Rakugo Storyteller Katsura Utamaru Dies at 81

July 2, 2018

Tokyo- Rakugo storyteller Katsura Utamaru, who appeared on the "Shoten" popular television comedy show for five decades, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at a hospital in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, on Monday morning. He was 81.

Utamaru, born into a family that ran a "yukaku" licensed brothel in Yokohama, became familiar with rakugo from listening to the radio when he was an elementary school student.

He became a pupil of famed rakugo storyteller Kokontei Imasuke V in 1951 when he was a junior high school third-grader. He assumed the name of Katsura Utamaru in 1964 after becoming a pupil of Katsura Yonemaru IV.

Utamaru, whose real name was Iwao Shiina, was promoted to "shinuchi," the highest rank in the rakugo world, in 1968.

Utamaru appeared on Shoten from when the TV program began in 1966. He left the show in May 2016, when the program marked its 50th anniversary.

In 2004, he became chairman of "rakugo geijutsu kyokai," a rakugo promotion association. He received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette from the Japanese government in 2007.

Although Utamaru suffered from chronic backache and emphysema in recent years, he never lost his passion as a rakugo performer. Jiji Press