I am currently writing an essay about untranslatability, and I have one paragraph in which I discuss how sometimes humour can be lost when translating between languages.

One example I would like to discuss is a Japanese pun that I heard when I attended a performance of 金壺親父恋達引 at the National Bunraku Theatre in Osaka last July. There was a scene where the main character, a stingy one man with an unhealthy obsession over his pot of gold, appears on stage holding a muddy stick. There was some joke involving a pun, which was explained by my English audio guide, but I can't seem to remember it! It was something about the kanji characters used for writing "muddy stick" - perhaps the reading for them is the same in hiragana as "foolish"/"stingy"/"gullible" man?

Here is a clip from the play:

https://youtu.be/DBUYZoj5RD4

If anyone can work out what the joke might be, please let me know, as I really want to discuss it in my essay! 😅