Who Is The Penniless Tenant?
A man who lives with furniture painted on his walls
Tenant of the Row House (Dakudaku)
The Penniless Tenant is the hero of the classic rakugo tale Dakudaku, a tenement-row resident who doesn't own a single piece of furniture. Since he has no money, he has his belongings painted on paper pasted to his walls and lives cheerfully "pretending" he owns them. His name varies by performer.
In Episode 4, he asks a painter he knows to draw a chest of drawers, a long brazier, a hanging scroll for the alcove, and even a spear on the wall rail, all looking just like the real thing. When a burglar breaks in at night, realizes it's all paint, and starts a one-man act of "pretending to steal," the tenant plays along: "I pretend to grab my spear," "I pretend to stab you in the side."
In the Kamigata (Osaka-Kyoto) tradition, the story is performed under the title Kakiwari Nusutto ("The Painted-Scenery Thief").
