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Early Access to a script for a future long-form video!
🕑 Added 2019-03-09 14:37:13 +0000 UTCThis is early access to a future video entitled "Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – A Tapestry of Life and Art." I've finally finished the rough draft, lol.
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu – A Tapestry of Life and Art
“OVER TIME, THINGS FALL IN AND OUT OF FASHION, YET YOU NEED SOME THINGS THAT NEVER CHANGE.”
Realism in stories is a bit of a funny topic. It’s often thought that realistic narratives have some sort of inherent leg up on unrealistic ones because they’re more relatable by our standards, but in actuality, saying that a story is realistic is just a simple descriptor of approach rather than a compliment. Context is everything, and realism in and of itself is not impressive if the intent and execution of a work don’t line up and follow through with quality. However, in the context of a down-to-earth story whose intention is to provide a heartfelt tale about seeking a place in this world, making existence worthwhile, finding tranquility through human connection and experiencing joy through interacting with performance and art, realism is absolutely essential to display everything said story needs to display about the human condition. So when I say that Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu is among the most genuine, raw and realistic character pieces I’ve ever experienced, I mean that as the highest possible compliment.
It is a narrative tapestry with nearly unparalleled sophistication - a slow-burning, layered, beautifully directed piece that naturally juggles so many perfectly imperfect character journeys and themes that it boggles the mind. Gushing aside, in the broadest terms possible, Rakugo can simply be described as a story that gets down to the heart of what it means to be alive – a celebration, and at times, a lamentation – of existence, art, and how these two intertwine. But such a broad topic can only be tackled without feeling unfocused and scattered if a story finds its identity through specific means of presenting it’s ideas. And Rakugo finds this identity through its character focus, its thoughts on the dichotomy between tradition and progression, it’s deep musings on the purpose and resonance of art, and how all of these elements interweave so seamlessly.
The Characters of Rakugo Shinjuu
The primary cast of Rakugo are incredibly well-realized and brought to life via very consistent characterization demonstrated through dialogue, visual cues and behaviours, but there is a surprising amount of subtext that, while insinuated, leaves sizeable bits up to viewer interpretation. Note that the following is simply my take on things – it is backed up by logic and what is given within the story, and it is what I believe to be the most fitting interpretation of each character, but some of it is not confirmed fact. However, despite this, I find that a great deal of this interpretation forms a very cohesive picture, one that ultimately lands on a very personal, poignant point: that we all just want to live a life worth living – a life of love for what you do, a life for art, for others, and for yourself.
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Bold, free and larger than life, Sukeroku distinguishes himself as a representation of unfettered passion and exuberance. In relation to Rakugo, this translates to a style of almost innate attractiveness and magnetism. Sukeroku performs for the audience – for them to laugh, cry and find escapism and fulfillment in these stories, and his natural charisma compliments this intent perfectly. Rough around the edges as he is and as difficult and undisciplined as he tended to be, his art was one of pure, unrestricted joy – and that is something that strikes a unique chord with people.
With an unrelenting passion for Rakugo, Sukeroku wanted to ensure it’s survival through a promise with Yakumo, who I’ll discuss in a bit. That their differing styles would be two halves of a whole to carry Rakugo into the future. That Yakumo would maintain the traditional roots of the art, and Sukeroku would keep it dynamic and adaptable to be able to make sure it stays contemporary and relevant to current audiences. Because according to him, an established art must have both aspects to persevere – culture and progression.
He looked towards this goal with wide-eyed optimism. As stated by Yakumo, wherever Sukeroku looked, he saw a bright future – sometimes foolishly and sometimes stubbornly. And he carried this with him throughout his life, but unfortunately, his fire burned a bit too bright and he found himself ill-equipped to deal with true responsibility - unable to see clearly until it was too late to stop what had been put into motion. Having convinced himself that he could blow through life like a hurricane, he never really got himself together – not being able to pursue Rakugo in the way he wanted to, to be as good as he could have been to his woman, to be an ideal father and to simply live a life of utmost value. He was a man of unparalleled charisma, but he simply burned himself out with his slowly self-destructive tendencies.
