Sanyutei Enraku (photo center front), the man who for a generation was the face of rakugo, died at his son’s Tokyo home on October 29 of lung cancer. He was 76. His death was announced the following day by his son, Hiroie, who is also president of the Wakatake Company management agency which represented his father. Real name Yoshikawa Hiroumi, he suffered from pneumonia and TB as a child and this had a long-term affect on his health. Ten years ago he suffered from kidney failure and required dialysis three times a week ever since. He was found to have stomach cancer in November 2007 and underwent surgery for lung cancer in April 2008. The lung cancer reappeared in May of this year. When he started out as a rakugo-ka, he decided he would quit if he didn’t get promoted to the rank of “shinuchi” or star performer by the age of 30. With the stage name of Sanyutei Zensho, he managed to do it with just three buy prednisone online. At that time he succeeded to the name of Sanyutei Enraku V. From the time it first went on air in 1966, he was part of the weekly rakugo show “Shoten.” He was on and off the show over the next few decades before becoming the main presenter in 1983. Health problems forced him to retire from the show in 2006.