Rakugo is an essential part of Japanese culture. The famous performer Katsura Utazo from Japan came to Korea.
By Cherry Lee Yeon-Sil, Korea
A new performance was attempted at Yeti Restaurant at Sangsu Station on Line 6. The famous Katsura Utazo from Japan came to Korea. He is a professional and is popular in Japan as well. He is a celebrity who is invited to perform in all five oceans and six continents. Shimonoseki Prefecture lawmaker and artist Sakamoto-san, who loves culture, also came. This is his 9th visit to Korea. He particularly likes Korea.
Destiny opens up new life. The same applies to individuals, societies, and countries. It is the day I fulfilled my promise with musician Ryu Sung-hwan and current congressman Sakamoto, whom I met during a trip to Japan the year before last. At that time, we agreed that in order for Korea and Japan to advance into the future and the world, it was important to know each other’s culture. We agreed to gradually begin cultural exchanges, even at the private level. At that time, I saw a rakugo performance for the first time, and we also talked about promoting a performance in Korea.
Rakugo is an essential part of Japanese culture. It is an art that began in the Edo period. Edo is now Tokyo. Rakugo was born during a period of political and social stability in Japan and is a cultural genre that has continued to this day. He kneels on stage in front of the audience and tells the story with his tone of voice, body language, and hand gestures. On stage, only fans or handkerchiefs are used. There is an important repertoire. There are also four levels of rank.
It is Easter week these days. There were not many audiences because it was a day where there were mainly people staying at churches or cathedrals, people going to the mountains to celebrate Sisanje, and people going to ancestral rites before Korean food. Above all, the response was low because people were not familiar with the rakugo genre. But isn’t half the job done? A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. The audience was experts in various fields in Korea.
The performance of a performer called ‘Haegeum Nari’ was also popular. She is a talented singer who has collaborated with vocalist Sumi Jo and performed on albums. Listening to the Haegeum performance makes me feel like I am sitting on a green plain in Mongolia and looking at the distant horizon. I realized that our people are descendants of nomads. It seems that the proportion of Haegeum in Korean traditional music is high as Korean sentiment is well incorporated.
It is important to perform music in the most authentic way possible. I hope that many traditional Korean musical instrument performances will continue overseas. I hope that traditional performances will gradually become a bigger part of K-culture. We should try to create opportunities with the Sakamoto Prize to encourage Korean performers to actively perform in Japan. Japan is often described as ‘a country that is close yet far away.’ As global neighbors, we must open our minds and hearts and move forward into the world. If you are stuck in the past, you cannot take a single step into the future.
Read: Story of a Pakistani who became Korean
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