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Miyokichi was cursed with a nearly insatiable need for almost disproportionate affection. Perhaps in compensation for the lack of care that she received as a child, we are immediately shown that she is not conservative with her intimacy – seemingly travelling from suitor to suitor, using them and relying on them for a short period of time but never really getting the emotional security she so desired from these men. As such, she became a woman who was characterized by sexuality and intimate charm, as these talents were necessary when it came to her trade as a geisha, her yearning for intimacy and the very overt insinuations that she had some experience with prostitution. But despite being someone who was characterized by this sexuality, it was not a happy place for her and the men she encountered – the raucous, aggressive, authoritative people she constantly met, were never what she was looking for in a partner. She desired a contrast - security, levity, and some normalcy. So naturally, when she meets Yakumo, someone entirely unique, she’s instantly drawn in by his rawness, independency and withdrawn nature. He was someone who made her feel completely safe through his reservedness and lack of overt sexuality, and this key difference helped her to fall head over heels in love with him. To her, he represents everything she looks for in a partner and she pours herself into her relationship with him. And though he undoubtedly reciprocates some affection back, there is a clear imbalance. Because due to both Miyokichi’s mentality and Yakumo’s state of mind, this relationship was never going to be healthy or functional. Miyokichi is among the most tragic and layered characters in this story, but for the sake of the structure of this video, I’ll ask you to just hold this thought before we dive deeper into the nuances that make her so well-realized.
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The main character of Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu is the thematic and narrative fulcrum, the one element of consistency from which the characters, themes and even Rakugo itself base themselves off of. Though he is given multiple names throughout the story, I’ll be referring to him as Yakumo throughout this video for the sake of consistency – although, I’ve already been doing that.
Orphaned, forgotten and alone, Yakumo was a child of profound sadness prior to the events in the story. Unable to dance due to a bad leg, unable to become a geisha due to his sex, unable to properly execute Rakugo due to a lack of passion and talent, he finds himself to be lost - stoic and reserved and trapped, on a path that he felt forced onto regardless of his personal wishes. He is aimless – not sure of where he’s headed or what he’s doing, feeling completely unloved despite being taken in by a veteran Rakugo master. But all it takes is one tiny nudge, one change of perspective, and one person to make all the difference in situations like these – and as it turns out, this dirty, unruly, undisciplined rascal ended up being exactly that for Yakumo.
“We’re both orphans.” Episode 2.
Sukeroku, even as a kid, had a habit of speaking uncomfortable truths as if they were nothing, and while this made the pain for Yakumo even more real, it opened the door for healing and progress. And most importantly, Sukeroku stresses that Yakumo and him are on the same boat – that both of them are lonely, but due to each other’s presence, neither are alone.
The two grow and learn the art of Rakugo together and as the years go by, Yakumo begins to develop extremely complex feelings about Sukeroku. It was not a simple relationship and Yakumo did not hold Sukeroku in totally positive regard, because when you grow up with someone doing the same thing, it is natural for an element of competition or comparison to emerge. And in their early adult years, the gap in talent and quality between the two was immense. Sukeroku was born for the stage with his natural charisma, likeability and knack for understanding what drew people to performance. But Yakumo had none of that, having to work excessively hard and still falling short in comparison. His stories felt forced and unnatural, the strain on him was always clear and he simply had no idea what his style of Rakugo was. People watched him out of obligation rather than enjoyment. It made him envy and resent Sukeroku – this man who lazed about and hardly practiced was so much better than him because of some unfair gift, seemingly rendering all of Yakumo’s hard work irrelevant. But thankfully, this negativity that Yakumo regarded Sukeroku with was easily overpowered by other feelings.
