Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju

"I've got nothing, so I'm going there." Former small-time crook Yotaro has never forgotten the rakugo tale "Shinigami" that the great artist Yurakutei Yakumo performed to him in prison. After his release, he goes right to Yakumo's theater,…

Yakumo begins the story of the promise he made with Sukeroku. When he was young, he was taken in by the 7th generation Yakumo and named Kikuhiko. He met the young boy Sukeroku, a strange child who insisted on taking over the Yakumo name, w…

After their first performance, Kikuhiko sharply feels the difference in skill between himself and Hatsutaro. Hatsutaro recommends he try erotic stories, but Kikuhiko is struggling so hard just to memorize the beginner stories, he can't eve…

Kikuhiko and Hatsutaro, promoted to futatsume, left their master's house to live an impoverished life on their own. Ever since changing his name to Sukeroku, Hatsutaro's popularity has skyrocketed. Even Kikuhiko is shocked by his unwaverin…

After a performance, Sukeroku comes home drunk with girls on both arm. Work or play, he navigates all areas of life smoothly. Kikuhiko is annoyed with him, but he's also jealous of how easy he has things, while Kikuhiko himself struggles w…

Kikuhiko is feeling better about himself after the success of the play, with the audience hanging on his every word and gesture. Sukeroku tells him that he had a similar experience during the war, and that ever since then, he decided that …

After finding his own rakugo, Kikuhiko has become quite popular. Even when he's out with Miyokichi, rakugo is all he can think about. Meanwhile, Sukeroku is buoyed into arrogance by his own popularity. He takes on stories beyond his statio…

Kikuhiko's tour with the 7th Generation Yakumo was a huge success. His master is satisfied with Kikuhiko's growth, and plans to promote him to shin'uchi soon. The problem is Sukeroku, whose behavior is forcing Yakumo to bend over backwards…

The Seventh Generation Yakumo manages to get Kikuhiko and Sukeroku promoted to shin'uchi. But although their unveiling ceremony is a huge success, Sukeroku gets in a fight with the president of the Rakugo Assocation, and insults him by per…

For Kikuhiko, it's a time for goodbyes. To Sukeroku, with whom he shared the joys and frustrations of rakugo. To the woman who raised him as her own child. Men ask to be his apprentice, and he has so much media attention that he's sick of …

The girl Kikuhiko met at the soba shop in the hot springs town turned out to be Konatsu, Sukeroku and Miyokichi's daughter. She leads him to her house, where Kikuhiko finally reunites with Sukeroku, who seems to be living in squalor. Miyok…

A small rakugo performance takes place at an inn in a hot springs town. As he performs, Sukeroku feels the warmth of the audience's love for rakugo, and remembers what it means to be a storyteller. Kikuhiko brings and insists Sukeroku wea…

Their promise to each other was to carry rakugo into the future. To perform unchanging rakugo was Kikuhiko's job. To create a rakugo that would change with the times was Sukeroku's job. The story of the promise between two men who lived f…