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News navigator: Why is rakugo tale 'Shibahama' so popular?
The Mainichi answers some common questions readers may have about the famous rakugo (traditional comic storytelling) tale, "Shibahama."
Question: With the end of the year drawing near, what's a good way to warm not just our bodies, but our hearts?
Answer: The rakugo story "Shibahama" is highly recommended. Like Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony," it's traditionally performed at the end of the year.
Q: What is it about?
A: One morning on the beach in Shiba no hama (situated in what would be modern-day Minato Ward, Tokyo, but no longer exists because the land has been reclaimed), a heavy-drinking fishmonger finds a wallet filled with an incredible amount of money. After going home and drinking himself to celebratory oblivion, he falls asleep. When he awakens his wife tells him that his discovery of a full wallet had been just a dream.
Shocked, the fishmonger turns over a new leaf, quits drinking and devotes himself to work. On New Year's Eve three years later, his wife confesses that she had lied to him about the wallet; it had actually existed all along. Touched by the actions his wife took to protect him from himself, he forgives her. On his wife's suggestion he goes to take a drink but thinks better of it: "I wouldn't want this to end up being a dream, too."
Q: That's a great story. Who wrote it?
A: It is said that the Edo (present-day Tokyo) rakugo legend Encho Sanyutei (1839-1900) ad-libbed it during a performance after audience members called out for him to improvise a story that incorporated the topics "drunkard," "wallet" and "Shibahama." Such stories are called "sandai hayashi" (three topic tales). The story is called "Yume no kawazaifu" (wallet in a dream) in Kamigata (Osaka) rakugo, and is also performed in kabuki.
Q: Are there certain rakugo storytellers who are particularly good at performing "Shibahama?"
A: Danshi Tatekawa's rendering of "Shibahama" delves deep into the fishmonger's wife's character, and is a big tear-jerker. Unfortunately, we won't have the opportunity to see his performance this year as he's currently recuperating from illness. Enraku Sanyutei, who passed away in October, told the story in his last performance in 2007. Taihei Hayashiya, a regular on the long-running rakugo TV show "Shoten," has also been performing it -- since even before he became a full-fledged rakugo storyteller -- and his shows on Dec. 24 and 25 in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district will mark his 13th year of telling the story. Since it's such a legendary story, a lot of younger rakugo storytellers had long avoided performing it. Recently, though, an increasing number of storytellers have been taking up the challenge.
Q: It's sounding more and more intriguing. What's the story's greatest appeal?
A: To borrow the words of Taihei: "People cannot go through life alone, and 'Shibahama' is a story about people supporting one another. Hearing the story let people reflect upon their past year." (Answers by Masakazu Yui, Cultural News Department)
Click here for the original Japanese story
(Mainichi Japan) December 13, 2009