He was often annoyed and frustrated by his partner’s laziness and irresponsibility, but it is clear that he valued him comfortably above everything else. Though Yakumo was far from living prosperously at this point, Sukeroku was the man who essentially opened the world up to him, who provided him with laughter and happiness. As such, he felt a unique sort of attraction and gratitude towards Sukeroku. He doesn’t necessarily idealize or romanticize Sukeroku because he is acutely aware of his faults, but in spite of those faults he considers him to be the most important aspect of his life. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly for the narrative, Sukeroku teaches him to enjoy Rakugo. Through Sukeroku’s heartfelt and joyous performances, Yakumo is able to see the beauty of the art despite not caring for it earlier. In his fledgling years, Rakugo meant anxiety and discomfort for Yakumo, but due to Sukeroku it also meant fun and happiness. This made it so that Yakumo essentially conflated his passion for the craft and his resentment and love for Sukeroku, making them one and the same – and this is perhaps the most important element of Yakumo’s character. This dualistic and very human attitude he had towards Rakugo helps him realize something.
“Ep 3 – 10 mins or so – I used to hate Rakugo because of Shin San but I also started to love it because of him.”
Yakumo greatly misses rakugo when he is cut off from it after Sukeroku and his master go off to the war. He obviously misses it because of how much he’d grown to enjoy it but here he is drifting back towards it as a subconscious yearning to see Sukeroku again. It helps him feel connected to him when they are apart, and this is all he has. So he practices on his own, even though he will feel no joy from the performance – because it helps him feel close to Sukeroku and because storytelling has taken root in his heart. As he says, “he had grown to need it.” And then Sukeroku’s return encourages Yakumo to see the world in a similar way to him – as one full of possibility.
But soon after the war, Miyokichi enters the picture and her relationship with Yakumo begins to bloom. As said earlier, She genuinely falls for him and He does find comfort in Miyokichi as she pours herself into him, adoring him for all that he is despite his insecurities and flaws. But there is still an affection imbalance, the reason for which simply being that his head was elsewhere. Because at this time, Yakumo was coming into his own and developing. He had finally found HIS rakugo after playing a woman in a play, and this helped him realize that where he excelled was with the bawdy stories, the artistic, provocative ones, often coinciding with female characters. Now that he had found his style, he buried himself in practice to try and refine it – but this was just a feeble front that he put up as a sort of compensation. To truncate this sequence of events, he did not give Miyokichi the love she craved, so she ran into the arms of Sukeroku, in search of someone, anyone, to love her. They run off, it doesn’t work out between the two and they both end up dying, leaving Yakumo with their daughter. It’s very clear that this is dysfunctional from just a shallow standpoint, but diving into the nuances of these character dynamics really demonstrates how messed up and flawed these people are. And it’s all wonderfully presented.
“Don’t let go of Rakugo.” Ep 11 of whenever that goodbye was.
In the midst of much friction between Sukeroku and the men of authority in Rakugo, Yakumo says this line for so many reasons – because of their promise, because of Sukeroku’s dream to become a new master, because Yakumo knows how much he loves it, because it feels like the connection between them.
As postulated by shinkouhyou in a series of great comments that I will link, the three main characters of season 1 are thoroughly in love with someone who can’t properly love them back. Miyokichi needs and loves Yakumo and believes him to be her everything and her salvation in a similar vein to how Yakumo regards Sukeroku, but Yakumo is not committed to her due to his practice, as I said earlier. However, this practice is simply something to distract himself with the fact that he is a victim of unrequited love. Very little is truly explicit in this story, but I am (and the comments I’m referring to are) convinced that among the litany of feelings Yakumo holds towards Sukeroku, romantic love was the most prominent. Yakumo loved Sukeroku, but he did not have his feelings reciprocated in any way as Sukeroku simply regarded him with platonic love. Now, I said earlier that Rakugo was something of a proxy for Sukeroku for Yakumo, and this is clearly demonstrated during his increased focus on the craft in his early adulthood. He cannot be with Sukeroku in the way he desires, so he buries himself in Rakugo, which is sort of like a Sukeroku replacement, to feel closer to him. And in the meantime, Miyokichi gets shafted. While I personally doubt that she knew about these complicated dynamics revolving around Yakumo’s feelings towards Rakugo, she did know that the “I need to practice” justification was an excuse and she definitely noted that Yakumo had an extremely close connection with Sukeroku, likely moreso than he had with her.
