Japanese lion dance has come here again
Please let me to explain you the Japanese lion dance. It is the Japanese traditional folk performing art called Shishimai. The performers of Shishimai wear a guardian lion costume complete with a head represented by a lion mask, and dance with a co-actor. They usually dance at shrines, shopping streets and regular patronage's residences, throughout Japan to ward off evil and bring good luck. Shishimai performers dance to lively music played with traditional Japanese instruments. This accompaniment can be heard even from a distance.
Today, I'd like to introduce the grand dance performance held at the famous shrine.
This is a short video about a Shishimai dance performance dedicated to the spring shrine festival of the prestigious shrine in Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture in mid-March this year. By the way, the choreography, costume, and number of co-actors vary significantly by locality. Actually, it depends on the Shishimai troop.
After the first Shishimai dance performance, the performers took off the Shishimai costumes and showed Manzai and Juggling to make the audience laugh. Manzai is a Japanese stand-up comedy featuring two men. The left man is acting like a Juggler, but he is pretending to have short poles. Incidentally, it is a Japanese hand fan that you can see on the surface of his face.
After enjoying Manzai, Shishimai performance began again, but they showed a different choreography from the performance at the beginning. They danced with a zigzag-shaped white paper streamer called a Shide and a hand bell used at a ritual.
Then, the performer shows the acrobatics. He plays a bamboo flute while maintaining the balance of a platform loaded with many porcelain vessels supported by a single stick on his forehead.
Next to acrobatics, a showy but looking dangerous performance that Shishimai rides on the co-actor's shoulders, throwing a handful of confetti into the air.
After the thrilling performance, the co-actor who had been carrying Shishimai on his shoulders and the Shishimai performer hided inside the wide cloth called Yutan and switched their roles. Yutan is made of two-tone cloth, indigo and blue, and it expresses the torso of Shishimai as seen in the short video.
The co-actor wore the Shishimai head and the Shishimai performer put on an okame mask and rode on the shoulders of the co-actor who dressed up as Shishimai.
The okame mask is a female mask with a round face, a low and round nose, a small head, hanging hair and round and full cheeks. It has long been considered a good-luck charm.
This is a familiar sight when Shishimai performance is over. Those who wish to be bitten by Shishimai willingly offer themselves one by one.
Actually, there is an old Japanese saying that if you are bitten on your head by Shishimai, you will get rid of bad luck and be able to take care of your well-being.
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