Chōba Yoshihara (4th)

There's something quietly impressive about a rakugo performer who's been at it long enough to carry a generational name — Choba Yoshihara is the fourth to hold this title, which means he didn't just build a career, he stepped into a lineage with all the expectation that comes with it. Born in 1949 in Chiba, he's well into his seventies now, and in rakugo terms that's when the really interesting stuff happens: decades of story-telling compressed into a single performer on a cushion, conjuring full scenes with nothing but a fan and a cloth. I love how unforgiving the art form is — no co-stars to lean on, no edits, just you and the audience, live.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Chōba Yoshihara (4th generation) is a Japanese rakugo storyteller born on May 18, 1949, in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. He carries the distinguished hereditary stage name Chōba Yoshihara, a lineage passed down through generations of rakugo artists. From Tako in Chiba, he became an apprentice to Kingentei Basho X in 1968, belongs to the Rakugo Kyokai, and also works as an actor.

Name (English)

Chōba Yoshihara (4th)

Name (Japanese)

吉原朝馬

Reading

よしわら ちょうば

Born

May 18, 1949 (age 77)

Origin

Tako, Chiba Prefecture, Japan

Occupation

Rakugo performer

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Taurus / Ox

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%90%89%E5%8E%9F%E6%9C%9D%E9%A6%AC%20(4%E4%BB%A3%E7%9B%AE)
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11412710

Tags

• From Chiba Prefecture
• Rakugo performer

Last updated

October 18, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.