“There’s a fish called ochi-hamo.”

“Ochi means ‘fallen,’ doesn’t it? Wouldn’t that make it a bad fish?”

“It’s delicious once it has fallen.”

“The same ochi as the punchline in rakugo.”

“Yes. A story isn’t over until it has its ochi.”

“And a story without one?”

“It’s still summer hamo.”

Hamo (pike conger), from Baien Gyofu by Mōri Baien.

Collection of the National Diet Library, Japan.

Hamo means summer.

They say it grows delicious after drinking the rains of the rainy season.

But it has another season in autumn.

After spawning, it feeds and puts on fat for the winter.

This is ochi-hamo.

Ochi-hamo is delicious once it has “fallen.”

A story, too, isn’t over until it has its ochi—its punchline.