Books
Chain of Tears
Prostitution is widely recognized as one of the oldest professions in human history, going back to the 24th century BCE. During that period, the ancient Near East was home to numerous houses of heaven where sacred prostitution was practiced. Over the course of history, the practice of sacred prostitution gradually spread to other parts of the world, including Greece, Italy, India, China, and Japan.
In Japan, numerous shrines and temples that employed miko (shrine maidens) fell on hard times during the Kamakura period (1185–1333) ―a time of significant conflict and the rise of feudalism in the country. Some of the miko who were compelled to live as vagrants turned to prostitution as means of survival.
Prostitution as a profession has endured throughout the course of Japan’s history. Liberal interpretations, loose enforcement, and loopholes in the Prostitution Prevention Law of 1956, which prohibits both involvement in prostitution and patronage thereof, have enabled the Japanese sex industry to flourish and generate an estimated 2.3 trillion yen ($24 billion) annually in revenue. This places the sex industry in Japan as the third largest globally, following China ($73 billion) and Spain ($26.5 billion).
While doing research for my third book, Nickname Flower of Evil (呼び名は悪の花): The Abe Sada Story (2019), I was shocked to discover that Sada and her older sister were sold to brothel owners by their father as a form of punishment. During the Edo period (1603-1868), prostitution in Japan was licensed and subsequently legalized. It was not uncommon for destitute families to sell their daughters into indentured servitude within the sex industry to obtain the cash advances that were essential for the family’s survival. Samurai families also engaged in the practice of selling their wayward daughters as a means of punishment.
Girls were usually procured from fishing villages, impoverished rural provinces, and the residences of low-ranking samurai families. Occasionally, merchant families in financial trouble sold their daughters in order to repay their debts. Every now and then, a young girl was duped by an unscrupulous man and sold to a zegen (someone who makes their living selling women into prostitution).
Parents were provided with a lump sum of cash in consideration of their daughters' future earning potential. The sum of money given to the parents differed in accordance with the girl's lineage.
Typically, three to five ryo (equivalent to 300,000 to 500,000 yen today or $2,400 to $3,400) were paid for a girl from a rural family. If the girl came from a low- ranking samurai family, she would usually command eighteen ryo (equivalent to 1.8 million yen or $12,000).
Following the legalization of prostitution by the shogunate (the military government of Japan during the Edo period), designated red-light districts were established near major cities such as Edo (present-day Tokyo), Kyoto, Osaka, and Nagasaki. In time, the government sanctioned illicit brothels, arresting the women employed there and selling them at auctions to brothels operating within the authorized pleasure quarters. Due to the prohibition of human trafficking by the shogunate, the women involved in prostitution within the approved quarters were commonly referred to as "servants" rather than prostitutes.
Despite the negative societal perception of prostitutes, the practice of selling daughters was not condemned in Japanese society on the grounds that the girls were merely performing their filial obligation.
A significant number of female workers in the sex industry were indentured to brothels when they were young, typically between seven and nine years old. Brothel purveyors would commonly crisscross impoverished rural communities and fishing villages during the spring, when food rations were scarce, and the summer, when taxes were due.
While the girls were generally enslaved for a duration of ten years, the indebtedness they incurred as prostitutes relegated them to that lifestyle indefinitely.
Japan also has a comparably extensive history involving indentured labor. A significant slave trade had existed since the Portuguese arrived in the 16th century. During this time, Japanese women were either purchased or abducted and transported back to Portugal to serve as sex slaves. A number of these women were retained as concubines by the crewmembers of the vessels engaged in trade with Japan.
The Tokugawa shogunate's decision to legalize prostitution and confine sex work by women and girls to specific areas was primarily driven by the objective of streamlining tax collection, rather than moral concerns. A tax was levied on both the owners of the brothels and the prostitutes themselves. The presence of these quarters also contributed to the legitimization of prostitution, and the sale of women and girls for sexual purposes accelerated at an alarming rate.
It is worth noting that not all prostitutes were coerced into sex work; some did so voluntarily, typically for financial reasons. While alternative routes to economic independence and social advancement for women existed throughout the Edo period, prostitution remained an ever-present source of income for women of all social classes. As a result, the female body evolved into a practical commodity that benefitted a broad spectrum of individuals in Japanese society.
However, while males were preoccupied with indulging in pleasure-seeking activities and forgetting the difficulties arising from living in a highly regulated social structure, the emotions and thoughts of the women remain unknown to us. No true records of the Edo period prostitutes’ personal thoughts and experiences exist, so we do not have their firsthand accounts. Art, literature, and certain historical accounts authored by men romanticize the pleasure quarters, but when viewed through the lens of a woman, it must have been an extremely miserable existence.
Fallen Words
Fallen words is the literal English translation of the Japanese term rakugo (落語). Before there was film, television, sitcoms, and standup comedy, there was rakugo-entertainment created specifically for common people. What is rakugo? Noriko Watanabe, an assistant professor at Baruch College, once described rakugo as "a sitcom with one person playing all the parts."
Rakugo is the popular 400-year-old art of Japanese storytelling. It consists of a repertoire of more than 500 classical stories that have been passed down from master to disciple over the centuries. In addition to the classical rakugo stories, there is a substantial collection of new and original rakugo stories being written and performed by contemporary rakugoka (storytellers) on a continuing basis.
