Asakusa Diary - The Staff Blog

Rakugo is a Japanese traditional sit-down comic storytelling art.
Rakugo started about 400 years ago in the Edo period.

A storyteller wears Kimono, kneels on a cushion (called Zabuton) on a stage, and
narrates a complete story alone, so it’s a lot like a one-man play.
He or she uses different tones of voices and exaggerated gestures to play any number of characters.

Last Sunday, we had an English Rakugo show.

It went pretty well.
Three different stories were performed.

Lots of guests in the lobby to enjoy the show

Different storytellers tell funny stories by their own style

My favorite one was the last one.

I was amazed that she changed a Japanese popular horror story ''Okiku and nine plates''
as a funny ending.

Okiku is a main character who works as a maid at the home of the samurai Tessan Aoyama.
One day she accidentally breaks one of ten precious family plates.
Then Aoyama kills her and throws the corpse into an old well.
Every night afterwards, Okiku's ghost rises from the well, slowly counts out nine plates and
then breaks into heartrending sobs, over and over and over again, and finally she curses Aoyama to death.
This is how this scary story ends.
Then the funny part is coming after.

There is a rumor that Okiku is such a beautiful lady.
One day, curious guys go to check Okiku's apperance to the well.

Let's listen this part of the story.

Since Okiku is gorgeous enough, everyone wants to see her.
They sneak into the well, then the well becomes packed with so many people.
One day, one guy asks Okiku whether she is interested in having her own show.
Then she becomes famous like Hollywood star.

I love the way she acts Okiku part.

Sing a Japanese song both in Japanese & English at the end of the show.

Seems like everyone liked the show!