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— ABOUT  Wasabi Stories… —

“Be Prepared For the Future”

Today’s story-teller is rakugo storyteller Bunchin Katsura (hereafter called Bunchin).

He talks about Mt. Fuji in the early chapter of his story. He likes Mt. Fuji.

He has taken many pictures of Mt. Fuji and he has a black kimono with crests and pattern of Mt. Fuji.

Mt. Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan. That is why he likes the mountain since he wants to rise to the top of rakugo storytelling world and he wants to scale the heights. He feels the connection between the mountain and rakugo storytelling.

So, when Bunchin just turned 40, he had a chance to talk to comedian Kanbi Fujiyama at an interview of a weekly magazine.

Here is the conversation between Bunchin and Fujiyama.

Fujiyama: “How many regular programs do you have?”

Bunchin: “About a dozen.”

Fujiyama: “You are doing a risky thing. You will eventually lose them all. Then what would you do? You had better strive for versatility. You had better become to be able to live on just rakugo soon.”

Since Bunchin was proud of having so many regular programs, he was expecting to be praised by Fujiyama.

Just then, he was starting to feel like he had to focus on rakugo. So he felt like he was persuaded to do so by Fujiwara’s words.

Bunchin says, “In the years then, my old man (he means Bunshi Katsura, his master) said to me, ‘Can you live on just rakugo storytelling now?’ and I said, ‘Yes, somehow.’ Then he said, ‘That is great.’ I was so delighted that he was happy for me. I was then 55 years old.”

The NIKKEI 02/17/2010 by Bunchin Katsura (rakugo storyteller)

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