The Center for East Asian Studies, the Penn Japanese Language Program, and the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia hosted a Rakugo workshop at the Annenberg Center on Oct. 1.
Led by Rakugo Master Ryutei Saryū and featuring Purdue University Japanese professor emeritus Kazumi Hatasa as well as student performances from PJLP, the workshop sought to engage the Penn community in the art form and supplement Japanese culture classes at Penn.
The event's programming included a lecture on rakugo as an art of storytelling, an introduction to yose theatre, a demonstration of shigusa gestures used in rakugo, and a rakugo performance with a brief introduction by Hatasa.
According to an event listing by Penn’s Center for East Asian Studies, rakugo is a 400-year-old performance art that features a “lone storyteller dressed in kimono who entertains the audience with a comic prelude followed by a traditional story.”
“It’s a very precious experience to have Master Saryū come to the states and perform live,” Japanese professor and PJLP director Tomoko Takami said.
Hatasa and Saryū began the workshop with performances varying from Saryū comedically playing a man who forgets an umbrella in the rain to both parties of a quarreling married couple.
Before Saryū performed the piece “Shinigami," or “The God of Death" in English, students from Penn’s Japanese Language Programs gave their Kobanashi performances, a shorter form of Rakugo.
“It makes [learning Japanese] more fun because you can personally connect to it,” College junior and JPAN500 student Sydni Hall said.
College first-year Aidan Gutierrez added that he enjoyed the experience to “learn more about the art and how it differs from American theater."
“It provided a very interesting cultural perspective,” he said.
History professor Frederick Dickinson, who serves as Director of the Center for East Asian Studies, emphasized the accessibility of the performances for attendees unfamiliar with rakugo or Japanese.
“[These performances are] quite entertaining, even if you don't understand the language,” Dickinson said. “The gestures, the costumes, the music, just in and of itself, is quite exciting."
