is a form of spoken vaudeville theatre of Japan cultivated since the 18th century. The term also refers to the exclusive theater where yose is held.
The yose was a popular form of spoken theatre in the Edo period. The term is the shortened form of Hito yose seki (人å¯ÂãÂÂå¸Â), roughly "Where people sit together". Towards the end of the Edo period, there were several hundred theatres, about one per district (çº, chà Â). The entrance fee, the "wooden door penny" (æ¨æ¸éÂÂ, Kido-zeni), was small.
A number of variants existed:
and others.
The main direction was the kà Âdan, the narrative stories. The beginning goes back to the beginning of the Edo period, to the Taiheiki-yomi (太平è¨ÂèªÂ), the recitation of the Taiheiki. In addition, there were military stories such as the "revenge stories" (ä»Âè¨Âç©, Adauchi-mono), "chivalric stories" (俠客ç©, Kyà Âgaku-mono), "civic stories" (ä¸Â話ç©), etc. When this form of lecture developed, it was called Kà Âshaku (è¬ÂéÂÂ), roughly "Explanatory Lectures", and was only common in places where the bushi (æ¦士), i.e. the Japanese nobility, played a role in which the common people were interested. The lecturers, called hanashi-ka (åº家), corresponded to the rakugo narrators of the present day.
A well-known lecturer at the end of the Edo period into the Meiji era was San'yà «tei Enchà  (ä¸ÂéÂÂ亠åÂÂæÂÂ; 1839-1900), who was a master of all variants and laid the foundation for modern performance practice. He published his lectures under the title "Peony Lantern" (ç¡丹çÂÂç± , Botan dà Ârà Â) and Shiobara Tasuke (å¡©åÂÂå¤Âå©). The later Kaidan botan dà Ârà  (æªè«Âç¡丹çÂÂç± ) from 1884 was also successful, with Enchà Â's lectures having been taken down in shorthand.
Small theatre spaces typically seating 200 people existed for performances. Most theatres operated on an Iromonoseki (è²ç©å¸Â) basis, i.e., after a series of younger lecturers, the master performed. Around 1900, 70 such theatres were still active, of which the Suehiro-tei (æ«廣äºÂ) in Shinjuku district, the Tachibana-tei (ç«Âè±äºÂ) in Kanda and the Suzumoto-tei (é´æ¬äºÂ) in Ueno were the best known. They were broadcast on radio from the 1920s onwards, while most yose theatres later had to close due to the surge in cinema competition. So the yose lives on today on television and radio and in special live broadcasts. Other forms include Manzai (漫æÂÂ) and Naniwa-bushi (浪è±ç¯Â).
are Japanese lettering styles invented for advertising during the Edo period. The name yosemoji () literally means "letters for yose". It was used for posters and flyers. Unlike other calligraphic styles, yosemoji allows and even encourages multiple brushstrokes in order to fill in the characters as much as possible.