<figure id="attachment_468633" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-468633" style="width: 2645px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="140fbbc2"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/05/7f163773042b43e15210001e5c3465ee.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-468633" class="wp-caption-text">Tachikawa Shirakada announced that Hikaru will make his &#8220;debut as a rakugo artist&#8221; &#8230;&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
<h2><span class="strongInContent"> Hikaru to be Tachikawa Shiraku</span></h2>
<p> The machinations of popular YouTube star Hikaru (34) and popular rakugo storyteller Shiraku Tachikawa (62) are causing a bit of a stir in the rakugo community.</p>
<p> The web edition of a sports newspaper reported, &#8220;Hikaru has become an apprentice to a very famous rakugo storyteller!　He will debut as &#8220;Tachikawa Sagishi&#8221;&#8221; (Sports Nippon) and &#8220;Hikaru to debut as a rakugo artist?　Shiraku Tachikawa declared, &#8220;He wants to do rakugo as Sagishi Tachikawa&#8230;Let&#8217;s make him debut&#8221; (Daily Sports).</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> The story goes as follows.</p>
<p> Hikaru denied on his YouTube page that Tamori&#8217;s art was not funny. When Shiraku caught this information and criticized Hikaru, Hikaru in turn criticized Shiraku for criticizing him based only on a part of the information that had been cut out of Hikaru&#8217;s video.</p>
<p> Shiraku immediately apologized. After watching all of Hikaru&#8217;s YouTube videos, Shiraku met with Hikaru in person to tell him how interesting Tamori was. The two hit it off, and Hikaru personally expressed to Shiraku his desire to do rakugo on line, which was reported by the sports newspaper.</p>
<p> Rakugo artists do not debut. Singers have debut CDs and singles, and actors have debut works, but in the case of rakugo, the only thing that replaces a debut is the first &#8220;koza&#8221; (first performance at the koza), which is a period of training for the front of the house. It is a very modest event.</p>
<p> But, knowing this, he said to me, &#8220;Let&#8217;s give him a debut.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Let&#8217;s make him make his debut.</span></p>
<p> Shiraku&#8217;s intention is clear when he says, &#8220;Let him make his debut. He was calculating that he could leverage the popularity of a popular YouTube star for the sake of rakugo. It&#8217;s as expected.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> Shiraku&#8217;s plan spread on social networking sites, and rakugo storytellers and rakugo fans began to offer their opinions. Shiraku&#8217;s plan spread on social networking sites, and rakugo storytellers and rakugo fans began to offer their opinions.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Some people did not welcome Shiraku&#8217;s plan, saying, &#8220;A rakugo artist starts his training from the front of the house and strives to become a full-fledged rakugo artist!</span></p>
<p> And those who don&#8217;t welcome it,</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Some people welcome it, saying, &#8220;If rakugo is going to be a topic of conversation, then why not?</span></p>
<p> If rakugo becomes a topic of conversation, it&#8217;s good.</p>
<p> When a non-rakugo performer publicly announces that he or she wants to perform rakugo, many people try to judge him or her from such a perspective. Similar reactions flooded social networking sites when former House of Councillors member Garcie previously announced that he would make his debut as a rakugo performer.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" What is the &quot;scheme&quot; that Hikaru and Shiraku have devised? ......"></div>
<div class="expapp-yahoo-paragraph-break"></div>
<figure id="attachment_468639" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-468639" style="width: 744px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="5a4b095f"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/05/34d135c851cb6c9e01b88235b7e7c066.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-468639" class="wp-caption-text">Charismatic YouTube star Hikaru declares his debut as a rakugo performer under Shiraku</figcaption></figure>
<h2><span class="strongInContent"> I want to speak rakugo.&#8221;</span></h2>
<p> Hikaru&#8217;s dare was a clever response to the numerous critics of Shiraku and Hikaru&#8217;s methods, both well-known and unknown.</p>
<p> Hikaru is X.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> To those who say, &#8220;Are you licking the rakugo world?　My talent is real and first-class.</span></p>
<p> He said, &#8220;I have a lot of room to grow. He is so self-affirming that if he were to boil his own nails and sell them, they would be a big hit!</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> If one wanted to become a traditional rakugo performer, it would make sense to begin by apprenticing under a master and training as a front-runner, but Hikaru has a strong desire to &#8220;speak rakugo,&#8221; and it can be interpreted that Shiraku accepted his offer to take him on as an apprentice and became his sponsor.</p>
<p> We should not try to apply the old standards of rakugo to him. It is not the same thing from the beginning. If you don&#8217;t take this into consideration, only the particularity of &#8220;this is what the rakugo world is like&#8221; will become conspicuous.</p>
<p> Once upon a time, actor Nao Minamisawa (35) made her debut in rakugo. She was trained by Ichima Yanagitei, former president of the Rakugo Association, and performed the classic rakugo story &#8220;Hinatsuba&#8221; in front of 400 to 500 people. There was no criticism from anyone.</p>
<p> In the same way, if Hikaru had practiced rakugo in secret and performed the rakugo that Shiraku had thoroughly trained him to perform, the public would have said &#8220;wow&#8221; or &#8220;fake&#8221; at his performance. Shiraku and Hikaru&#8217;s plan not to do so is a preemptive attempt to create a buzz, but a buzz is a buzz, whether it is good or bad. It is not easy to create a topic about rakugo.</p>
<p> There are some types of people in the world who declare, &#8220;I will do this,&#8221; and then do what they say they will do. Shiraku and Hikaru&#8217;s mentor and disciple have &#8220;said&#8221; what they would do. The only thing left is to &#8220;do it.</p>
<p> As far as I can tell from his YouTube videos, Hikaru is a good speaker (he needs to fix his slang, though). There have been cases where actors and voice actors have almost completely copied rakugo and made it into a form in their own way. There are even some who, like actor Morio Kazama (77), have successfully monetized their work by holding rakugo performances that rival their own.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p> A YouTube video featuring Shiraku and Hikaru has already received nearly 5 million views. The post reads</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I&#8217;m going to Shiraku&#8217;s next rakugo performance because of Hikaru!</span></p>
<p> Hikaru&#8217;s video has already received close to 5 million views. Shiraku and Hikaru&#8217;s plan has already succeeded.</p>
<p> Now, a few months or a year from now, Shiraku will be giving his own solo Rakugo performance.</p>
<p> Shiraku will be able to &#8220;debut&#8221; Sagishi Tachikawa as the opening act in his own solo show. What will his first performance by a talent who can be categorically said to be genuine and of the first class be like?</p>
<p> You will be able to experience the toughness of rakugo on the stage.</p>


 Norihisa Watanabe (entertainment critic)

 Kyodo (Shiraku), Shinji Hamasaki (Hikaru)

 The charismatic YouTube star Hikaru has suddenly announced that he is going to become a rakugo artist, causing a stir in the rakugo world. His mentor, Shiraku Tachikawa, is also getting into the act, and we take a look at what they have in store for him. ......

Hikaru and his master, Shiraku Tachikawa, are “thinking” about making a breakthrough in the world of rakugo.

Access Ranking