Shofukutei Tsurube

Here's the thing about Tsurube that gets me: the guy is one of Japan's most famous TV faces, that frizzy hair and crinkly laugh you can spot from across a room, yet he'll tell you straight up he's a rakugo storyteller first. Trained under the sixth Shokaku, debuted back in 1972, and never let go of the cushion on the rakugo stage even while hosting half of Japanese television. What kills me is the range. On "Kazoku ni Kanpai" he wanders into total strangers' homes and somehow leaves part of the family, that's a genuine gift for people, not a trick. Then he turns around and goes quiet and broken in a Yoji Yamada film and racks up Japan Academy awards for it. Makes you laugh, makes you cry, all warmth. I just think he genuinely loves humans.

Shofukutei Tsurube (born Manabu Suruga on December 23, 1951, in Nagayoshi Village, Nakakawachi District, Osaka Prefecture) is one of Japan's most prominent rakugo performers and television personalities. He became an apprentice to the sixth-generation Shofukutei Shokaku in February 1972 and has been active in the entertainment industry ever since. Alongside his career as a rakugo artist, he has built a distinguished acting career, winning multiple Japan Academy Prize Outstanding Actor awards for films including Dear Doctor (2009) and Heisa Byoto: Sorezore no Asa (2019). He is also widely known as the long-running host of the NHK program Tsurube no Kazoku ni Kanpai, which began in 1996.

Name (English)

Shofukutei Tsurube

Name (Japanese)

駿河 学

Reading

するが まなぶ

Born

December 23, 1951 (age 74)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Capricorn / Rabbit

Origin

Nagayoshi Village, Nakakawachi District, Osaka Prefecture, Japan (present-day Hirano Ward, Osaka)

Blood type

O

Height

170 cm

Agency

Denner Systems (Denner Co., Ltd.)

Agency history

Shochiku Entertainment (concurrent affiliation)

Active years

1972–present

Occupation

Rakugo Performer / Television Personality / Actor / Host

Elementary school

Private

Junior high

Private

High school

Osaka Prefectural Naniwa High School

University

Kyoto Sangyo University, Faculty of Economics (withdrew)

Debut

February 1972: became an apprentice (11th disciple) of the sixth-generation Shofukutei Shokaku, received the stage name Shofukutei Tsurube, and registered with the Kamigata Rakugo Association.

Awards & achievements

• 2009 32nd Japan Academy Prize Outstanding Lead Actor (Dear Doctor)
• 2010 34th Japan Academy Prize Outstanding Lead Actor (Ototo)
• 2015 38th Japan Academy Prize Outstanding Supporting Actor (Fushigi na Misaki no Monogatari)
• 2019 69th Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Art Encouragement Prize
• 2020 43rd Japan Academy Prize Outstanding Lead Actor (Heisa Byoto: Sorezore no Asa)
• 2020 28th Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival Best Actor in a Foreign Language Film (Heisa Byoto)
• 2020 48th Japan Broadcasting Culture Fund Award for Performance (Shizuka-chan to Papa)
• 2020 69th NHK Broadcasting Culture Award

Timeline

1. 1951Born in Nagayoshi Village, Nakakawachi District, Osaka Prefecture (present-day Hirano Ward, Osaka)
2. 1972Became the 11th apprentice of the sixth-generation Shofukutei Shokaku; received the stage name Shofukutei Tsurube; registered with the Kamigata Rakugo Association
3. 1974Joined Shochiku Entertainment
4. 1987Became a regular on Fuji TV's Waratte Iitomo! and began appearing on Tsurube Ueka Papepo TV
5. 1996NHK's Tsurube no Kazoku ni Kanpai began broadcasting
6. 1999Founded and joined Denner Systems (later Denner Co., Ltd.)
7. 2009Starred in the film Dear Doctor; won the Japan Academy Prize Outstanding Lead Actor Award
8. 2013Became host of TBS's A-Studio (later A-Studio+)
9. 2019Starred in the film Heisa Byoto: Sorezore no Asa; won the Ministry of Education Art Encouragement Prize

Spouse

Reiko Suruga (married 1973)

Children

First son: Taro Suruga (actor); first daughter (disclosed)

Parents

Private

Siblings

Private

Hobbies

• Rakugo (Tonko-bushi accompaniment)
• Reading

Specialties

• Rakugo
• Hosting
• Talk

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttps://www.tsurube.net/
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/shofukuteitsurube/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AC%91%E7%A6%8F%E4%BA%AD%E9%B6%B4%E7%93%B6

Tags

• Rakugo Performer
• From Osaka
• Shochiku Entertainment
• Denner Systems
• Japan Academy Prize
• Tsurube no Kazoku ni Kanpai
• A-Studio
• Kamigata Rakugo

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.