A valuable contribution to studies of not just rakugo, but also Japanese humor and performance more generally … a valuable intervention in research on local culture in a modern Japan that is often defined by its unity. Shores’s book will be a core text in building the reception of rakugo in its multiple forms in English-language scholarship … useful for many readers, from scholars to undergraduates. 
⸺ Aaron Gerow, Yale University, Monumenta Nipponica

This excellent book can itself be considered another invaluable intervention in the history of rakugo. Shores’ expert insights into this brilliant and ever-evolving humorous art will surely help spread its fame around the world and promote the cause of cross-cultural humour studies. It is a joy to read.
⸺ Jessica Milner Davis, The University of Sydney, European Journal of Humour Research

A triumph [that] has the potential to become seminal to our understanding of and future academic engagement with rakugo… highly readable and often entertaining… whets the appetite and makes Kamigata rakugo more accessible for readers interested in Japanese performance, literature, and comedy.
⸺ Till Weingärtner, University College Cork, The Journal of Japanese Studies

[Shores] provides an in-depth view of one of Japan’s most prominent stage crafts by providing a historical trajectory of the development of the genre. … The book is very informative for both researchers and students in Japanese studies, as well as being comprehensive and useful for a general audience interested in stagecraft. … Introducing a genre [Kamigata rakugo] by making references to its counterpart [Edo rakugo] and explaining the differences between the two is a hard task, but it comes smoothly in Shores’ writing.
⸺ Esra-Gökçe Şahin, Galatasaray University, Japanese Language and Literature

… [A] rich account of a particularly interesting element of Japanese entertainment. … recommended not only for rakugo researchers and enthusiasts but also for Japanese studies researchers with an interest in the history of entertainment in Japan.
⸺ Simon Regin Paxton, Komazawa University, Asian Ethnography

Shores’ successes in this book can be attributed not only to his intimate relationship and experiences with contemporary Kamigata rakugo, but also from his diverse approach to understanding its historical and present day appeal. … This book is not only about the tastes of Osaka rakugo patrons, but also about the tastes of those who love kabuki, noh, kyōgen and manzai, and how these tastes overlap, conflict, and are in constant conversation with each other, both in the past and today.
⸺ Alex Rogals, Hunter College, Asian Theatre Journal

The positioning of rakugo as a subject for mainstream academic attention has been a long time coming. This book sets it in the firmament as a discipline worthy of such treatment. The Comic Storytelling of Western Japan lends itself to use by anyone needing an approachable resource to draw from in studying – or preparing a course on – Japanese humour or social history.
⸺ Ian McArthur, The University of Sydney, Japan Forum

In this well-researched introduction to its history, texts and performance practice, Shores successfully demonstrates that Kamigata rakugo is a Japanese cultural treasure in its own right, and in no way a lesser ‘second-city’ version of Edo rakugo.
⸺ Lorie Brau, University of New Mexico, Theatre Research International

Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. Shores bases this volume on an immense amount of research… details the history… largely about the literary content of the stories… providing many performance details.
⸺ C. Lanki, University of British Columbia, CHOICE