The poor woman picked the absolute worst type of man to fall for – one who would never give her everything she wanted, who would never love her as much as she desired due to what Sukeroku and Rakugo mean to him. And after Yakumo cuts it off with her out of simultaneous respect and self-interest, she naturally drifts to Sukeroku, partly to get back at Yakumo and maybe in the hopes that he’d become jealous and chase her, and partly because Sukeroku was someone who was willing to fullheartedly love her in a way Yakumo couldn’t. But as it turned out, Yakumo never chased her and Sukeroku was too irresponsible and self-destructive to provide her with the safety and secure love she wanted, never able to get his life together. He wanted to give her everything but was ill-equipped to do so, leaving her life in an absolute mess and leaving HER with a festering hatred for rakugo and anything associated with it. The piece I’m referring to puts is beautifully - Miyokichi is left with a child who adores the man who never supported her and loves the art that triggered her downward spiral in the first place, and Konatsu is a constant reminder of her mistakes. So naturally, she leaves. She completely breaks down and reverts to prostitution to find affection like she did before meeting Yakumo. She personifies a lack of self-worth, dependency, and what a life without proper emotional affection can lead to.
And so, when she catches wind of Yakumo being in town, her love for him is overtaken by the flip side of passion: hatred. Hatred for the man that destroyed her. You can tell that she still deeply loves him and has affection for him as she watches his performance but oftentimes the line between hate and love gets blurred. Simply put, she was left in disarray while Yakumo has become incredibly successful and has gotten back together with Sukeroku. She’s jealous and beyond grief, so her desire to commit a lover’s suicide is completely understandable. This was all kicked off by that disproportionate affection and prioritization, and it is why there’s such a sad, ominous, haunting air permeating the journey of Miyokichi. Falling so hard for Yakumo meant that she was doomed from the start, and what we see from her story is a slow unravelling.
Sukeroku, on the other hand, had finally got himself together for the first time in his life at this point, becoming a true professional and showing the start of being an exceptional father with a little help from Yakumo and his daughter.
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He had seen what he was missing and knew that he had to be better if he wanted to live a fulfilling rest of his life.. and if he wanted his daughter to grow up healthy and happy. But it wasn’t to be. After Miyokichi makes an attempt to kill Yakumo, she stabs Sukeroku who had come to break up the squabble, before an enraged Konatsu pushes her mother off of the balcony and Sukeroku dives after her before falling to his death. He was willing to do literally anything to put things right, but his past misgivings ultimately caught up with him in the form of a vengeful Miyokichi before he had a chance to make up for them – or rather, his way of making up for them was his inability to let Miyokichi die alone here.
And obviously, this event had major repercussions. Not just for everyone involved, but for the Rakugo world indirectly through Yakumo. Yakumo’s two main reasons for doing Rakugo – enjoyment, and connection to Sukeroku - are at a constant tug of war with regards to which motivation is primary during the series. But after Sukeroku’s death, it is no longer a war and the connection Rakugo helps Yakumo to feel towards him become the primary factor. He still enjoys himself, but.. there is much more of a notion of him doing it for Sukeroku – to both feel close to his long lost partner, and to help carry out their promise. It is a tragic and an extremely dark concept, but there is even more to it.
“I was left alone again,as punishment for my sweet dreams” end of 12.
