Shishimai (Lion Dance)

Shishimai (Lion Dance)

Copyright © 2009 Paul D. Natkin, All Rights Reserved

I'm always thinking of the lion dancers I saw in Gobō (Gobō City, Wakayama Prefecture/和歌山県御坊市) and so many other places in Japan. I can still hear the plaintive sound of the shakuhachi flutes that accompanied the dancing, which in Japanese is referred to as Shishimai (獅子舞). Shishi (or Jishi) is translated as "lion," but it can also refer to a deer or dog with magical properties and the power to repel evil spirits. The strangest Shishi I ever saw was at a festival in a rather isolated mountain village on a moonlit evening. The role of the Shishi was played by a small child, who wore a blue costume with white patterns. The oddest thing was that this Shishi's mop of brownish-red hair hung down in all directions; you couldn't see its face. It moved with a kind of shudder, rather like a mechanical toy. By comparison, the dancers in Gobō were supple and lithe. It was always so lifelike, it was hard to believe that underneath the Shishi's writhing body there were human beings making it move.