I went to see live “rakugo” for the first time ever a few weeks ago. You can see it sometimes on TV and there are numerous DVDs available to experience masters of the art form but I have never really taken any interest in seeing something until my friend who was involved in organizing this rakugo event and our mutual friend suggested that I’d try it out.
So I went and it was fun! The theme of the evening was “cats” and many in the audience were cat lovers but apparently there are not many stories that involve cats in a favorable way in rakugo.
The venue in Shibuya for the evening.
“The good cat stories as told in rakugo”
The “rakugoka” of the evening was Tatekawa Shinoharu. Beside him is an illustrator and a “cat stalker” Harumin Asao.
So the interesting thing about the storyteller, Tatekawa Shinoharu which is a given rakugo name, was that he is a Yale graduate (so I would think his command of English should be quite good if not fluent), worked for the prestigious trading company Mitsui Bussan but decided that rakugo was his calling and left his well-paid job.
Harumin Asao, the lady you see with the furry hat is an illustrator who is known for her book of essays about “stalking” cats which was made into a film.
The two, inbetween the rakugo performances, chatted about cats…
Afterwards my friends and I went out for a little bite.
A blog by Ayako Mathies 