are bad because they are taught sentences that they will never use in their lives, such as "This is a pen." This is a standard joke that Japanese people use to get laughs abroad. It is a bit self-deprecating, though.
There are an increasing number of Japanese people doing stand-up comedy in the US and the UK, and this type of comedy is more directly linked to laughter than storytelling. From the 1980s to the 1990s, a Japanese female comedian named Tamayo Otsuki was active in the US. When I was in the US in 1984, Tamayo was the opening act at a comedy house in Los Angeles.
"When you think of Japanese people, you probably imagine them as serious people wearing glasses and navy blue suits, but that's not the case. Japanese and Americans are the same. Japanese men are perverts too," he said. After that, he became popular and began performing in places like Las Vegas.
"Americans today are spoiled. Your parents probably told you when you were a kid that you had to walk 10 miles to school. I grew up hearing from my parents that when I was a kid, the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
Although the reaction of Americans is mixed, I think it's amazing that Tamayo can casually say such things in stand-up comedy. Only Tamayo could bring up the topic of the atomic bomb on Sudantap. In the 1990s, she published several books in Japan, including "Comedy + LOVE TAMAYO's Way of Overcoming Discrimination" (Kaiho Publishing), and they clearly show her incredible life, in which she did whatever it took to survive in America. Her comedy was not well received in Japan, where there are many taboos on speech, but I liked it.
Kawai: What prompted your previous performances in America, including the Japan Festival in St. Louis? Did Eiraku-san approach you or invite you?
Eiraku: There are various cases, such as approaching them or being invited. The first Nisei Week Festival was made possible by one of my students who had connections in Los Angeles and asked local Japanese people to help. The activity was featured in local media such as the Rafu Shimpo, and people who saw it asked us to do it in Arizona, so the following year we were able to participate in the Arizona Festival. It wouldn't be possible without someone locally to help us. The same goes for regional performances in Japan.
To be continued...
© 2024 Ryusuke Kawai
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