Meigen - String

This is a technique in which the bowstring is pulled strongly by hand without an arrow attached to it, and is also called tsuruuchi. The sound is made during bathing, illness, childbirth, thunder, etc., to scare away supernatural spirits and demons, and to ward off evil spirits and impurities. When the emperor took a bath, the kurodo performed the sound outside the bathhouse, and it was also performed at the famous meeting of samurai at the entrance to the waterfall, but the most popular occasion for the birth of a prince was the birth of a prince, and later it spread beyond aristocratic society and was also performed on occasions such as the birth of children of the shoguns of the Kamakura and Muromachi shogunate.

[Kazuki Sugimoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

弓に矢をつがえず、張った弦を手で強く引き鳴らす作法で、弦打(つるうち)ともいう。入浴、病気、出産、雷鳴などの際に、その発する音によって妖怪(ようかい)、悪魔を驚かし、邪気、穢(けがれ)を祓(はら)うものである。天皇の入浴の際には蔵人(くろうど)が御湯殿(おゆどの)の外に候(こう)して行い、滝口の武士の名対面(なだいめん)の際にも行われたが、皇子誕生の際の鳴弦はもっとも盛んであり、のちには貴族社会より波及して、鎌倉・室町幕府将軍家の子女誕生のおりなどにも行われた。

［杉本一樹］

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