Clearly he believes he deserves to be living this lonely hell as punishment for what he did to Miyokichi and Sukeroku. Given how central of a role he has in this tragedy, Yakumo blames himself and is burdened with guilt, constantly seeing these two as ghosts of his past. There are so many things that he thinks he should and could have done to prevent this – being more respectful of Miyokichi, disciplining Sukeroku more harshly, maybe even just showing Miyokichi that she mattered to him, maybe even just trying to convince SUkeroku to stay just that little bit more. As reflective, internalized and self-critical as he is, he chooses to not see this as an unfortunate series of events for which blame doesn’t really matter, and instead shoulders all of the burden on his own. He tells Konatsu he did It, sparking her hatred of him, and though he knows he may not literally have done it, in his mind he is not really lying since he believes he is to blame. And this eats him alive. But he is spurred on by a promise from long ago that has taken root in him.
Yakumo has it ingrained in his mind that HE IS to be THE ONE TO CARRY ON THE TRADITIONAL ASPECT OF RAKUGO, as Sukeroku proposed to him. TO NEVER CHANGE IT. SUkeroku was going to be the progression of Rakugo, Yakumo the tradition. But with Sukeroku gone, such a huge void is left that it doesn’t feel right to move Rakugo on without the man who said he would help it move on. As such, Yakumo thinks that Rakugo should die. He doesn’t want there to be rakugo in the world if SUkeroku isn’t in it. So he resolves to keep his promise and maintain Rakugo, because that’s what Sukeroku told him to do. But with him gone, there is no one to do his job and he doesn’t want his job to be taken on by anyone else. It’s a contradiction – he wants Rakugo to always be relevant because that’s what SUkeroku wanted and because it represents Sukeroku to him, but he doesn’t want it to be relevant because a world of Rakugo without Sukeroku is blasphemous. He constantly talks about not wanting the craft to become corrupted, and I believe that corruption in his eyes is defined as an art that has left behind tradition, that has become unrecognizable from the one that he attributes Sukeroku too. This combination of feelings causes him to accept the Yakumo name and become one of the most powerful people in the Rakugo world – and he chooses that he will decide where rakugo goes in SUkeroku’s honour. He feels so full of pain that he wants to die, quite literally. But he cannot, because he needs to oversee Rakugo’s future. To ensure that it dies with him.. and at the same time, to ensure it lives on somehow, the ultimate paradox. Yakumo knows what hes done to Rakugo is wrong. But his selfishness cannot allow him to do anything else. Deep down he wants it to live on.. but he cannot allow this to happen yet. He wants to fulfill the promise, yet he doesn’t. He cannot let go due to his pain.
Yakumo carries himself as an isolative, private person, but he doesn’t really long to be by himself. His solitude is an emotional one – one where he is alone, but in a crowd. Alone where he can see the affect he has on others. He, truly, CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT connection, and this is why he has the most fun doing rakugo in small, intimate venues.. The most enjoyment he had in his life was likely when he was making a meager living with Konatsu and Sukeroku. Because there.. he had everything he needed. His best friend, an audience, and his rakugo. In the prime of his career and life. This was his peak - maybe not in terms of performance, but in terms of existence. Because he has a connection to Rakugo that can’t ever be broken - partly due to what it did for him in life despite him not enjoying it all the time, and partly because it ties him to Sukeroku. But now it’s become hollow and he resents the craft, yet clings onto it like a lifeboat in his later life.
“episode 1 – 29-30 mins. I keep getting involved with the same sorts of people.”
But that’s why Yotaro is so special, and why he’s arguably the second most important character in the story. Because he storms in like a force of nature and breaks up this pattern. Yakumo had been dead set on never accepting apprentices.. but he takes Yota in upon request. Why? Well, part of it is that he reminds Yakumo of Sukeroku, embodying that free spirit.. but theres something different about him. A true dedication and commitment that Sukeroku never had.. and something else. In him, Yakumo sees hope for Sukeroku’s legacy, a hope to properly carry out the oath he made to his partner all those years ago. So he agrees to take Yota on, but only if he fulfills three promises. Firstly - he must master all of Yakumo and Sukeroku’s Rakugo. Second - he must open the path for new Rakugo, for it to live on, for storytelling to never die. And lastly - Yota must not die before Yakumo.
