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Sorori Shinzaemon
Sorori Shinzaemon (Japanese: 曽呂利 新左衛門, fl. 1587–1597) was the stage name of Sugimoto Shinzaemon (杉本 新左衛門), a Japanese comedian and retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.[1] He is regarded as the progenitor of rakugo.[2] BiographySorori was originally a scabbard-maker of Sakai, a major commercial center. He studied the art of chanoyu under Takeno Jō'ō, and was also versed in kyōka.[1] His scabbards were especially well-made and swords could be swiftly and easily drawn from them. Because of this, he was given the nickname sorori (そろり, lit. 'smooth').[2] At some point, he became a retainer of Hideyoshi and was renowned for his laconic wit.[3] Sorori is best known through the many anecdotes depicting his interactions with Hideyoshi. In one, a variation of the ancient wheat and chessboard problem is attributed to him. In another, after Sorori had farted in his presence, Hideyoshi beat him with a shaku. Sorori then composed a poem: "Having thus farted, I received two provinces: Harima on my head, and Bitchū on my ass" (おならして国二ヶ国を得たりけり頭はりまに尻はびっちう). For many years, the relative scarcity of contemporary manuscripts mentioning Sorori resulted in a theory that he was actually the same person as Anrakuan Sakuden, another comedian of the period. However, according to Kitagawa Hiroshi, a diary from 1587 belonging to the kuge Nishinotōin Tokiyoshi mentions that a person named Sorori gave amusing lectures and did a comical impression of Chinese person.[4] References
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