Sokotsu Nagaya (The Careless Row-House)

粗忽長屋・そこつながや

The story

Hachigoro comes upon an unclaimed dead body in the street and becomes utterly convinced it is his friend Kumagoro. So sure is he that he goes and fetches the very-much-alive Kumagoro and insists the man come collect his own corpse. The two careless neighbors then set about the impossible business of a man claiming his own dead body.

What to listen for

A gem of pure absurdist logic, building to a famously mind-bending, almost philosophical puzzle.

Background

A nagaya was a cheap row-house tenement of the common people, and 'sokotsu' means careless or scatterbrained, the defining trait of these two hopeless neighbors.

Notable performers

柳家小三治立川志の輔

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