RAKUGO with Subtitles

Exporting the classic art of Japanese storytelling beyond the borders of Japan

“Thank you for coming today. Of all the possible venues for entertainment, you picked the yose.

You must be true fans of rakugo.

But don’t you have any place better to go?”

―Kokontei Shingo (1949-2010)

The yose, the traditional vaudeville type theaters cultivated in Japan since the 18th century. Here you will find the 400-year-old tradition of comic monologue storytelling called rakugo being performed by professional storytellers known as rakugoka. Today, there are nearly 1,000 professional rakugo storytellers in Japan who perpetuate an art form that has virtually remained unchanged since it became widely popular during the Edo Period.

Although most yose theaters have faded into the past, there are eight still in existence today. These include the Kobe-Shinkaichi Kirakukan in Kobe, the Osu Engeijo Entertainment Hall in Nagoya, the Dourakutei and theTemma Tenjin Hanjo Tei in Osaka, and the four theaters in Tokyo known as the Asakusa Engei Hall , the Ikebukuro Engeijo, the Shinjuku Suehirotei, and the Suzumoto Engeijo.

These theaters are historically significant to Japanese culture yet very few foreign-language tour guides mention them on their tours. This is because rakugo can only be heard in the Japanese language at the yose.

For centuries, rakugo seemed almost impenetrable to those without a strong command of the Japanese language until an inventive rakugo performer of the late 20th century named Katsura Shijaku II (1939-1999) stepped in. He was the first professional rakugo storyteller to perform his rakugo in the English language and to bring his performances to audiences overseas.

Today, English rakugo has gained a foothold in the world of Japanese traditional arts, but it is mastered only by a small handful of rakugo storytellers.

Most Japanese rakugo performers do not perform in English simply because they do not speak the language. However, a growing number of storytellers who cannot speak English but are interested in communicating rakugo to a foreign audience are attempting to perform rakugo with English subtitles.

Rakugo with subtitles is an interesting concept, and I am highly in favor of introducing the art form to non-Japanese audiences. However, I believe that subtitles are not well-suited for rakugo.

My reason for this is that a rakugo storyteller masterfully conveys a myriad of non-verbal subtleties during the storytelling process by developing characters, engaging the audience, and encouraging them to use their imaginations. Forcing the audience to read subtitles from a screen prevents them from picking up on these subtleties and it also takes away from enjoying rakugo as it is meant to be enjoyed.

Further, rakugo storytellers often change the story on the spot to better suit the audience and help them enjoy the experience even more. Subtitles inhibit this flexibility and force the storyteller to stick to the script so to speak. Subtitles take away the spontaneity of the performance and may ultimately throw off the storyteller's timing which is critical to conveying the story and getting audience members to laugh.

I am not in favor of using subtitles in rakugo and prefer the Japanese rakugoka who make an effort to entertain foreign audiences in their native language. What do you think?

KRISTINE OHKUBO is the author of several English language books pertaining to rakugo. In 2023, she published a short collection of new and original English rakugo stories under the title Fallen Words.