Our feature article is an interview with rakugo (Japanese comic storytelling) artist Diane Kichijitsu. Born in Liverpool, England and now residing in Osaka, Japan, Diane was backpacking around the world when she arrived in Japan in 1990. Fascinated by Japanese culture, she studied various traditional arts from flower arrangement to tea ceremony before becoming enthralled with rakugo. We caught up with her to find out more about this unique Japanese speaking art.

What is rakugo?

Rakugo is basically comedy storytelling but, unlike stand-up comedy, it's storytelling with comedy so it does actually have a beginning, middle and an end. It is very traditional – started over 400 years ago, and is popular all over Japan. Recently it has become known as "sit-down" comedy because you perform the entire story kneeling down on a cushion. In rakugo, as opposed to narrating the story you act out each character. There could be five or six characters in one scene so you change your eye direction, posture and so on for each character. You also use two props, a fan and a small hand towel, but they can be used to represent different items in the story so it's very much based on your imagination. The stage is very simple also, so basically it's just the story taking you on a little journey.

Do you perform rakugo in Japanese?

I perform in Japanese and in English, and I have one story that I perform in Japanese sign-language. Most of the time I’m asked to perform in English, even in cases when the audience is 100% Japanese. People are very curious about rakugo in English. Most people have never seen it done in English – in fact a lot of people have never seen a live performance of rakugo in general!

If the English level of the audience is not that high, sometimes they ask me to perform bilingually – where I mix both languages or talk under my breath in Japanese before I say something in English. I do this especially when performing for schoolkids who are learning English – I want them to enjoy the story and not lose confidence thinking "Oh, English is too hard!" I want them to go away with good memories!

Do you perform traditional stories?

I do traditional stories and modern stories that I’ve written myself, but I also mix them as well. Sometimes I might take a classical tale and update it – bringing it into the present tense. Because the stories are very solid and well written, even though some of them were written over 100 years ago, they still work now. So I do like to take that and mix them up a bit! A lot of the old stories were written by men for men. Most of the characters in the stories are male and at first I thought I had to perform them as they were. However, I learnt that you didn't necessarily need to do so. If it’s a story that someone else has written then of course you have to ask them if you can change it around, but if it’s an old classic tale, none of the original writers are still here and so you are able to change the story. I realised I could put female characters in, for example, so I will change some of the characters around. Or perhaps if the main item of the story is something that overseas people are not familiar with I may change it – for example, with Manju Kowai I changed it to Sushi Kowai.

How easy is it for someone visiting Japan to watch a live performance of rakugo?

It depends on the advertising – I always put my own events up on my own website, but of course I don’t perform in one particular place every month. I don’t think there is a general website in English. There are always performances all over Japan, so you can find information in Japanese – but in English you would be limited.

Is rakugo still popular in Japan?

Yes, I would say so. Some people are used to going to the same theatre weekly so they go regardless of who is performing. Others just follow their own favourite rakugo artists. But with the English rakugo, because there’s still not so much chance to see it, most of the shows are usually sold out.

How long did it take for you to get to the stage where you could perform your own rakugo?

It actually happened very fast for me. I had watched some rakugo performances and then I joined a dojo and learnt all the basics, and was asked to perfom very soon. I’d written my own story and I was asked to perform it for the first performance I did. The very first time I performed in Japanese and then was asked to do a story in English! It was a story I’d seen performed at one of Katsura Shijaku’s performances. His son performed it and then I was asked to do it. I had to rewrite it a little to make it my own. I performed in front of about 300 people, and that was within the first year of taking up rakugo.

We went to America the following year and did a tour, and that’s kind of where it all kicked off. It started as a hobby – I never thought I’d actually make a living out of it – so that was a big surprise to me. The more I did it, the more I fell in love with it. Especially performing overseas, and in front of overseas visitors in Japan, I see the potential. So many people have never been exposed to rakugo, and it's such a shame because it's a fantastic performance art. It has a great history and I was just amazed that it wasn’t well-known overseas. In fact, I had been in Japan for over six years before I even saw it! The language barrier of course is also an issue, and the fact that almost no one was performing it in English when I started.

People really love rakugo. Whenever I perform overseas, people tell me how much they love it. Even Japanese people who live overseas – as I said, many of them have never seen a live performance of rakugo before. Even in Japan!

How long does one performance last?

Usually I perform just one or two stories but the most I have done in one sitting was three. I might also do seminars afterwards – talks or slide shows. Sometimes I do a workshop to get the audience involved. I usually do a little demonstration before the show as well, if I think I’m in a situation where people have never seen rakugo before. If you suddenly start the story – looking left and right – people start looking behind you to see who you’re talking too! So it's good to set the scene before.

For one sitting I usually do about half an hour but that includes a demonstration and setting up the scene, especially if I need to explain about a classic rakugo story. However, the whole performance depends on how long I have available – I can make a story longer or shorter if I need to. The beginning of the story is the makura so you can do anything you want there – relating something from your own experience that leads naturally into the main story. You can play around with that.

What’s your favourite story to perform?

There’s a story called “Wonderful Japan” which was written by a Japanese man – Yamamoto Masaaki. The pioneer of rakugo in English, Katsura Shijaku, studied English at his school and they developed the story together. The first time I was the stage assistant (ochako) at Shijaku-san's show, this story was performed by his son. It is about an Englishman’s first visit to Japan (originally about an American man, but of course I changed it!) – about his experiences, the things that happen to him – he gets free tissues, encounters automatic taxi doors, people keep asking where he’s from and how old he is, whether he likes Japan. When I tell the story, even though I didn’t write it, I can put in a lot of personal experiences as a foreigner in Japan.

The reaction of the audience is very interesting. Even with a mixture of Japanese and non-Japanese, they laugh at the same points, although it might be for different reasons! That story is a lot of fun and I can change things as I like – when things come into the news or when something is getting popular. For Japanese people as well, it's fun to see Japan through the eyes of a foreigner, so I like performing it in Japan especially. Overseas I like the story Takoyaki Time. It is my version of the classic tale, Toki Udon – very visual and easy to follow, so children especially like it. The punch-line is also great! A lot of the classic stories have really good punch-lines.

Have you every tried telling any traditional British stories in a rakugo style?

This is what I’d like to do next! There is one story called "The Eye Doctor" and everyone told me it was a classic tale in Japan but I knew the punch-line as a joke from when I was growing up in England. I don’t know where it started from! I perform that one as well, but I’d love to take some well known stories from England – fairy tales or something – and put them into a rakugo format. I’d like to introduce some stories to Japan, just as I am introducing Japanese stories overseas.

Where can people see you perform?

I'm based in Japan, but I do go overseas a few times a year. The great thing about what I do is that I can still be a backpacker! I just put my kimono in my bag, and wherever I go someone has a cushion I can borrow. My props are just a fan and a handkerchief – it's so easy and mobile! I don’t need a big space, just somewhere to kneel down. I can continue my hobby of travelling and also introduce Japanese culture to people, which is something I knew nothing about before I went to Japan. I've learnt a lot since I've been there and now it's my chance to give something back. Rakugo is still relatively unknown overseas – I can understand why with the barrier of language – but I can see that I have an opportunity to bridge the gap.

All my upcoming performances are listed on my website so please do check if you’d like to come and see me!

JICC