This content is a performance of the Japanese folktale "Momotaro" (Peach Boy) as a Rakugo story, highlighting the challenges of adapting traditional narrative structures and exploring the deeper meanings embedded within the tale.
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hello everybody
here hope you're doing well now
this is the fifth installment of my
online rakugo project
and this time i'll be performing this
story called momotaro
or peach boy it is a very very unique
rakugo story in my opinion
because it's based on a japanese
folktale by the same name
it's a very very famous story so you
might have heard of it before
it's called peach boy as well and i
really wanted to include the story
so that you can see the variety of
stories we got in the rakugo tradition
now that is the only reason why i
included the story just between
you and me don't tell anybody else
well i struggle with the story did i say
that last time as well
but really this time i really struggle
with it
here's the reason as most regular stories
stories
are delivered in conversations
so i have lots of imaginary friends so
you know it's okay to just do conversations
conversations
all the way through like hey how's it
going how are you i'm pretty good where
you going i'm going to get fishing trips
you know but this story
got three chunks of playing storytelling
and playing storytelling is
but anyway i'll do my best
so uh you know you can at least enjoy me uh
uh
enjoy watching me struggle or whatever
it is but
i really hope you enjoy it so uh she
goes i'll do my best see you on the
hey kimbo it's time to go to bed if you
stay up late you know what's gonna
happen that ghost will come out of the
clothes that didn't eat you up
so i'll tell you an old story listen
goodbye
are you ready now ah you are
okay okay a long long time ago in a
certain place
there lived an old man and old woman the
old man went to the mountains to gather firewood
firewood
and the old woman went to the river to
wash clothes
one day while the old woman was down at
the river
a big peach came floating by it went
like this dumbo
she took it home and cut it open and
guess what happened
a beautiful baby boy came out of the peach
peach
they named him peach boy peach boy grew
up so strong so he decided to go and
defeat goblins living on goblin island
the old woman made dumplings known as
kividanga for his long journey to the island
island
on his way a dog a monkey and a pheasant
joined him
they fought against the goblins bravely
and finally defeated them
the goblins apologized to him and gave
him all of their treasure
he took all the treasure home to the
older kappa and they lived
happily ever after
he's asleep children are so innocent
these days
so this is what happened
a long long long long time ago in japan
but japanese children's business
are very very very different okay
ken what do you want dad i'm busy
playing video games
well it's really like it's about time to
go to bed well
i'm not a door sleepy dad maybe i have
too much caffeine these days then stop
drinking coffee please and
you know what's gonna happen if you step late
late
what's gonna happen dad well the ghost
did do you actually believe in ghosts then
then
anyway i'll tell you an old story so listen
listen
and i go to sleep that's actually
impossible dad
what do you mean by that well you know
if i listen to your story then i can't
go to sleep and i forgot to sleep then i can't
can't
listen to the story sir
how can i solve this conundrum conundrum
would you learn such a big word but
anyway i'll tell you the story
come here get into the come here come
here yeah get into the bed
ah okay goodbye
a long long time ago how long ago was
that daddy
a long time ago is a long time ago i
mean in what era we have the name of an
era based on the reign of the emperor
and during the edo period we got bunka
that's actually a good question uh hold
on a second
uh kia do you know when peach boy was written
written
no well never mind about that that's not
really important all right so let me
a long long time ago in a certain place
where in what province and what was the
zip code
difficult do you really think i would
know the zip code
but anyway let me at least finish the
first sentence all right
but anyway they are living an old man
and all the women what were their names dad
dad
i don't think they had names i'm pretty
sure they did
well you know they were
really poor so they had to sell their names
names
okay so if poor people had to sell their
names then why do you still have your name
name
shut up and listen anyway
the old man went to the mountains to
gather firewood
what was the name of the mountains and
what was the altitude above sea level
i i don't know hey listen those things
are not important at all actually dad
realism is crucial and good storytelling
where is that coming from
but anyway listen the old woman
went to the river to wash clothes and i
don't know the name of the river so
please don't ask me
but anyway when she was washing clothes
a big peach came floating by this is my
favorite part okay
and then she took it home and cut it
open and guess what happened
a beautiful baby boy came out over the beach
beach
if such thing was possible then there'd
be so many babies that supermarkets
well there is one and only kind all right
right
well anyway they named him peach boy the
peach boy grabbed so strong so he
decided to go and defeat
goblins living on goblin island the old
woman made in dumplings known as
kibidanga for his long journey to the island
island
on his way a dog a monkey and pheasant
joined him
they fought against the goblins bravely
and finally defeated them
the goblins apologized to him and gave
him all of the treasure
and he took all the treasure home to the
old couple and then lived
happily ever after
how is it are you sleepy now
no i'm not a door sleepy dad
can't you tell this story as if you talk
about love
well this is not a love story well
this is called peach boy right so
you know about the story well um yes
this is one of the
best on japanese folktales that can be
comparable to tales written by brothers
cream of germany
or hans christian anderson of denmark
since you don't seem to
understand the essence of the story
so that this story begins with the set phrase
phrase
a long long time ago in a certain place
the time
and the place are not specified
deliberately because if it's a story
about tokyo
then children in other provinces would
not be as
interesting by not specifying them any child
child
in any place in any age can't relate to
the story
oh okay i didn't know that
and then in the story the old man went
to the mountains to gather firewood
and the older woman went to the river
dwarfs cloth
but did you know she actually went to
the sea
no not that i know but she actually went
to the sea
but of course you can't wash clothes and
the season towards chainstool river but
this part
implies a father's love
is higher than the mountains and
mother's love is deeper than the sea
so this story teaches children the
importance of parents
oh i didn't know that hey kyo hey what
are you doing come in and join us and
listen to what cain has to say
okay keep on going and
while the old woman what was down at the
river a big
peach came floating by this is my
[Music]
and she took it home and cut it open and
the beautiful baby boy came out of the beach
beach
hear that peach is just a metaphor
for a beautiful baby just literally
meant for dead
otherwise there were so many babies at
the supermarket
and he grew up so strong so he decided
go and defeat
goblins living on gobbling island
gobbling island again
is a metaphor for the reality of the
world we are living in
an old woman made dumplings known as
kibidanga for his long journey to
the island keeping or milled
as a grain of lower quality than rice so this
this
story encourages us to lead a plain
minimalistic life minimalism
come and join us ken good to be the
governor of tokyo someday
okay keep on going and on his way
a dog a monkey and a pheasant joined him
do you know why these animals appear in
the story
no i don't know well dog is
faithful monkey is wise and a physic is
courageous so these three animals represent
represent
three most important virtues that all
human beings should
have which are uh faith
wisdom and courage oh are
and others fought against the goblins
bravely and finally defeated them and
the goblins apologized to him and gave
him all of their treasure
treasure here is a metaphor for trust
trust is the foundation of all human relationships
relationships
trust without trust you can't establish
proper relationships
in business setting or even in the
marital relationship between you
and your wife my mommy and in a nutshell
this story teaches us how we should live
in this human society
and how we can highly function in it how
we can contribute back to the society
in order to capture and convey the
essence of this story you need to be a
really good storyteller so i really
recommend you to take a rakugo lesson or
two from my master canadian
he's asleep parents are so innocent
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