Rakugo storyteller ordered to pay damages over power harassment

Tokyo District Court on Friday ordered rakugo storyteller Sanyutei Enka IV to pay ¥800,000 in damages over power harassment against a former pupil.

Bajaku Yoshiwara, who was studying the art of traditional Japanese storytelling under Sanyutei Enka IV at the time, sought ¥3 million in compensation in the lawsuit against his former master, claiming that he had been subject to assault and verbal abuse.

“Simply put, this is a case of power harassment involving the master-pupil relationship in the rakugo world,” presiding Judge Hiroki Morishita said, partially accepting the claims of the plaintiff.

According to the ruling, Bajaku became an apprentice of Enka in 2009 but was expelled as Enka’s pupil in 2022.

Between 2013 and 2022, Enka called Bajaku to a sushi restaurant and punched him in the face, as well as making Bajaku kneel on the ground at the entrance of Enka’s home and beat Bajaku on the head while screaming that he would be expelled as his pupil.

Morishita said that Enka’s actions against Bajaku were beyond the acts deemed socially acceptable, especially since police were called to the sushi restaurant.

The judge rejected Enka’s claims that his actions against Bajaku were part of his approach to teaching, saying that the hierarchical relationship clearly seen in the world of rakugo holds the risk of power harassment.

“I’m relieved that the (court) recognized the harassment done in the name of tutelage as an infringement of personal rights,” Bajaku said at a news conference.

He urged the Rakugo Kyokai association for rakugo artists to bolster its measures against harassment.