SAN’YUTEI ENCHO

San’yutei Encho, born Izubuchi Jirokichi to Tokugawa-period storyteller Tachibanaya Entaro (?– 1872), was a renowned professional storyteller. Encho (as he is usually called) excelled as a raconteur, mastering all the genres of comedy (rakugo), human drama (ninjobanashi), ghost stories (kaidan), and adaptive translations of foreign tales (hon’anmono). Encho collaborated with Takusari Koki to establish the speech of workingclass Edo as a model for genbun itchi colloquial written language. While Encho recited his tales, students from Takusari’s stenography school would sit backstage and use the new system of shorthand to transcribe and publish the stories. Some of his stories were remade as kabuki plays. Authors Futabatei Shimei and Yamada Bimyo also modeled their new style of narrative on Encho’s storytelling patois.

See also KAWATAKE SHINSHICHI III.