As the author/ editor of three rakugo books introducing English-speaking audiences to Japan's delightful storytelling tradition, I thought it would be fun to compile and release a collection of my own original English rakugo stories. I hope these stories will enlighten and entertain you.
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Talking About Rakugo 2
Rakugo, with its stories rooted in everyday life, is currently experiencing a boom in popularity not just in the country where it originated, but also in places where until just recently the word rakugo was an unfamiliar term. The art form, which was once confined to the traditional yose theaters, has expanded to a variety of media, including radio, television, internet, CDs, DVDs, film, drama, manga, and anime.
It owes its success to its practitioners, the RAKUGOKA. The contemporary storytellers, who shifting away from the norms and rules guiding them in their treatment of the narratives, have diversified and developed personas based on their individual lifestyles and personalities. Each one brings his or her own experiences, eccentricities, and authenticity to the unique world of rakugo. Sometimes the stories behind the storytellers entice the public as much as the ones they tell on stage.
You were introduced to the traditional Japanese art of storytelling in Talking About Rakugo, now venture into the private world of the storytellers in Talking About Rakugo 2: The Stories Behind the Storytellers.
Talking About Rakugo 1
While most Westerners today are acquainted with the traditional Japanese performing arts of Noh and kabuki, very few have heard of rakugo.
What is rakugo? While some people simply refer to it as Japanese “sit down,” or “kneel down comedy,” this 400-year-old art of storytelling is more complex than those over-simplified descriptions imply. Although it is true that rakugo is performed by a seated storyteller, unlike stand-up comedy, it is not just a series of jokes being fired off one after the other. Rakugo is a continuous story that often incorporates humorous monologues and builds up to the punchline at the end. It also requires the raconteur to portray multiple parts. Professional rakugo performers, like Noh and kabuki practitioners, endure a long and arduous apprenticeship with an experienced master storyteller in order to learn and perfect their art.
It is natural to think of rakugo as a comedic art because it was originally called otoshibanashi (stories with a punchline). However, the word “rakugo” is used as a general term to describe various types of stories including kokkeibanashi (funny stories), ninjobanashi (tragicomic human-interest stories), and kaidanbanashi (scary ghost stories).
When discussing rakugo, it is important to point out that there are two distinct performance styles. The first style is known as Kamigata (Osaka) rakugo and the second style is known as Edo (Tokyo) rakugo. The formats are practically the same and stories are shared between the two; however, there are some key differences to be aware of.
Both Kamigata rakugo and Edo rakugo emerged during the seventeenth century, but Edo rakugo was performed indoors while Kamigata rakugo was performed outdoors. As a result, the rakugoka (storytellers) performing in the Kamigata style had to devise ways through which they could attract people passing by and hold their attention throughout the performance. This is why Kamigata rakugo tends to be more colorful and cheerful than Edo rakugo. Furthermore, Kamigata rakugo storytellers place greater emphasis on entertaining an audience and making them laugh. Often, they will repeat a joke until they elicit laughter from the audience.
Since Edo rakugo was performed indoors, patrons were required to pay a fee before being admitted into the theater to watch the performance. With Kamigata rakugo, the performers collected money from the audience members who were still standing around after the performance had concluded. For this reason, it was imperative for Kamigata rakugo performers to engage their audience members and keep them laughing all the way until the end.
Other distinguishing characteristics of Kamigata rakugo include the use of a small wooden table known as a kendai, on which the storyteller strikes a wooden clapper called a kobyoshi to signal the beginning of a story or a scene change. There is a small screen placed in front of the wooden table to hide the performer’s knees, which is called a hizakakushi. This style of rakugo also sometimes employs sound effects during the performance to help punctuate the story.
All of these outdoor techniques were retained by the Kamigata storytellers long after the performances were moved indoors during the eighteenth century with the establishment of vaudeville type theaters known as seki. And since the Kanto ("to" meaning "east") region starkly differs in terms of language, food, and culture from the Kansai ("sai" meaning "west") region, the theaters are known as yose in the eastern part of Japan where the Edo storytelling tradition originated.
Even though the style of performance and presentation of rakugo has changed very little since the art form was formally established in the late eighteenth century, calling it Japan’s traditional art gives it a sense of inflexibility. On the contrary, rakugo, unlike Noh and kabuki, is very adaptable.
Rakugo’s collection of more than 500 classical stories, which date back to the Edo era, have been updated and altered through the years to include references to current events and situations in an attempt to help audience members better identify with the narratives. Rakugo also includes a vast assortment of original modern stories that are being written every day and constantly altered and updated to suit the audience, the time, and the place. In this regard, rakugo performers are not simply good comedians, but gifted, well-studied, and highly intuitive master storytellers.
There are as many reasons why people want to become rakugo performers as there are rakugoka performing in Japan today. Each person has his or her own unique story recalling why they followed the path leading to the world of rakugo. Perhaps the most unique reason comes from a performer known as Yanagiya Fukumaru II (born in 1954). Born into an affluent family, he always fancied living a poor man’s lifestyle. After joining the world of rakugo, he succeeded in that endeavor.
Though rakugo itself is not yet well-known in the West, thanks to the manga Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju (English title, Descending Stories) and English rakugo events organized to foster cultural exchanges, Westerners are slowly becoming better acquainted with the art form.