Kodan is a style of traditional oral storytelling dating from the 17th century. Similar to the style of storytelling performed by biwa (lute) players in feudal Japan, this form of drama involves a solitary performer, called a kodanshi, who kneels at a small table, called a shakudai, upon which is an open literary text, and taps out a rhythm with a small folded fan while he or she alternately reads from and comments on the text. The kodanshi’s repertoire contains tales of war and martial valor and the occasional ghost story, and the storyteller uses a unique chanted tone when reading and imitates colloquial speech when commenting to enhance the audience’s reception of the tale. The art form, which is performed rhythmically but lacks musical accompaniment, flourished through the beginning of the 20th century, and, along with rakugo (its comic counterpart), contributed to the development of modern Japanese narrative through sokkibon, or shorthand transcriptions of oral stories, that were published in the late 19th century. Hundreds of these transcribed tales appeared during the Meiji period, training a new market of readers and helping establish vernacular narrative style for literary writing. With the advent of film and the demise of yose performance halls, kodan declined and is performed today in only a handful of theaters in Japan’s urban centers.
Historical dictionary of modern Japanese literature and theater. J. Scott Miller. 2009.