Cat and mouse

It is also called "cat and mouse, mouse." Two people, A and B, face each other and chant "cat and mouse, mouse," while A pinches the back of his left hand with his right fingers, and B pinches the back of A's right hand with his left hand and the back of his own hand with his right hand. This game of endlessly taking turns pinching one hand after the other was called "cat and mouse, mouse." The senryu poem "Willow Barrel" contains the phrase "Picking up chestnut burrs in a cat and mouse game." When two people repeat the same thing over and over, not just in games, but in anything, it is called cat and mouse, and it is still used in everyday language today. Nowadays, this is a game played by young children, but the same game is repeated, with "one stings, two stings," and on the eighth sting it is said that "a bee has stung," and on the ninth sting it is said that "a bear hornet has stung," and the game ends by pinching the hornet tightly.

[Hisako Maruyama]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

「いたちごっこ・ねずみごっこ」ともいう。AB2人が向かい合って、「いたちごっこ、ねずみごっこ」と唱えながら、Aが右指で自分の左手の甲をつまみ、Bは左手でAの右手の甲を、右手で自分の左手の甲をつまむ。このようにしてかわるがわる次々とつまんでいくことを果てしなく繰り返す遊びを、「いたちごっこ・ねずみごっこ」とよんだ。川柳(せんりゅう)『柳樽(やなぎだる)』に、「いが栗(ぐり)をいたちごっこでつまみあげ」という句がある。遊びと限らず何事でも双方が同じことを繰り返しているのを、いたちごっことよび、いまも日常のことばとして使われている。いまは幼い子供の遊びであるが、同じ遊びを「一がさした、二がさした」と繰り返し、八つ目には「蜂(はち)が刺した」、九つ目には「熊(くま)ん蜂が刺した」といって強くつまんで終わる遊びがある。

［丸山久子］

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