Fish Dengaku - Uoden

...The name Dengaku is said to come from the fact that the shape of the skewered tofu resembles the figure of a Dengaku priest dancing on a long pole with a crossbar attached to it. Eventually, people began to make konnyaku and taro, and even dishes using fish as ingredients appeared, which were called Uo-Dengaku, or simply Giyoden. Thus, as Morisada Manko writes, "Today, food that is roasted with miso paste is called Dengaku. In the past, the name was derived from the shape, but that is no longer the case," and so the term Dengaku came to be used to refer to any food that is not skewered but simply roasted with miso paste....

*Some of the terminology that refers to "Uo-dengaku" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…田楽の名は串に刺した豆腐の形が長い棒に横木をつけた鷺足（さぎあし）に乗って踊る田楽法師の姿に似ているためだという。やがてこれに倣って，こんにゃく，サトイモなども作られるようになり，さらには魚を材料とするものも現れ，これを魚（うお）田楽，略して魚田（ぎよでん）といった。こうして《守貞漫稿》が〈今ハ食類ニ味噌ヲツケテ焙（あぶり）タルヲ田楽ト云，昔ハ形ニ因テ名トシ，今ハ然ラズ〉というように，串に刺さず，ただ，みそをつけて焼く料理一般をも田楽と呼ぶ風を生じた。…

※「魚田楽」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報