San'yūtei Enchō: Life and Major Works

Born in Edo's Yushima district in 1839; his real name was Izubuchi Jirōkichi. The son of the rakugo performer Tachibanaya Enshirō, he took the stage from an early age. He studied under the second San'yūtei Enshō and rose to prominence while still young. After winning popularity with a flamboyant style incorporating the trappings of kabuki and stage plays, he turned to plain storytelling (sunabanashi) and, through the human-interest and ghost stories he composed himself, built an era in Meiji-period rakugo. His signature works — "Kaidan Botan Dōrō" ("The Peony Lantern"), "Shinkei Kasanegafuchi" ("The Ghost of Kasane Swamp"), "Shiobara Tasuke Ichidaiki" ("The Life of Shiobara Tasuke") — are all meticulously constructed long narratives centered on cause and consequence, and he is celebrated as the founder of modern rakugo. The shorthand transcripts of his performances, taken down by Wakabayashi Kanzō and others, are regarded as pioneers of the genbun'itchi style that transcribed the spoken word directly onto the page, and they exerted great influence on Meiji-era writers such as Tsubouchi Shōyō and Futabatei Shimei. He died in 1900 at the age of 62.