Shakushimai - Shakushimai

Japanese: 杓子舞 - しゃくしまい

Folk performing art. One of the Hayashimai (musical dances). Shakushi are thought to be talismans for good luck and longevity, but in this Hayashimai, the performers sing and dance using shakushi as a harvest item, singing lines such as "Misaina Misaina Shakushimai Misaina." Although it is not a current song, it appears to be one of the 25 Hayashimai songs of Ayakomai in Onadani, Kashiwazaki City, Niigata Prefecture, and suggests that it was performed from the end of the Middle Ages to the early modern period. It has also been passed down in the Hayashimai of the Tohoku region, and in the Mikomai (musical dance) of the Flower Festival in the Kitashitara region of Aichi Prefecture, a clown dances with a shakushi and a bell.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

民俗芸能。囃子舞（はやしまい）の一つ。しゃくしは招福･延命の呪具と考えられるが，しゃくしを採物（とりもの）として，〈見さいな見さいな　杓子舞を見さいな〉などと演者が歌いながら舞う囃子舞である。現行曲ではないが，新潟県柏崎市女谷（おなだに）の綾子舞（あやこまい）の囃子舞25曲の一つに見え，中世末から近世にかけて行われていたことがうかがえる。東北地方の囃子舞の中にも伝えられており，また愛知県北設楽（きたしたら）地方の花祭の〈みこ舞〉は道化がしゃくしと鈴を持って舞う。

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

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