It’s a challenge of sorts for Yota to ensure it stays on – a challenge against Yakumo’s self-loathing and insecurities. With the possibility of these promises being fulfilled, he believes that he has the potential to die satisfied, which is much more than he believed was possible prior to meeting Yota. But Why does he embody a hope for Rakugo? Why specifically does he see such hope and possibility in this exuberant young man?
A great deal of Yota’s arc involves a bit of a professional and artistic crisis, where he had a lot of trouble trying to find what HIS style of Rakugo was. It wasn’t the poetic artistry of Yakumo, yet not quite the egoistic fire of Sukeroku. He struggles to find his identity before finally realizing that his Rakugo is Rakugo itself. At the family event, Yakumo gets Yota to perform Inokori, a story that differs so much from performance to performance because it tends to tansmit the spirit of the performer more than almost any other piece. And this is how Yota finds his Rakugo.
“I love rakugo and the stories in rakugo more than I love myself” 8-9 mins.
Yota’s rakugo embodies the story itself. There is no ego, only an accentuation of the stories on display. And through doing this, Yota gets the audience to adore him.
S2E5 – 6-7 minutes – “Yota wants the audience to love rakugo more than they love him, right? Maybe that’s where the key lies..”
And it is this style that Yakumo sensed in him, it is this that allows him to have the potential to carry out the promise. There’s tradition, there’s progression, and there’s all kinds of stories. So what better way to have stories maintain themselves than through understanding and embodying them to the fullest? Stories are timeless. So a lack of ego in Rakugo makes Rakugo timeless as well. This is why an understanding of the art and how it can impact people was so important for Yota, and this is what makes him so special.
THE GOAL OF RAKUGO IS TO CREATE EMPATHY. S2E1 – 7 mins. EMPATHY DOESN’T CHANGE, NO MATTER THE AGE. THE DRAW OF STORIES WILL NEVER CHANGE. “”””
Through accepting this promise and burden and using his Rakugo to carry the torch for the art, Yota saved Yakumo on that cold and snowy night. He saves his life, his well-being, his guilt.. And he was there to save him multiple times again in the years that followed. Yakumo is the story, but Yota is nearly as important because he is the glue that links so many of these narrative elements together in a cohesive and thematically satisfying fashion.
And at this point in time, with Yota’s story properly beginning, everything in the show connects – having a thematic and character-based purpose in one form or another. For instance, having grown up with a deep, deep hatred of her mother, Konatsu is terrified of becoming a slave to her blood and being a person even slightly resembling her mother. This puts her at constant odds with her sexuality, in a diametric opposition with how Miyokichi lived her life. And as a natural extension, it makes her afraid of becoming close to people, scared of affection. As a result, she becomes a woman starved of intimate human connection – ironically, she becomes a lot like her mother due to her attempts of trying NOT to become her. And I think that says something.
The revelation that her son, Shinnosuke, is Yakumo’s child deepens this dynamic even more. Konatsu sees herself as a slave to her blood, and cannot stop from comparing herself to her Miyokichi for what she did with Yakumo. In repulsion, she grows even further from intimacy to segregate herself from that side of her family, and as such, she shields herself from becoming close to Yota. But again, Yota helps her break out of this, through showing her love and affection and sharing his life with hers, becoming her rock. And she eventually realizes that she deserves love. She embraces it.
