The Pause between KATSURA Beicho and Television: The Heart of Protecting the Breathing Space of the Arts (circa 1970)

The Pause between KATSURA Beicho and Television: The Heart of Protecting the Breathing Space of the Arts (circa 1970)
Around 1970, the center of Japan's popular entertainment rapidly shifted to television, and the lights in the living room were tinted with the glow of cathode ray tubes. The number of seats at yose (parlors) was gradually decreasing, and an era was about to begin in which rakugo artists' income and name recognition depended on their TV appearances. In the midst of such a changing environment, KATSURA Yonemasa neither dismisses television out of hand nor blindly relies on it, but maintains a unique sense of distance as he speaks.
For Yonemasa, television was a convenient and broad window, but it was not a place where the art of rakugo could be nurtured. At a rakugo theater, the tone of the story changes according to the breathing and timing of the audience, and the atmosphere that pervades the place shapes the art of rakugo. On television, however, the audience's laughter is recorded, and the pacing of the performers is leveled. Yonetomo was keenly aware of these restrictions and the dangers of the art being consumed on television. His conviction that television, even as a gateway to rakugo, could never replace the mainstay of the show, the koza, is evident in the depths of his narration.
Also during this period, Oyake Soichi's theory of "moronization" was being revived, and the evils of television were being discussed loudly. However, Yonemasa's gaze was quieter and more focused on the performers. His cautious stance reveals his belief that it is not television that makes people morons, but rather the side that seeks to make their art shallow and easily accepted. As television culture gains momentum, the only way to preserve the essence of rakugo is to protect one's own timing and not be swallowed up by the TV style. Yonetomo believed this, and he did not forget to maintain his moderation and tread lightly in order to do so.
The world of rakugo was in turmoil, the yose theater was beginning to decline, and the great wave of television was sweeping in. In these times, Yonetomo believed that the art of rakugo is something that accumulates over time and continues to grow as people live and breathe it. Yonecho's attitude of trying to live without losing the shadow of his art in the light of the TV boom is a quiet testimony that symbolizes a turning point in culture around 1970.