Japan has various kinds of storytelling arts, and in those days, there already existed the established culture of narration, which was shouldered by, for example, "tayu" (a storyteller in "ningyo joruri" [traditional Japanese puppet theater]) accompanied with "shamisen" (the three-stringed Japanese banjo), "degatari" (the musicians who appear on stage of Kabuki [the classical Japanese dance-drama]), and a talker in "utsushie" (also called "nishiki-kagee," a magic lantern picture).
日本は話芸の文化が多彩であり、特に人形浄瑠璃における太夫と三味線、歌舞伎における出語り、写し絵、錦影絵の解説者といったナレーション文化がすでに定着していた。