Yota teaches her that she doesn’t have to be her mother, that she can love wholeheartedly and embrace that side of life without becoming something she hates. Along with this, she sees that people are filled with good and bad, and that maybe Miyokichi wasn’t as terrible as her narrowed view made her seem. So in doing so, she finally fully embraces Rakugo and believes in herself being able to do it. And this is significant symbolically. Yota, being the personification of stories, saves Konatsu and turns her viewpoint around, so if we separate the nuances and human element of Yota’s personality for a second, we can see that at a fundamental level, Yota’s role in the show displays how stories can save us. Yota provides a way out of closed-in despair and a way forward for Yakumo, Konatsu, and Rakugo itself by embracing life and art.
In another characteristic link, Konatsu’s inner conflict is in tune with the way that her three predecessors constantly pined after one another, in a self perpetuating, unfulfilling cycle of misery. Sukeroku burnt himself out, Miyokichi was so desperate for affection that she formed very unhealthy relationships and compensated with someone unsuited to her like a parasite as compensation, and Yakumo spent a good portion of his life closed off to his feelings and punishing himself rather than actually living. He performed Rakugo for himself because for him it was a double edged sword. But his close brushes with death, his loss of the ability to perform and the emergence of Yota allow him to finally realize that Sukeroku would be happy to see the current state of Rakugo. He sees that maybe he didn’t have to close himself off to connection, and even though he spent a great deal of it self-loathing.. maybe his life really was one worth living due to the love he shared with those around him. And with these realizations, he can finally rest.
Rakugo is a story that focuses on some very complicated character dynamics centered on what these people will do on the quest for love. But as seen through Yakumo, Sukeroku, and of course Yota, love can be expressed aside from this interpersonal way through affection for art.
Legacy: Tradition vs. Progression
Rakugo is a labour and expression of love, and a great deal of this story deals with the direct or indirect passing down of styles and stories. But naturally, in a developing world, the question comes up – what is best for Rakugo’s survival? What will allow it to be evergreen? As I mentioned, the story draws it’s own conclusions, but a closer look at the facets of those conclusions helps to get a little bit of extra substance out of this work.
There are three sides to Rakugo in terms of character energy and how that extrapolates to consequent lifestyle. The first is cold discipline, practice, learned maturity, solace and peace as we see in Yakumo. Next would be uncontrollable fiery passion, free spirit and a lack of discipline, guided by instinct and pleasure as we see in Sukeroku. This dichotomy is shown not to be an isolated incident here, but a generational one - also seen through the two’s master and how his dynamics with his rival mirrored Yakumo and Sukeroku’s. Clearly, these are two defined styles that, through legacy, will always resurface. Now, both of these have their pros, but there are definite cons with radical versions of each. Sukeroku was a wild, reckless flame that burnt itself out before really fully living life, and despite looking back on his life fondly by the end, Yakumo spent a great deal of his life restricting himself, closed off and soul searching. That isn’t to say that either is inherently bad, but the story seems to make it clear that the extremes of either are no way to live. A third side, a merger of both, is a clear path to fulfillment. You need spontaneity and order, a synthesis and harmony.
And just as there are three sides shown to lifestyle in Rakugo, there are three corresponding sides to performance and art too. Sukeroku: always instinctual, free, unrefined and bolder than life. Yakumo: deliberate performance, refined to an art, unable to tap into the natural charisma of Sukeroku. And then Yota – something similar in a sense to both, yet entirely different. The story is a constant interaction between these styles – the contrast and duality of maturity and somberness with red-hot instinct and spirit. It is the refined vs the natural, and these styles are will continue to be carried out and passed down through the generations.
And though we never get to see him perform, Shunnosuke has the blood of all sides, very likely being the biological child of Yakumo, having the blood of Sukeroku through his mother, and being raised by Yota. As such, Shinnosuke is a literal mix of both styles needed to carry on the spirit of Rakugo, and an embodiment of Yota’s story-centric focus. A mix of fire, professionalism, and narrative, a perfect candidate to take up the mantle from Yota and further lead Rakugo into the future.
