A “graduate of Tokyo University” promoted to Shin-uchi! Rakugo performer Shokichi Harufutei: “I loved both ‘Downtown’ and ‘Bakusho Mondai’!

Two years ago, rakugo storyteller Shokichi Harufutei, 43, attracted attention when he became the first rakugo performer to be promoted to the rank of makuuchi after graduating from the University of Tokyo. Since his promotion, he has traveled extensively throughout Japan, and has also appeared on the popular variety show “Prevato! (TBS), he won a haiku contest with Shiraku Tachikawa (59), and was talked about as having agreed to appear at his own rakugo performances with no pay. He has also worked as an MC for an economic program and has experience as a weathercaster. When we asked him why he became a rakugo performer after graduating from the University of Tokyo, the source of his versatility became clear.

When I was in junior high school and elementary school,” says Shokichi, “I used to do rakugo in the corner of the classroom during recess. When asked about the comedy shows he used to watch at that time, the names of popular comedians such as “Downtown,” “Uccchan Nanchan,” “Shimura Ken,” “Tunnels,” and “Bakusho Mondai” came up as if in a rakugo story.

Among them, I used to listen to the radio program “Broadcast Room” (TOKYO FM) of Mr. Mitsuyoshi Takasu, who is a broadcaster, a lot. I also liked ‘IPPON Grand Prix’ (Fuji TV), which had the theme of ‘One word with a picture,’ and I liked ‘Hitori Gottsu’ and ‘Matsu Gottsu’ (Fuji TV), which were the first shows to do so.

It was also during this period that he first encountered rakugo.

When I was in high school, I saw a TV program that happened to feature (Tachikawa) Danshi (75 years old). I thought, ‘There is such an interesting man in the world,’ and I read his book, ‘Modern Rakugo Theory,’ which was also interesting. I found that Master Danshi’s interestingness was the same as that of “Tunnels,” “Downtown,” and “Bakusho Mondai,” all of which I had liked in the past. Also, when I was a ronin, I went to Yoyogi Seminar’s Okayama School, but because it was in the countryside, the trains only came twice an hour, so I always had to wait at the station. What I was doing was reading a book titled “100 Seats of Classic Rakugo” by Master Shinosuke at the station bookstore. At the time, I knew nothing about rakugo. Even so, I read a double-page spread of stories such as “Tokisoba” and “Hatsutenjin” and kept reminding myself, while waiting for the train, “The story I just told you was like this and had an ending like this.

However, at that time, rakugo was still one of Shokichi’s favorite genres of comedy. So it was purely out of love for comedy, rather than rakugo, that he entered the University of Tokyo at the age of 23 after being a ronin for five years and joined its rakugo research society.

Even though it was a rakugo research group, there were not many people doing rakugo, and I started out doing comic monologues and the like. At that time, “Red Carpet” (Fuji Television) and “Entanokami” (Nippon Television) were popular, not that there was anything wrong with those shows, but they were different from what I liked, such as “Broadcasting Room” and “Ippon Gottsu,” which I liked. Also, at the University of Tokyo, there was Professor Susumu Yamamoto and a number of other great rakugo researchers, and they paid a lot of attention to me. So I began to perform rakugo in earnest, and it turned out to be very interesting. Classical rakugo is not so good on the beach, but when you get to the deep end, it is very interesting. I think I have a similar worldview to that of Hikaru Ota (57) of “Bakusho Mondai,” Danshi Tachikawa, and Hitoshi Matsumoto (59).

In 2006, Shokichi won the All Japan Student Rakugo Championship and the Scheduled Storytelling Award, a student rakugo competition, and was praised by Bunshi Katsura (79), the head of the judging committee, who said, “He’s not very good at it, but he’s got a very funny pillow. This experience also led him to apprentice himself to Shota Harufutei (63).

He says that his training as an apprentice of Shota’s was “hottarakatta,” meaning that he was left to his own devices. However, it seems that Shokichi found the water more suitable for his training.

My master never told me to come to his house and clean it,” he said. In the words of Master Danshi, “Those who don’t do it don’t do it even if you tell them to. He was right. If I think this rakugo is interesting or I want to do it, I have to learn it by myself. I am neither athletic nor good-looking, but I like rakugo, and I like to practice and study. That’s how I’ve been doing it for 16 years. But I don’t have to tell them how to raise and lower their chopsticks, and they are very supportive if I am motivated.

In fact, it was Master Shota who suggested that he become a certified weather forecaster, and he also provided assistance for that purpose. Thanks in part to his efforts, he was selected as a weather reporter for a Fuji Television program in 2001 and was ranked first in the rakugo artist category in the same year’s TV appearance rankings. His promotion to the second rank in 2011 was a further opportunity to expand his world.

Mr. Yamamoto, a rakugo instructor at the University of Tokyo’s Rakugo Research Institute, told me, ‘Shokichi-san, you will have more time once you become second in line, so you should take up storytelling, koshaku, shamisen, nagauta, and traditional Japanese dance. I still go to see kabuki every month, and I also go to haiku meetings every month. It’s like a drinking party about half the time, but it’s also connected to the pre-battle. Rakugo, haiku, and being a weather forecaster are all combined in my mind. In Japan, there are four seasons, and haiku is a way of describing each season in 5-7-5 haiku, and there are many haiku in rakugo. When I think of seasonal words, I find it interesting to learn that this seasonal word was created in this period, or that this word in rakugo was created in the Meiji period and not in the Edo period.

Shokichi says he likes to study what he likes. And the amount of enthusiasm he puts into his studies is incredible. And he enjoys the stress of his daily life.

I am currently working on an economic program in Okayama, and I like to study economics. For example, there was a time when we featured a company that made rice cookies, and I bought a lot of books on Amazon about allergies. If it was a haiku, during the period when I was given a subject, I would get up at 3:00 in the morning and think about it all the time, even when I was in the countryside. I’m allowed to do work that I truly love, and I’m having a lot of fun doing it.

Shokichi seems to have already done everything he loves to the max, so we asked him what he would like to do in the future.

There are a total of 860 rakugo performers in the East and West. Among them, there are some who have been active for a long time and others who are not successful at all. Even if you are a living national treasure or a successful one, you are finished when you die. So, when I think about what I should do when I consider that I am also a rakugo performer, the most important thing is what I want to do now. It doesn’t matter what other people think. To put it bluntly, rakugo is something that satisfies me, but I don’t think those words convey what I want to do. I think the most important thing is to clarify your objective and think about how you want to do it first, and then put that first.

In an area that he says has nothing to do with rakugo, he also has a dream of donating Braille picture books of really interesting classic rakugo stories. Life is too short! But he will continue to pursue “what I love and what I want to do,” and perhaps that is exactly what he means.