Who Is Kumagoro (Kuma) (Kuma-san)?
Hacchan's partner from the tenement row
Kumagorō
Kumagoro is a tenement-row townsman who often appears alongside Hachigoro in classic rakugo, known as "Kuma-san." He is usually portrayed as a craftsman such as a carpenter, and depending on the story he can be either the scatterbrain or the helpful neighbor.
In Sokotsu Nagaya, Hachigoro tells him, "You're lying dead in Asakusa," and though puzzled, Kumagoro ends up believing it. In Asakusa he picks up the body he thinks is his own and delivers the punchline: "The one being held is definitely me, but then who's the me holding him?" In Yuya-ban, he lets the disowned young master stay in his upstairs room and sends him off to work at a public bathhouse (yuya), acting as his caretaker.
Episodes featuring this character2
NEWEpisode 2
The Man Who Claimed His Own CorpseSokotsu Nagaya (The Scatterbrains' Row)
Episode 2 of RAKUGO: Japan's Comic Tales. Hasty Hachi finds a man who died in the street at Asakusa and decides it's his best friend and next-door neighbor, Kuma. When someone points out the obvious ("But you saw him this morning!"), Hachi just steamrolls right past it. He drags Kuma himself over to collect "his own body." Then Kuma, sobbing as he hugs the corpse, hits a question nobody can answer.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 11
Daydreaming Out Loud at the BathhouseYuyaban (The Bathhouse Attendant)
Episode 11 of RAKUGO: Japan's Comic Tales. The Disowned Young Master, freeloading at Kuma's house, finally lands his dream seat: the bandai, the high front desk of a public bathhouse. But the women's side is empty, and the men's side is nothing but sweaty old guys. To kill time, he starts daydreaming about a romance. Before long, he's acting out both parts out loud, and the whole men's bath is watching the show. Then someone shouts, "My geta are gone!"
19 pages