Oops, that's not mine
Mar. 7th, 2008 02:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mbarkerSomeone asked in mail about the rakugo piece I'm writing. Just in case anyone else is confused, I'm not writing an original rakugo piece. The blog entries are all based on the NHK show being presented right now on NHK called Chiritotechin. There are quite a few blog entries around in Japanese about the show, but I guess I'm one of the few writing in English about it.
NHK, the Japanese national TV, is doing this show about a girl who becomes a student of rakugo. It's a 26 week, six days each week, 15 minutes each day series (each episode is broadcast multiple times - three times in the morning, once at lunchtime, and once in the evening, then the whole week is rerun on Saturday). This is the site (Japanese) http://www3.nhk.or.jp/asadora/ and unfortunately, we're in week 23 (only three more weeks).
The show is about a young woman (Kiyomi) who grows up listening to a rakugo tape in her grandfather's workshop, where he makes painted chopsticks. She goes to Osaka and studies rakugo. The show is mostly about her experiences in the school, but most weeks also involve a rakugo story (there are supposed to be about 300 traditional stories).
Rakugo is comic monologues. In fact, the name (rakugo 落語) is made up of two kanji (落 and 語), which mean punchline and talk - so it is the art of punchlines.
A rakugo performer gets up on stage, sits on a zabuton (flat pillow), and tells a story. The performer sits seza - kneeling, with feet together under their buttocks. Traditionally they have a sensu (folding fan) and tenugui (handkerchief, but heavy material), which are used as props of all kinds - as paper and pen, book, chopsticks, and so on. They usually wear a kimono.
The minimal stage setting is a pillow, with the performer bringing their own fan and handkerchief. A bit more elaborate setting commonly includes a small table, a pair of wooden blocks, and a low screen, usually on a slightly raised platform. The performer sits behind the low table, and uses the blocks mostly to mark the start of the story (bang on the table). The screen is in front of the table, like a privacy screen on some desks. There is often a stand on one side with a banner announcing the story and performer. There may also be a screen or small room off to the side where the performers wait for their turn, and the musicians play (or students play - there are traditional shamisen and drum bits that introduce a rakugo show, and sometimes occur during stories). But most of the focus is on one person conjuring characters, setting, and actions through voice, expression, and minimal acting (they do not usually get up, so call it mime in place?).
These banners are flipped as the show goes on, with each performer doing one story. Stories apparently range in length - Chiritotechin talks about Jigoku Bakkai (sites of hell) being a one hour story, others have been more like ten to twenty minutes. Traditional order starts with the juniors and ends with the master.
The performance typically starts with a makura (pillow) which consists of the performer talking about the day, the news, or something else - introducing the story. Then at some point, the performer will start into the traditional story (with a bang of the blocks if they are there). Their style reflects a bit of personal variation, a large helping of their master's training, and the underlying base of the well-known story. Somewhere along the way, we get to the ochi (the fall) which is the punchline. And the performer stops and bows.
Sorry if I misled anyone - the tales of Rakugo that I am blogging about are on TV. So I'm writing blog postings about a TV show that tells the story of a woman and other students learning to perform rakugo, which of course includes them doing performances - and not infrequently, they dramatize the rakugo stories to make it even more confusing. And when you peel the layers away, down at the middle there's some good stuff about life in Japan . . . or maybe anywhere.
NHK, the Japanese national TV, is doing this show about a girl who becomes a student of rakugo. It's a 26 week, six days each week, 15 minutes each day series (each episode is broadcast multiple times - three times in the morning, once at lunchtime, and once in the evening, then the whole week is rerun on Saturday). This is the site (Japanese) http://www3.nhk.or.jp/asadora/ and unfortunately, we're in week 23 (only three more weeks).
The show is about a young woman (Kiyomi) who grows up listening to a rakugo tape in her grandfather's workshop, where he makes painted chopsticks. She goes to Osaka and studies rakugo. The show is mostly about her experiences in the school, but most weeks also involve a rakugo story (there are supposed to be about 300 traditional stories).
Rakugo is comic monologues. In fact, the name (rakugo 落語) is made up of two kanji (落 and 語), which mean punchline and talk - so it is the art of punchlines.
A rakugo performer gets up on stage, sits on a zabuton (flat pillow), and tells a story. The performer sits seza - kneeling, with feet together under their buttocks. Traditionally they have a sensu (folding fan) and tenugui (handkerchief, but heavy material), which are used as props of all kinds - as paper and pen, book, chopsticks, and so on. They usually wear a kimono.
The minimal stage setting is a pillow, with the performer bringing their own fan and handkerchief. A bit more elaborate setting commonly includes a small table, a pair of wooden blocks, and a low screen, usually on a slightly raised platform. The performer sits behind the low table, and uses the blocks mostly to mark the start of the story (bang on the table). The screen is in front of the table, like a privacy screen on some desks. There is often a stand on one side with a banner announcing the story and performer. There may also be a screen or small room off to the side where the performers wait for their turn, and the musicians play (or students play - there are traditional shamisen and drum bits that introduce a rakugo show, and sometimes occur during stories). But most of the focus is on one person conjuring characters, setting, and actions through voice, expression, and minimal acting (they do not usually get up, so call it mime in place?).
These banners are flipped as the show goes on, with each performer doing one story. Stories apparently range in length - Chiritotechin talks about Jigoku Bakkai (sites of hell) being a one hour story, others have been more like ten to twenty minutes. Traditional order starts with the juniors and ends with the master.
The performance typically starts with a makura (pillow) which consists of the performer talking about the day, the news, or something else - introducing the story. Then at some point, the performer will start into the traditional story (with a bang of the blocks if they are there). Their style reflects a bit of personal variation, a large helping of their master's training, and the underlying base of the well-known story. Somewhere along the way, we get to the ochi (the fall) which is the punchline. And the performer stops and bows.
Sorry if I misled anyone - the tales of Rakugo that I am blogging about are on TV. So I'm writing blog postings about a TV show that tells the story of a woman and other students learning to perform rakugo, which of course includes them doing performances - and not infrequently, they dramatize the rakugo stories to make it even more confusing. And when you peel the layers away, down at the middle there's some good stuff about life in Japan . . . or maybe anywhere.
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no subject
Date: 2008-03-07 07:24 pm (UTC)Which means, as my wife just realized, that it ends March 29. And err that's the weekend we're in the UK a long way from any known Japanese TV screen. I think I'm going to have to figure out how to get the vcr to record just that one episode...
no subject
Date: 2008-03-08 05:46 am (UTC)You know the new DVD recorders get something like 80 hours on their hard disks. Maybe it's a good time to get one? :-)
no subject
Date: 2008-03-22 11:41 am (UTC)