Traditional Japanese comedy master and Cambridge professor team up for new work based on a quack-doctor character from 17th century Japanese literature
- Shinoharu Tatekawa is a master of rakugo, a 400-year-old Japanese form of storytelling. Laura Moretti is an expert in Japan’s Edo period
- They are working to resurrect characters and stories lost in time through Tatekawa’s comedic storytelling, and Moretti says the process is ‘emotional’
A collaboration between a distinguished bilingual rakugo artist and a professor from the University of Cambridge, in the UK, is resurrecting popular culture from Japan’s Edo period never before seen by contemporary audiences.
By doing so, the pair hope to expand the repertoire of rakugo, a traditional Japanese form of comedic storytelling, and make otherwise obscure aspects of Japanese literary and cultural heritage more accessible to the general public.
In February, Tokyo-based rakugo master Shinoharu Tatekawa held an online Japanese performance for students of Cambridge’s Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and for his Japanese fans.
For the event, he unveiled new work commissioned by Laura Moretti, a professor of early modern Japanese literature and culture, based on a fictional character at the heart of her research: the colourful quack doctor Chikusai, who was popular between the 17th and 19th centuries.
It is the latest of several projects between Tatekawa and Moretti, and marries the long-standing rakugo practice of creating original works and the art form’s roots in Japan’s Edo period (1603-1868).
For Tatekawa, 46, who has a devoted fan base and a YouTube channel where he performs rakugo in both English and Japanese, creating new works in both languages came naturally after having witnessed his master Shinosuke Tatekawa constantly invent new material to differentiate himself from other performers.