JAPAN’S HONPO-JI TEMPLE AND ITS TOMB DEDICATED TO RAKUGO

As Japan inched closer toward ultra-nationalism during the war years, countless institutions —including rakugo — were affected. The playful wit and unpretentious humor that typically characterized the art form gave way to stories which glorified the feats of the Imperial Japanese forces. These tales, which were collectively called kokusaku rakugo (national policy rakugo), were penned by contemporary rakugo performers such as Hayashiya Shozo VII at the request of the military. Given rakugo’s mass appeal, the military seized the opportunity to capitalize on it and the rakugo community obliged.

This was also the time when rakugo performers in Tokyo were forced to refrain from performing 53 classical stories which had been labeled as kin-en rakugo (prohibited rakugo). Wartime censors shared a belief that rakugo stories about the pleasure quarters, alcohol, and mistresses, all of which were deemed demoralizing and degenerate, would weaken the fighting spirit of the people.

Although ken-etsu (censorship) had existed in Japan since the Edo period (1603-1867), censors exercised a particularly heavy hand during the war years from the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 to the end of World War II in 1945. Naturally, anything deemed detrimental to the war effort was banned and the ban was extended to include rakugo.

Honpo-ji is an intimate little Buddhist temple situated near the Tawara-machi subway station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza line between Ueno and Asakusa. It was once located in the Hatcho-bori area but the compound was completely burned down during the 1657 Furisode Fire. More commonly known as the Great Fire of Meireki, it lasted for three days, destroyed 60-70% of Edo (modern-day Tokyo), and claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people. The temple was subsequently rebuilt in Asakusa.

The hanashika (storytellers) jumped at the suggestion, and in 1941 they erected a stone monument called Hanashizuka at Honpo-ji Temple. They inscribed the words “Mourning the buried masterpieces” on it and buried the texts of the forbidden stories beneath it. Every year thereafter, the storytellers gathered at the tomb to offer their prayers to the “dead stories.”

As the war raged on, Honpo-ji was significantly damaged by the Allied bombing campaigns over Tokyo. The hanashika gathered together once again and proposed to rebuild the temple. They each contributed a stone block to build a fence around it. They managed to erect a fence measuring approximately seven feet high and almost thirty feet long. Each stone block bears the name of the contributor. Visitors to the temple today can read the names of all of the prominent storytellers in Japan at the time.

When the war ended, so did the ban on the stories. In September 1946, a revival festival featuring the previously banned stories was held in front of the Hanashizuka. The banned scripts buried in the tomb were later replaced by the stories that were permitted to be performed during the war.

Today, rakugo storytellers still visit the Hanashizuka and offer their prayers for the unfortunate stories.