Nanako Omori, a Rakugo Club member and junior at the Faculty of Law, won the Judges’ Special Prize—the second highest award after the Sakuden Award—at the 15th All-Japan Students Rakugo Championship, which was held on February 17 and 18.

This championship is held annually in Gifu City, where Anrakuan Sakuden, often referred to as the father of rakugo (traditional Japanese comic storytelling), was born. This year 244 undergraduate and graduate rakugo performers from 51 universities from all over Japan, who had passed a video examination, participated in this championship. Nanako made it through the tough preliminary rounds and was selected as one of the nine finalists.

Under the name of Furyutei Country Ma’am, Nanako gave a classical rakugo performance titled Kan-nin Bukuro (Patience) in front of an audience of about 1,400. Her performance incorporating current news stories was praised by the two judges and rakugo masters Katsura Bunshi and Tatekawa Shinosuke.
　
Looking back on her performance at the championship, Nanako commented: “The rakugo story that I performed includes elements familiar to the audience, so I think they were able to fully enjoy it and laugh easily.” She also talked about the attractiveness of rakugo, which she started to learn after entering the university: “Rakugo is exciting. It makes me create another world, different from the world I am living in. I can feel a sense of achievement by portraying various characters alone, unlike drama.”