The Question of the Rebel Child - The Solitary Way of Danshi Tachikawa (1970s-80s)

The Question of the Rebel Child - The Solitary Way of Danshi Tachikawa (1970s-80s)

The question "What is rakugo?" posed by Tatekawa Danshi had a profound impact on the world of rakugo in the 1970s and 1980s. At the time, the number of Yose theaters was declining and the audience was growing smaller, and the rakugo community was torn between preserving tradition and introducing new forms of expression. With television becoming the mainstream form of entertainment and variety gaining strength, rakugo performers were faced with the choice of staying in the yose or expanding into television. Danshi refused to follow the association's policy and left to found the Tachikawa school. He believed that a performance at a koza is a once-in-a-lifetime event and that stories should change with the times. He feared that the art of rakugo would die if the classics were simply reenacted in the same manner as before, and believed that the essence of rakugo was to reflect the "present" of the audience. In an era of rapid economic growth and diversifying values, Danshi contin
ued to search for the future of rakugo, caught between tradition and innovation. Leaving the association meant isolation, but at the same time it was an act of demonstrating a new philosophy: "Rakugo is an activity in which the performer and the audience live in the moment. Danshi was both a rebel and an experimenter, and the question of whether rakugo is a classic or a new work is a debate that lives on today.