Pleasure-quarter story Edo
Akegarasu (Dawn Crow)
明烏・あけがらす
The story
Tokijiro, the painfully straitlaced son of a wealthy merchant, is tricked by two rakish friends into visiting Yoshiwara, Edo's licensed pleasure quarter, under the pretense of a pious overnight temple retreat. By the next morning the tables have turned: the once-prudish Tokijiro has thoroughly taken to the nightlife, while his scheming friends find themselves the ones left out in the cold.
What to listen for
Famous for the little bit of mime in which a character nibbles sweet candied beans. A witty reversal of who is fooling whom.
Background
Yoshiwara was Edo's official walled pleasure quarter, licensed for courtesans and nightlife. A naive, over-sheltered rich man's son ('wakadanna') being led astray is a stock rakugo figure.
Notable performers
八代目桂文楽柳家三三
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