Spark by Naoki Matayoshi (Pushkin Press)

Naoki Matayoshi’s debut novel 火花 (Hibana) was published in 2015 by Bungei Shuju. It’s release took the Japanese literary world by storm. The book went on to win Japan’s most prestigious award for literature - the Akutagawa Prize. The book was also adapted into a Netflix Original Series.  Matayoshi is well known in the entertainment world for being an avid reader but it still came as a surprise to everyone when he won the award. 

It is now available in English as Spark, published by Pushkin Press and translated by Alison Watts.  English readers can enjoy a story about a subject close to Matayoshi’s heart, the art of manzai. Manzai is a Japanese form of comedic dialogue, often performed by a duo, one playing the straight man while the other provides comic relief.  

The story opens as the manzai combination, Sparks, takes the stage during a summer fireworks event in Atami. The comedians were going through their routine although nobody was paying them any attention. Near the end of their routine, a loud BOOM went off signalling the start of the fireworks so the pair just went through the motions, hoping to leave the stage as quickly as possible once their allotted time was up. Another comedy duo, The Doofuses, was scheduled to take the stage and Tokunaga, the funny half of Sparks decided to stay and watch their routine. 

Tokunaga is impressed by one of the members of the Doofuses and is even more surprised when the person invites him out to drink after the show. Tokunaga discovers that Kamiya is four years older than him, making him a sempai, his senior in Japan’s hierarchical society. Tokunaga becomes his kohai or junior. Tokunaga decides right then and there to be a disciple of Kamiya. He believes Kamiya has that certain something that’s necessary to survive and succeed as a manzai artist. 

Their friendship progresses from a mere sempai-kohai relationship to becoming a bond where they can speak to each other as equals. We follow the careers of both the Sparks and the Doofuses with the Sparks becoming more popular, landing spots at various theaters and also on television shows giving them more exposure. 

After ten years in the business, Tokunaga’s partner, Yamashita, marries his girlfriend and says his wife is pregnant with twins so their manzai partnership is over. The Doofuses on the other hand don't find the same success and Kamiya would disappear for months at a time. Tokunaga continues to have faith in his senpai and believes that Kamiya is always pushing the boundaries of what is deemed acceptable and respects that.

Naoki Matayoshi knows firsthand what it’s like to be a struggling manzai artist as he is a veteran manzai-shi himself. He is the “funny man” half of Peace and performs alongside Yuji Ayabe. Armed with his knowledge of how the manzai industry works adds to the realism of the discussions Tokunaga and Kamiya have when they get together.

After winning the Akutagawa Prize, Yuji stops calling Naoki by his name and refers to him as Sensei. As a combination, Peace has gone on hiatus as Ayabe went to the U.S. to study English with the hopes of landing a role in a Hollywood film. Matayoshi continues to appear on television and continues to write as well. I find Peace’s brand of comedy quite entertaining and hope that they will perform as a duo once again in the near future. ~Ernie Hoyt