a staring-out game

Japanese: にらめっこ

A game in which two people face each other and make various facial expressions to try to make the other laugh. The first person to laugh loses. It is also called "Nirakura" or "Niramekkura", and in the Kansai region it is called "Niramikoku" or "Niramikokura", and in the old days it was called "Mekurabe". The Nagato version of "The Tale of the Heike" tells the story of a skull that appeared in a dream and Taira no Kiyomori glaring at each other as if they were comparing eyes, and "Meibutsu Rokujo" explains that in China there are games called "Shorei" and "Museigaku", in which each person imitates a sho (Japanese lute), a drum, a board, etc., and the one who starts laughing is punished.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

向き合った2人が相手を笑わせようとさまざまな顔つきをする遊び。先に笑ったものが負けとなる。〈にらみくら〉〈にらめっくら〉，関西では〈にらみごく〉〈にらみこくら〉などともいい，古くは〈目くらべ〉といった。《平家物語》長門本には，夢に現れたしゃれこうべと平清盛が目くらべをするように互いににらみあった話があり，《名物六帖》では，中国に〈笑令〉〈無声楽〉という遊びがあり，笙（しよう），鼓，板などのまねを1人ずつして笑い出したものに罰を与えると説明している。

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