Japanese with anime voice: episode68
Hello, I’m Sachi.
5 June, today is 落語 (Rakugo) Day or 寄席 (Yose) Day. 落語 (Rakugo) is a traditional Japanese art of storytelling. The speaker sits alone on the stage, dressed in a kimono, and tells a story in a funny way. He or she does not just tell the story, but plays a number of characters while telling the story. The speaker is called a 落語家 (Rakugoka), and most 落語家 (Rakugoka) are basically men, but if, for example, a woman appears in the story, the 落語家 (Rakugoka) will also play the role of a woman. The same applies to female 落語家 (Rakugoka), who play the male roles themselves. They speak as the opposite sex in both voice and gestures. The only props they have are a 扇子 (sensu: fan) and a 手ぬぐい (tenugui: hand towel), so they use these two to express the characters. 寄席 (Yose) refers to the place where 落語 (Rakugo) is performed.
And Rakugo is written 落ちる (ochiru), 語る (kataru), and is called 落語 (Rakugo). So there is always オチ (ochi) in 落語 (Rakugo). オチ (ochi) generally refers to the ending of a story, but in the case of 落語 (Rakugo), it refers to an unexpected ending or an ending that makes people laugh. For example, a woman you meet by chance is a very eccentric person, and you explain about her in an amusing way and assure people that she is not your type, but in fact she is now a かみさん (kamisan). かみさん (Kamisan) is a wife, you know. It is 落語 (Rakugo) that ends with such interesting endings.
This you see, the reason why 5 June was established as 落語 (Rakugo) Day is interesting. The reason is that if you repeat the 6 and 5 of 5 June as ろくご (rokugo) over and over again, it sounds like 落語 (Rakugo), doesn’t it? Who do you think thought of this? Only a 落語家 (Rakugoka) could think of such a thing. That’s what I’m talking about. This play on words is full of puns. ろくご (rokugo), ろくご (rokugo), ろくご (rokugo)… What do you think? Did it sound like 落語 (Rakugo)? Surprisingly, it is hard to say continuously, ろくご (rokugo).
In the past, 落語 (Rakugo) was often shown on television, but at the time I assumed it was boring without even listening to it carefully. For some reason, as I grew older, I wanted to see what it was like at least once. When I was a child, I was really uninterested in my country’s culture. I realized that this was not a good thing. Then a few years ago I went to a 寄席 (Yose) for the first time, and it was much more interesting than I had imagined! Of course the 落語 (Rakugo) was interesting, but there were also magic tricks and 漫才 (manzai) in the middle. I like magic tricks, but I’ve never thought 漫才 (manzai) was very interesting. I’m the type of person who doesn’t really understand what’s funny when I watch it on TV, but all the 漫才 (manzai) I saw at the Yose were interesting. In fact, I wondered why they weren’t on TV. And the magician, he’s funny too. A magician, you know? He’s not a comedian, so why is he even funny as a magician? He’s a good talker and funny, and he does magic tricks seriously.
落語 (Rakugo) is a form of entertainment that has been around for a long time, and the stories are usually set in the Edo period. But, you know, you don’t feel the old-fashioned atmosphere at all. It’s very funny. I thought they were all like that, but in recent years there have also been modern-style performances. A young man did a modern performance, and it was just as funny as the others. And the admission fee to a 寄席 (Yose) is quite reasonable for a show that makes you laugh so much. You can go just as if you were going to see a film. And you can even watch it while eating lunch and drinking! 寄席 (Yose) is basically a two-part event, with a daytime and an evening performance, but you can also watch the whole performance in one sitting. Of course, you have to pay for the whole performance. Last time, I think I went to the daytime performance. It was really interesting, and this time I want to watch it all day long.
I once told a colleague how interesting 寄席 (Yose) was. The reason why I told her this is because she asked me about 寄席 (Yose), so I just told her what I thought. I told her that 寄席 (Yose) is not only 落語 (Rakugo), but also magic tricks and 漫才 (manzai), and that it was all very interesting. What do you think she said? She said that even if you put so much effort into it, I’m not interested at all. I was like, what? No, no, no, she asked me how I liked it, and I told her what I thought. I thought, “I’m not recommending it.” What kind of person would say something like that after having asked me? Aside from that, I would recommend 落語 (Rakugo) for listening to Japanese. In terms of language, there are some parts that don’t sound like everyday conversation, but I think it’s a good material to get used to listening to it. 落語家 (Rakugoka) speak clearly and clearly, so I think it’s easy to understand them. Well, it’s no surprise that 落語家 (Rakugoka) have a good command of the language. That’s their job, you know.
