Hiroyuki Ariyoshi – A glimpse of the “human side” behind his tongue at the memorial service for Ryubei Ueshima

The personality of Hiroyuki Ariyoshi oozed out.

On May 14, the funeral service for Ryubei Ueshima of the “Dacho Club,” who died suddenly on May 11, was held in a quiet ceremony. Ariyoshi, who was a particularly close friend of the club, spoke about the funeral on the radio program “Hiroyuki Ariyoshi’s SUNDAY NIGHT DREAMER” ( (JFN),” in which he spoke about the event.

At the beginning of the program, he acted cheerful, but soon afterwards he said

I was quite surprised. I thought I was cheered up, but I keep repeating myself. I was thinking I was upbeat, but it keeps repeating itself.

He then revealed, “I was feeling down and up. He said that he had a silent meeting with Mr. Ueshima on the evening of the 11th, the day of his death.

I was left alone with her, but….

After letting out a deep sigh, he continued as follows.

I was going to say something like, ‘You’re an idiot,’ or make fun of him, but all I could say was, ‘Thank you very much. All I could say was thank you.”

Tears in her voice, as if she were about to disappear. Ariyoshi is known for his tongue-lashing character, and on the January 2 broadcast of this year’s program, in front of Ueshima, who appeared as a guest on the program, he mentioned the name of Ken Shimura, who died in March 2008, and teased him about it.

It’s been a year and a half since Shimura-san passed away…” began Ariyoshi.

Ariyoshi began.

I think you already called him, didn’t you?　Mr. Shimura, I miss you. I think he is saying, ‘Ryu-chan, I miss you,’ in heaven.

I’m sure he’s in heaven. Ueshima replied.

No, he would call Daigo before me.

Ariyoshi replied, “No, Daigo is still young.

No, Daigo is still young. Shimura-san is surely saying from heaven, ‘Daigo, work harder’ or ‘Ryu-chan, I’m going to miss you soon.

He is still young. Ueshima responded.

I’m going to make it clear. I hate it!　I don’t want to do that. Even if I died, I wouldn’t want to be invited to die.

Ariyoshi laughed out loud.

This exchange was rehashed after Ueshima’s death, and some criticism arose on the Internet, but a person involved in the comedy industry said, “That was just Ariyoshi’s style of pep talk.

According to a person involved in comedy, “I think that was Ariyoshi’s way of giving a pep talk. After Mr. Shimura’s death and the Corona disaster, he was going out less and less, and there was talk among those close to him that ‘Ueshima-san’s spirits were low. I think that Mr. Ariyoshi wanted Mr. Ueshima to get better, so he dared to use Mr. Shimura as a topic.

He said, “Mr. Ueshima is a serious person at heart.

He is serious at heart and considerate of others. He takes good care of his junior comedians, who are also members of Ota Productions. He was well aware of his own character, and at Ueshima’s funeral, he had been whispering, “I might pour boiling water on his face,” but when he actually witnessed his benefactor’s death, all that came out were words of gratitude.

All the Ryuhei Kai members who attended the funeral, including Mr. Ariyoshi, cried ragged tears. Each member was pouring out words of thanks to Mr. Ueshima,” said an entertainment industry insider.

Ariyoshi said on the radio.

Ariyoshi said on the aforementioned radio: “At the wake and at the funeral, there were things that made me laugh a little bit. It was just like Hikaru-san when (his wife) Hikaru (Hirokawa) made a stout speech at the end as a pallbearer.

When she was about to say that Ryu-san liked Tora-san, she suddenly said, “Tora-san died…I thought it was Ryu-san,” and everyone laughed. Hikaru-san was laughing all the way through, and I thought it was a nice funeral.

I thought it was a nice funeral,” she said stoutly. Ariyoshi did not shy away from sharing his feelings on the radio for the sake of his fans who were worried about him. It was a glimpse of the “human side” hidden behind the tongue of a man who has many regular programs and is still active at the top of the entertainment world. Ariyoshi ended his speech with the following words

I am sad to see Ueshima-san go. I have a lot of stories to tell. I have so many things to talk about that it would become a classic rakugo story. I will not forget about Ueshima-san, and I will continue to talk about him.

He expressed his determination. I guess this is also Ariyoshi’s way of making offerings.