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The story
YouTuber Hikaru (35) made his solo rakugo debut on August 3 at the Meijiza theater under the stage name “Tatekawa Sagishi,” and criticism has been pouring in from rakugo fans saying “that’s not rakugo.” His master, Tatekawa Shiraku, revealed on YouTube on the 22nd that complaints have even been reaching Tatekawa Shinosuke, the head of the Tatekawa school. On 5ch, opinions split over how this compares to the “B Course” system created by the late Tatekawa Danshi, whether it was appropriate to hold a paid solo show so soon after becoming a disciple, and the generational gap between Shinosuke and Shiraku/Danshun.
Wed 9/23, 18:00
Rakugo performer Tatekawa Shiraku (63) updated his YouTube channel on the 22nd, revealing that taking on YouTuber Hikaru (35) — known as “Tatekawa Sagishi” — as his disciple has drawn a storm of criticism toward the Tatekawa school of rakugo he belongs to.
Hikaru made a flashy rakugo debut with a solo performance titled “Tatekawa Sagishi: Solo Show” at the Meijiza theater on August 3. While some have praised him for putting a spotlight on the rakugo world, rakugo fans have also voiced harsh criticism, saying “that’s not rakugo.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
There's this thing called the Tatekawa school's "B Course," you know.
I thought they'd revived the C Course lol
Honestly I think that's a pretty good name
There's a lot more you could riff on too
Tattoos, bragging about fights, turned into rakugo — staging a fight with his own master
I'd like to see that just once
The part where Mizo hides his secret stash
"Good evening, I'm Tatekawa Irezumi (Tattoo)" or something
My impression is he used to get called out right alongside Kairakutei Black.
Shiraku's a fool riding on Danshi's coattails
Shinosuke would never do that
Hikaru, HikakinTV, Hajime Shacho, Fischer's — they're still sitting at the top.
No problem, just let them fade away
We don't even need a "YouTuber" genre anyway
I kind of assumed Shinosuke didn't get along with Danshun and Shiraku.
Shinosuke's quite a bit older, so he was never really a rival.
He is the current head of the Tatekawa school, so it's not strange at all that word would reach Shinosuke asking "what's going on here"
Even if Shiraku is imitating Danshi's "B Course," if Sagishi has no underlying speaking skill or performing history behind him, people are bound to want to complain.
Hope he doesn't cave lol
Fits a dirty guy perfectly 🤣
He wouldn't. Charging money and using the Tatekawa name for a solo show like this is unthinkable.
B Course, school-recital-style performance slots were completely normal even while Danshi was alive, right?
Celebrities and cultural figures used to get up on that stage too.
That slot of Danshi's stayed within the bounds of a bit of fun for people who got the joke, but suddenly letting someone do a full solo show feels like nothing but an insult to everyone else in rakugo.
So it really is one of those "pay and you can do it" novelty slots, huh?
In the end, people dislike him because you can see right through the idea that "if I imitate Danshi, I'll become like Danshi."
By the time he dies, there's a real chance he becomes a Living National Treasure.
He's got a great voice.
You can't become a Living National Treasure without properly training disciples too
Gokaido Kumosuke, who currently holds Living National Treasure status in rakugo, excels in that area as well.
"Yamada-kun, take it all away" (a catchphrase from the variety show Shoten, where a rude panelist has his cushions confiscated)
"Huh? You wanna go? You wanna go?"
Now that you mention it,
Yamada-kun was also part of the Bafu group but wasn't actually a member of the Rakugo Kyokai (Rakugo Association).
Sounds like a perpetual opening act, then.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
The Tatekawa school has a system called the “B Course,” created by Danshi while he was alive. Unlike formal live-in disciples, it lets celebrities and others register through a simplified process and take the stage in an unofficial, novelty capacity outside the regular yose theater lineup — this is what the repeated “B Course” mentions in the thread refer to. What’s being criticized this time is that Hikaru held a paid solo show at a major venue, the Meijiza, only a very short time after becoming a disciple — which came across as skipping the traditional training process of building up through zenza (opening act) and futatsume (second rank) status over many years, and that appears to be the core of the backlash. In the thread, opinions split between those pointing out that even while Danshi was alive, celebrities did take the stage as a novelty act, and those who take issue with the difference in status a full solo show represents. It’s also hard to tell from the original article alone that Shinosuke, the head of the Tatekawa school, and Shiraku/Danshun, who are on the front lines of the complaints, are separated by a generation — a separate issue from the previously rumored discord between them.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Geinou Sports Express+) thread “Criticism floods in over Hikaru’s rakugo debut… Tatekawa school representative bewildered: “Quite a few complaints have been reaching big brother Shinosuke” — Shiraku reveals“.
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