Manzai

File:Manzai by unknown artist - wittig collection.jpg

A pair of Template:Transliteration performers at a New Year celebration; the Template:Transliteration at front, the Template:Transliteration behind him (artist unknown, 19th-century Japanese painting)

is a traditional style of comedy in Japanese culture comparable to double act comedy.

Template:Transliteration usually involves two performers (Template:Transliteration)—a straight man (Template:Transliteration) and a funny man (Template:Transliteration)—trading jokes at great speed. Most of the jokes revolve around mutual misunderstandings, double-talk, puns and other verbal gags.

In recent times, Template:Transliteration has often been associated with the Osaka region, and Template:Transliteration comedians often speak in the Kansai dialect during their acts.

In 1933, Yoshimoto Kogyo, a large entertainment conglomerate based in Osaka, introduced Osaka-style Template:Transliteration to Tokyo audiences and coined the term "" (one of several ways of writing the word Template:Transliteration in Japanese; see Template:Section link below). In 2015, Matayoshi Naoki's manzai novel, , won the Akutagawa Prize. A mini-series adaptation was released on Netflix in 2016.

History

Originally based around a festival to welcome the New Year, Template:Transliteration traces its origins back to the Heian period. The two Template:Transliteration performers came with messages from the kami and this was worked into a standup routine, with one performer showing some sort of opposition to the word of the other. This pattern still exists in the roles of the Template:Transliteration and the Template:Transliteration.

File:Manzai.jpg

Print depicting two Template:Transliteration comedic actors, also in a New Year setting; Template:Circa

Continuing into the Edo period, the style focused increasingly on the humor aspects of stand-up, and various regions of Japan developed their own unique styles of Template:Transliteration, such as , , and . With the arrival of the Meiji period, began to implement changes that would see it surpass in popularity the styles of the former period, although at the time Template:Transliteration was still considered the more popular form of entertainment.

With the end of the Taishō period, Yoshimoto Kōgyō—which itself was founded at the beginning of the era, in 1912—introduced a new style of Template:Transliteration lacking much of the celebration that had accompanied it in the past. This new style proved successful and spread all over Japan, including Tokyo. Riding on the waves of new communication technology, Template:Transliteration quickly spread through the mediums of stage, radio, and eventually, television, and video games.

Etymology

The kanji for Template:Transliteration have been written in various ways throughout the ages. It was originally written as Template:Nihongo3, using rather than the alternative form of the character, , and the simpler form for (which also can be used to write a word meaning "talent, ability"). The arrival of Template:Transliteration brought another character change, this time changing the first character to .

Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration

Similar in execution to the concepts of "funny man" and "straight man" in double act comedy (e.g. Abbott and Costello; Martin and Lewis), these roles are a very important characteristic of Template:Transliteration. comes from the verb which carries the meaning of "senility" or "air headed-ness" and is reflected in the Template:Transliteration's tendency for misinterpretation and forgetfulness. The word refers to the role the second comedian plays in "butting in" and correcting the Template:Transliteration's errors. In performances it is common for the Template:Transliteration to berate the Template:Transliteration and hit them on the head with a swift smack; one traditional Template:Transliteration prop often used for this purpose is a pleated paper fan called a . Another traditional Template:Transliteration prop is a small drum, usually carried (and used) by the Template:Transliteration. A Japanese bamboo and paper umbrella is another common prop. These props are usually used only during non-serious Template:Transliteration routines as traditional Template:Transliteration requires there to be no props in terms of routine and in competitions. The use of props would put the comedy act closer to a conte rather than manzai.

The tradition of Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration is often used in other Japanese comedy, although it may not be as obviously portrayed as it usually is in Template:Transliteration.

Notable Template:Transliteration acts

Asahi Shimbun web survey 2012

The most funniest Template:Transliteration duos, according to a web survey by The Asahi Shimbun in 2012 (excerpt):

• Number 1: Template:Interlanguage link
• 2: Template:Interlanguage link
• 3: Template:Interlanguage link
• 4: Bakushō Mondai
• 5: Template:Interlanguage link
• 6: Two Beat [ja]: One of them, Takeshi Kitano became a Japanese film director and television host.
• 7: Nakagawake
• 8: Template:Interlanguage link
• 9: Downtown
• 10: Template:Interlanguage link
• 14: Taka and Toshi
• 16: Ninety-nine
• 22: Shinsuke Shimada and Template:Interlanguage link
• 26: Summers
• 28: Tunnels
• 29: Template:Interlanguage link and Template:Interlanguage link

• Yokoyama Entatsu and Hanabishi Achako established the talk show-centered Template:Transliteration style. They were active since 1919. Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  Yokoyama Entatsu and Hanabishi Achako established the talk show-centered Template:Transliteration style. They were active since 1919.
• "All Hanshin-Kyojin", active since 1975. Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  "All Hanshin-Kyojin", active since 1975.
• "Wagyu", regular finalist in M-1 Grand Prix.[10] Active since 2006. Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  "Wagyu", regular finalist in M-1 Grand Prix. Active since 2006.

Literary associations

• Kikaku wrote with affectionate mockery a haiku on the Template:Transliteration dancers: "The New Year Dancers / Never miss a single gate – / Millet for the crane".
• Buson more positively wrote: "Yes, New Year's dancers – / Pounding good and properly, / The dirt in Kyoto".
• Naoki Matayoshi's novel Spark (火花, Hibana) is set in the world of manzai comedians and deals with the main characters artistic struggles. The novel was awarded the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 2015.

External links

• What is Manzai 2015 archive
• "Commodified Comedians and Mediatized Manzai: Osakan Comic Duos and Their Audience" by Xavier Benjamin Bensky. A study in the cultural effects of manzai.