mbarker | And another cultural bit . . .

Tachikiresenkou - a standing stick of incense? 立ち切れ線香, for those who would like the kanji.

Probably doesn't ring any bells for you, it certainly didn't have any special meaning for me, but . . . there's a rakugo story called that. And it's at the core of this week's story on NHK. And hidden behind the curtain, there's a summary of the rakugo story. I think it's sort of a romantic tale, although (fair warning) the girl dies.

The bare bones of the Rakugo story goes something like this.

Once upon a time, the son of a rich merchant was locked in his room at home because he had fallen in love with a prostitute. While he was cut off, a letter arrived every day from the prostitute, but the housekeeper hid them in a drawer instead of giving them to him. After 80 days, he got out of the room and found the letters. He read them, then rushed over to her house.

Sadly, she was dead! In tears, he picked up a stick of incense, lit it, and put it in the little pot of sand on the house shrine. He started to pray, and . . .

Her shamisen, sitting in a stand by the shrine, started to play by itself. It was the song that she had sung for him so many times. And as he watched in fascination . . .

It stopped playing, suddenly. He looked around and said, "Please, please, keep playing."

The madame of the house shook her head, sadly, and told him, "No, she cannot. The incense stick has burned out."

And that's the end of the story. At this point on the TV show, the heroine is teary-eyed, but bows. However, little brother says, "That's the end? I don't understand."

So they explain that in olde Edo, one of the ways of measuring your time with a prostitute was by lighting a stick of incense. When it burned out, your time was up! So the rich young man's time was up!

Err . . . I suppose the point of the story is that you need to enjoy things while you can, and when your time is up, it's over? Maybe?

I have the feeling I'm going to be puzzling over just what that story means for a while - but it is a genuine rakugo story, and Mitsuko recognized it from the name alone. Even though she's never been to a rakugo show.