The Art of Living of Harufutei Ischo - Carrying the Landscape of the 1970s and 1980s

The Art of Living of Harufutei Ischo - Carrying the Landscape of the 1970s and 1980s

Harufutei Ischo was introduced to Yanagisyo V in 1968, and in 1973 he was promoted to the second rank and took the name "Ischo. Looking back on his younger days, his words, "I became a rakugo (comical storyteller)," reflect his determination to live his art. In the 1970s and 1980s, Japan transitioned from a period of rapid economic growth to one of stable economic growth, and the spread of television led to an increase in home entertainment and a decline in the presence of rakugo theaters. While many young rakugo performers were seeking avenues for television appearances, Ischo maintained an art rooted in the sensibilities of ordinary people and pursued a style of storytelling that was based on classical rakugo and that was attuned to the daily lives of his audiences. While cherishing the "forms" he had learned from his master, he emphasized free expression within the framework of those forms, aiming to create rakugo that reflected "the present moment" and was alive. His life
as a performer was not merely an attempt to preserve rakugo, but to connect it to the present and the future in response to a changing society, reaffirming the significance of rakugo as a cultural device that reflects the lives of ordinary people of the times.