Rakugo Workshop
Matthew Shores

Rakugo (literally ‘fallen words’) is the Japanese art of comic storytelling. Matthew Shores, lecturer in Japanese literature at the University of Cambridge, will teach you all there is to know about this special form of verbal entertainment.


Rakugo (letterlijk ‘gevallen woorden’) is de Japanse kunstvorm van op komische wijze een verhaal vertellen. Matthew Shores, universitair docent met een specialiteit in Japanse literatuur aan de universiteit van Cambridge, vertelt u alles wat u moet weten over het verbale vuurwerk dat Rakugo heet.

More about Matthew
Matthew Shores is lecturer (assistant professor) in Japanese literature in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge. He has researched Japanese literature and performing arts for nearly twenty years. Shores specializes in rakugo (comic storytelling), which he has studied under Katsura Bunshi V (1930-2005) and Hayashiya Somemaru IV (1949-). He received his Ph.D. in Japanese literature from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and has published on popular culture and comic modes of expression of the early modern and modern eras. In 2015 Shores became the director of Traditional Theatre Training (T.T.T.), an intensive three-week summer program held in the heart of Kyoto with courses in noh, kyogen, Nihon buyo, and more.
mwshores.com