Art must evolve but never forget it’s roots, (S2 E6 16-17) yet tradition cannot be a shackle for progession. Yakumo tried to kill Rakugo selfishly by sticking to classics and rejecting change due to his complicated motivations, but prior to that, he was doing Rakugo for himself, for his own enjoyment and solace primarily. Sukeroku did it purely for the audience, giving himself fully to material that suited his strengths, allowing the audience to fall in love with him and constantly fitting his Rakugo to the environment he performed in. From the beginning, Yota was neither. He was captivated by the narrative, the experiencing of wonderful stories that touch lives. As a result, he wasn’t interested in such peripheral endeavors and naturally came to specialize in conveying the soul of the story. Art for art’s sake. And that is how it persists.
“Yotaro acknowledges this when speaking to Shinnosuke, telling him it’s for the audience and that Rakugo will live on through speaking to the modern watchers.” S2E13.
Art and Stories
Rakugo is such an important work because, along with being a beautifully presented and written character piece, it communicates why stories and art are such transcendent, important elements of life. In a sort of meta way, it muses upon what people will do to be close to stories, what stories can represent for them, and how they can offer us a reprieve from the tribulations of life, a way to conquer our battles. As I alluded to earlier, to me, Yota is a pseudo-representation of art in our lives for what he does throughout the story. Just like art, he is flawed and unpolished at times, but he lives with his heart on his sleeves and unapologetically carries out his will. And he saves so many of the cast through his unbridled enthusiasm. Konatsu, Yakumo, the gang members, Shinnosuke, Higuchi, Rakugo itself.. Art is always there to fall back on when things get difficult and support you through the darkness through its empathy, and Yota is too. Combine that with his take on rakugo and he is a walking personification of the value of art and storytelling. And given that, his interactions and significance throughout the story is given a different dimension.
When it comes to the question of what the purpose of art is, there is no wrong answer. It’s for everyone and everything. For the audience. For the artist. And for art itself. But without art and stories in the first place, nothing would occur. No enjoyment, no expression. It’s why Yota’s style of Rakugo strikes a chord just a bit deeper, at least in terms of the prevailing messages of the show, than Yakumo or Sukeroku’s. (WARM COMPANY)
Art is a means of expressing the ugliness and beauty of life, and through stories we can forget about our worries, focus on something beautiful or revelatory for a little while and continue appreciating existence as best we can. And that’s why stories will never die. We will keep coming back, to understand the tragedy of someone like Mikoyichi, the vibrant attractiveness of those like Sukeroku, the agonizing solace of someone like Yakumo. And it didn’t end well for all three of them, but that’s life. And indulging in the times where they were happy - that’s a big part of where narrative value lies.
If you’ll forgive me for getting a little personal here - Rakugo hit home for me specifically because of the journeys of the three main performers and why they performed Rakugo. I do do this YouTube thing for myself as Yakumo did, and I do do this for you guys as Sukeroku did. But Yota’s motivations truly spoke to me. I think of these videos as a conduit to try and accentuate the characters, themes and stories that I cover. My goal is to live and breathe the topic of each video, to convey the story in the way that allows it’s strengths to shine brighter than ever. To allow the story to speak for itself through speaking about it. I don’t always achieve this, but it has been my utmost goal for a while now and I’m doing my best to achieve this with each video.
Stories are there for the writer and the audience, but they speak louder than any person can tell them and any audience can receive them. They provoke emotional responses that mean so much and can’t be put into words, and while this is something that I always sort of knew, the way Rakugo executed it really made that message much more powerful and shaped certain aspects of my life. Above all, that is probably the prevailing idea that I took away from this wonderful story, and I can only hope that it’s had a similar impact on you. Many thanks for watching this, and please feel free to share any and all thoughts.
“WHAT DO YOU DO RAKUGO FOR?”
*intercutting footage of rakugo and stories and love*
“I DO IT FOR RAKUGO!” S2E1 Ending.
End.
