Storyteller
Shinoharu Tatekawa (Japan)
Shinoharu Tatekawa is a full-time Rakugo performer based in Tokyo. Rakugo is best described as Japanese sit-down comedy of comic story telling. A lone story teller wearing a kimono and often equipped with just a fan and a hand towel entertains by playing several characters on stage. It usually begins with the teller talking to the audience but as the story unfolds, the storyteller is gradually replaced by the characters in the story. The performer looks left and right, and with a change in tone and pitch of the voice and facial expression, acts out each distinctive character. Rakugo has a long history with the stories being passed down orally from master to apprentice since the Edo era (about 200 years). In 2002, Shinoharu studied under Tatekawa Shinosuke the rakugo master himself and completed his apprenticeship in 2011. After 8 years of apprenticehood, he is now an independent rakugo performer. He performs both classic and new rakugo stories in Japanese. The stories are mostly humorous, silly, and powerful. Shinoharu holds a monthly solo live rakugo show in Tokyo and performs 12-15 monthly shows elsewhere around Japan. His venues vary from temples to hospitals, schools to wedding ceremonies. For centuries rakugo has only been accessible to a Japanese speaking audience and Shinoharu has painstakingly translated some of these age old stories into English to make them available to a global audience.