Shell covering - Shell covering

A type of game in which two halves of a shell are matched together to capture the shell. It originated from Kaiawase (shell-matching). It uses 360 clam shells with a pair of waka poems or pictures painted on the inside, with the left shell (male) called the jigai and the right shell (female) called the dasigai. To play, a space is made in the center and the jigai shells are lined up in a circle, face down so that the inside cannot be seen, and one dasigai shell is dropped into the space (the opening of the shell) and the player must find and capture the matching jigai shell based on the shell's shape and pattern. The player who captures the most wins. The jigai and dasigai shells were stored separately in a pair of containers called kaioke (shell buckets). Originally, Kaifuku was a game played by children that dates back to the Kamakura period and was passed down among nobles. However, because clam shells only fit together in pairs, they came to be seen as a symbol of chastity, and in early modern times, the Kaibuke came to be carried at the start of wedding processions and a ceremony was held to hand it over.

[Kazuki Sugimoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

二つに分けた貝片を合わせてとる遊戯の一種。貝合(かいあわせ)より生じた。内側に左右一対の和歌や絵を描いた蛤(はまぐり)の貝殻360個を用い、左貝（雄貝）を地貝(じがい)、右貝（雌貝）を出貝(だしがい)とよぶ。遊戯方法は、中央に空所をつくって、地貝を内側が見えないように伏せて丸く並べ、その空所（貝の口）に出貝を1個ずつ出して、貝の形や模様からそれに合う地貝を探し出してとり、多くとった者が勝ちとなる。地貝・出貝は、貝桶(かいおけ)とよばれる2個1組の容器に分けて納められていた。もともと貝覆は子女の遊戯で、鎌倉時代からあり、公家(くげ)の間に伝わったものだったが、蛤は一対の貝殻以外はけっして合わないことから貞節の象徴とされ、近世には、貝桶は嫁入り行列の最初に運ばれ、受け渡しの儀が行われるようになった。

［杉本一樹］

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