Event on traditional Japanese culture: Rakugo storytelling

14 Jul 2026

With the support of Kasumi Kaikan, a general incorporated association, the International Centre provides international students with opportunities to appreciate traditional Japanese culture.

On June 20, the Centre held an English rakugo program for students. Seven international and 16 Japanese students participated in the event.

Rakugo is an art of traditional Japanese entertainment of storytelling rooted in merchant-class culture in the Edo period back in the late 17th century. A solo performer uses gestures and actions while telling a funny, emotional or ghost story, making the audience laugh with a punch line called "ochi" or "sage" at the end.

For this event, we invited two performers from the English Rakugo Association. They performed rakugo pieces in plain, easy-to-understand English.

Students from Gakushuin's Rakugo Club helped running the program, making prior preparations and providing operational support on the day of the event. In addition, they performed a live rendition of the opening music (ohayashi) at the start of the event, filling the room with the authentic atmosphere of a traditional rakugo hall and setting the mood for the program.

First, the performers provided basic information about rakugo and tips on how to enjoy it.

They explained the rule of kami-shimo, left and right. It is assumed that, from the audience's viewpoint, a senior character sits on the right side of the stage (kamite) while a junior on the left side (shimote). When a rakugo performer, who depicts different characters on a single stage, faces to the right, he is talking to his senior, and when the performer faces to the left, he is talking to his junior. The participants seemed to be impressed by this rule.

Next, classical rakugo pieces, "Tenshiki" and "Kohome (Complementing a Child)," were performed. With the performers' impassioned performances and expressive facial and body signals, the room was filled with the audience's big laughs many times.

In simple, easy-to-understand English, the performers expressed the "punch lines" unique to rakugo so skillfully that both international and Japanese students thoroughly understood and enjoyed the stories.

A lively tamasudare bamboo mat show was also performed. In the tamasudare performance, a performer manipulates a unique screen made of loosely knotted bamboo sticks to create various shapes while chanting songs. The audience gave applause to the performers who masterly handled the screen in ever-changing shapes.

The latter half of the program was a workshop of telling a funny little tale. Three international students volunteered to go up on stage for storytelling.

At first, they looked nervous in front of a large audience, but when they tried their best to tell stories in English with gestures they had just learned, the spectators laughed a lot, giving them warm applause.

After the event, we received comments from the participating students. "I laughed a lot as the performance in English was very easy to understand for international students." "I had watched rakugo on Internet, but the live rakugo performance was totally different. It was so powerful and impressive." "I have become interested in rakugo. Thanks to the storytelling workshop and bamboo mat performance, I now have a broader perspective of rakugo."

This event provided the students with a valuable opportunity to have firsthand knowledge of the distinctive characters and depth of traditional Japanese culture through the art of telling funny stories across the language barrier.

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