Anrakuan Sakuden (安楽庵策伝 anrakuan sakuden, 1554 – 1642) was a Japanese priest, tea master and writer in the Edo period. He is famous for Sobering Laughter (醒睡笑 Seisuishō, 1623), a humorous eight-part composition that had a strong influence on half book (半紙本 hanashibon) and is sometimes said to be the earliest rakugo (落語) composition.

Seisuishō is considered one of the progenitors of the literary genre called hanashibon, alongside the slightly earlier Kinō wa kyō no monogatari. Hanashibon were Edo period collections of short, humorous tales. The Seisuishō is the longest of these collections, containing more than a thousand stories.

Slightly prior to 1618 when the Thirty Years' War broke out in Germany, Japan saw a collection of more than 1,000 brief comic stories compiled under the title of Seisuisho by Anrakuan Sakuden, the 55th chief priest of Seiganji Temple--who is alleged to be the originator of TAIKOMOCHI (the role of whom is to entertain guests at banquets together with Geisha.)

Well, they seem to share the same name. (Anraku anSaku den)

Wonder if it is just coincidence, or whether the modern Anraku chose this name with reference to the older one, or maybe Anrakuan Sakuden is just a common name like "John Smith" and there is no connection whatsoever.