Tanmei (Short-Lived)
短命・たんめい
The story
A very wealthy family has a strikingly beautiful daughter. Yet for some reason, each husband who marries into the household dies young, one after another. Hachigoro asks the retired elder about this mystery, but no matter how delicately the old man hints at the 'reason,' it sails clean over the slow-witted Hachigoro's head. The explanations go on and on, tried every which way.
What to listen for
The comedy of the mismatched exchange between the elder, who hints ever so genteelly at a risqué 'reason,' and the boorish Hachigoro, who never once catches on however many clues he is handed. A stylish, quintessentially Edo piece that draws its laughs from the art of reading between the lines rather than sinking into vulgarity.
Background
A risqué comic story that suggests, tastefully and never openly, the 'reason' the husbands of a beautiful woman keep dying young. In the Kamigata region it is titled 'Long Life' (Chōmei), forming a matched pair with Edo's 'Short-Lived.' The whole art lies in hinting at the risqué reason without ever once spelling it out.
Notable performers
八代目桂文楽五代目古今亭志ん生