Your first rakugo
Five short, friendly classics that make a perfect first listen. Plots are explained — but the punchline (sage) is always kept secret.
Jugemu
A new father wants only the luckiest name for his baby son, so he asks the temple priest for suggestions. Unable to choose, he simply strings every auspicious phrase together into one enormous name. The trouble is that from then on, nobody can call the boy for anything without reciting the whole endless mouthful first.
Toki Soba (Timing the Noodle Bill)
A clever man eats a bowl of soba at a street stall and, while counting out his coins one by one, slips in a question about the time to throw off the count and cheat the vendor of a coin. Another man watches the whole trick and decides to copy it the very next day. But timing is everything, and his attempt does not go the way he planned.
Manju Kowai (Scared of Sweet Buns)
A group of young men pass the time boasting about what frightens them, from snakes to spiders. One fellow confesses that what truly terrifies him is manju, sweet steamed bean-paste buns. Delighted, his friends decide to torment him by piling manju all around him.
Meguro no Sanma (The Sanma of Meguro)
A pampered feudal lord, out on a country outing in Meguro, tastes a freshly grilled sanma from a farmer's kitchen and finds it the most delicious thing he has ever eaten. Back at the castle he demands sanma again, but his attendants, thinking such humble fish beneath him, carefully steam it and pick out every drop of fat and every bone, leaving something bland and sad.
Shibahama
Katsugoro, a fish peddler who has drunk his life away, finds a wallet stuffed with gold on the beach at Shiba one morning. His wife, fearing the money will only fuel his ruin, insists he merely dreamed it. Shamed and sobered, he swears off drink and works honestly for three years, until one New Year's Eve his wife finally tells him the truth.