Japanese rokyoku: the traditional Naniwa-bushi narrative song

Rōkyoku LullabyFirst-generation Kasugai Ume-uguisu

Lullaby of Akagi

One of the rōkyoku performers who was active during the postwar rōkyoku boom.

From 1950 for two years, he served as the third president of the Japan Rōkyoku Association.

This “Rōkyoku Lullaby” is known as Umeou’s signature piece; it was later made into a film starring Shinichi Chiba and also became a major hit as a pop song.

Mito Komon’s Travels: The Arrowhead ChapterSecond-generation Hiyoshigawa Shūsui

Rōkyoku: The Late Hiyoshikawa Shūsui — Mito Kōmon’s Travels: The Arrowhead Chapter

In Osaka, Shūsui is renowned across generations as a master of keren-yomi.

Keren refers to comicality—meaning his hallmark is stories and narration with a heavy dose of humor.

His two biological daughters also entered the world of rōkyoku and later formed a manzai trio called the Jousans.

Date Sōdō (the Date Clan Disturbance)Futaba Yuriko

Yuriko Futaba, known for the hit song ‘Ganpeki no Haha’ (Mother on the Cliffs), is a female rokyoku performer and the daughter of the rokyoku artist Azuma Wakamusashi.

She made her rokyoku debut at the age of three and also pioneered ‘kayō rokyoku,’ in which a rokyoku verse is chanted during a pop song’s instrumental break.

Since her retirement in 2011, she has devoted herself to training the next generation.

Chushingura: The Loyal Retainers’ Vindicator (The Loyal Samurai’s True Vendetta)Haruo Minami and Hideo Murata

Haruo Minami and Hideo Murata Co-starring: Rōkyoku Chūshingura 'The Loyal Retainers’ True Wish'

Two Showa-era greats who both came from the world of rokyoku to enter the popular music scene, Haruo Minami and Hideo Murata.

This extremely rare footage shows the two—who had a strong sense of rivalry—standing on the same stage and delivering about four minutes of a perfectly synchronized back-and-forth from the climax of Chushingura.

Ishimatsu’s Journey on the Sanjukkoku BoatTora Zō Hirosawa II

Ishimatsu Sanjūsekibune / Hirozawa Torazō II

If asked what phrase first comes to mind with rōkyoku, many people would likely cite the opening of this very piece.

The performer who excelled at this series of tales about Shimizu Jirocho—beginning with Ishimatsu’s Thirty-Koku Boat Journey—was Torazō II, a central figure in the rōkyoku boom of the Showa era.

The Day I MarryMadoka Kikuchi

Kikuchi Madoka - The Day of Marriage; Shamisen accompanist: Sakura Sawamura; Shakuhachi: Saifu Kinoshita

Born in 1976.

After performing as a girl rōkyoku storyteller from childhood, she re-entered apprenticeship under the second-generation Kiyoyama Koenjō in 2003.

While continuing her career on stage as a rōkyoku performer, she also works as an enka singer, and in 2010 she received the New Artist Award at the Japan Record Awards.

Osen the BarrelmakerYuriko Haruno II

Second-generation Haruno Yuriko and Taruya Osen: A Conversation

A leading contemporary female storyteller of rokyoku, admired even by Danshi Tatekawa.

Born to the couple Naramaru Yoshida II and Yuriko Haruno I (later divorced), she apprenticed under her father in 1949.

She excels at “literary rokyoku,” including works by Chikamatsu Monzaemon such as Taruya Osen, and pieces by Ihara Saikaku.