Chennai's IT professional becomes first Indian to perform Rakugo, Japan’s traditional storytelling art

CHENNAI: The Japanese fever has been catching on in Chennai for some time now. People’s love and curiosity for Anime, Manga, and Japanese films have led many to add the country to their bucket list. But for one IT professional, it was a completely different passion. In 2006, a company asked Santhosh Kaliyanaraman to go onsite. Like many others, he was thrilled, thinking it was the United States of America. However, it turned out to be Japan. That’s when the Chromepet resident began researching the country. After living there for about six months, he was deeply impressed by the people’s humbleness and lifestyle. In 2023, Santhosh moved to Tokyo with his family. But that’s not the complete story - he claims to be the first Indian to perform Rakugo, a traditional Japanese storytelling art form.

“Since then, I have visited around seven countries, including the USA, South Korea, and Vietnam. But Japan is my favourite, and I started missing the country,” says Santhosh Kaliyanaraman, who has written a book about why the Land of the Rising Sun has captured his heart. The book, published in Japan, is in English. Santhosh was introduced to Rakugo in 2019 at a storytelling event in Bengaluru. He was fascinated by the unique form of Japanese storytelling.

“The performer didn’t know English and was performing in Japanese. It was a comedy story, but the audience, including me, didn’t laugh because we couldn’t understand it due to the language barrier. Watching it, I realised that this was where my life’s purpose lay,” Santhosh says, adding that he knows basic Japanese.

Rakugo originated in Japan in the 17th century, during the Edo period. It’s a one-man show where the performer sits on a cushion and narrates humorous, human-interest, or spooky stories. The art form involves voice modulation, gestures, and body language. Apart from Japan, Rakugo is hardly known in other countries.

“When I reached Japan in 2023, I immediately found a guru to learn the art. Similar to how we respect classical dance in India, Rakugo is highly revered in Japan, and it cannot be learned online. The learning happens in a guru-shishya setup,” says Santhosh, who performs in Tamil and English to reach a wider audience. He is also working hard to master it in Japanese.

Santhosh is on a mission to take this art to global audiences, just like Manga and Anime. “There are many opportunities for Indians to embrace Rakugo because they love listening to stories. Most of our traditional art forms are rooted in storytelling,” says the 43-year-old.

Unlike grand tales of kings and queens, Rakugo focuses on ordinary people, like fishermen and carpenters, and their daily lives. “These stories are fictional but offer a glimpse of the past and the lifestyle of people who lived then,” he explains.

When asked about why Rakugo continues to thrive in modern times, Santhosh shares, “Around 1,200 people are practising Rakugo in Tokyo alone. People don’t pursue it as a full-time profession, but they cherish the art and practice it out of passion. In Tamil Nadu, we have many folk arts like Therukoothu, Villupaatu, and Bommalattam. When I performed Rakugo in Chennai and Vellore, surprisingly, the audience were able to draw parallels with Therukoothu. They even asked why Therukoothu doesn’t get the limelight it deserves.”

Santhosh took this question to heart and asked a long-time Rakugo practitioner in Japan about it. The response left a lasting impact on him. “He said that in Japan, we don’t practice an art form to preserve it. The end of art begins when we perform it with that motive. If such elements come into the picture, the joy of it vanishes, and this could lead to the extinction of the art. It’s better to enjoy and practice it. This applies to all traditional arts across the globe. That had a deep effect on me,” he says.

Sharing a memorable incident, Santhosh recalls, “Eric Miller, a storyteller from the USA who has lived in India for over four decades, attended one of my shows. He found it fascinating to see a form of storytelling without narration, which he thought was impossible. The stories in Rakugo are in the form of dialogues, not narration.”

Most importantly, Rakugo performers depend on other jobs for their livelihood. “This is what’s missing in our country. I want to highlight this aspect to people here to help grow our traditional art forms,” he concludes.