Shishimai and Bangaku

Shishimai
In Akita, the word Shishimai (Lion Dance) originally referred only to the lion dance of Bangaku, the ascetics’ kagura dance in the area around Mt. Chōkai. This kind of lion dance is performed by two people. While one performer holds the lion body (the large fabric behind the lion head), the other moves the lion head, with its mouth biting the air frantically to the beats of the drums. The lion head is often revered as a deity. An introductory dance is performed before the lion dance and other bangaku numbers after it, but because of the importance of the lion dance, the entire program is also called Shishimai (Lion Dance). On the days of Obon in summer, the lion goes around the community to visit individual houses. Within the shishimai of this category, there are Jingū-Jishi, Yasaki-Jishi, and other dance numbers, each of which has its specific purpose. As is also the case with other bangaku performances, the performance of shishimai is permitted only in a specifically defined period of year from the opening day to the closing day.
There is yet another kind of lion dance that is performed by two people but not derived from Kagura (or Bangaku). In Nikaho City, that kind of lion dance is called Gohōtō (Noble Treasure Head) or Jūnidan-Shishimai (Twelve-Number Lion Dance) and performed as prayer at religious festivals. On new year days, the lion head goes around the community to visit altars in individual houses. During the lion dance, people place a talisman in the lion’s mouth to give it a special power and then keep it for the health and safety of the household. Music is played with drums and gongs. This kind of lion dance is performed in some communities also for children’s rituals on the day of Hatsu-uma (the first Day of the Ox in February).

Bangaku
Bangaku is a kind of kagura dance in the shugen ascetics’ tradition. It is called bangaku only in Akita Prefecture and the northern part of Yamagata Prefecture. There were 48 dance numbers in total, 12 primary, 12 secondary, 12 sub-primary, and 12 sub-secondary. The etymology is unclear, but probably it was named bangaku because the order (ban) of performance was fixed, at least for the first. Some of them are ritualistic, such as the Okina Dance and Sanbansō Dance, which are close to Nō Dance, but there are also the Bushi Dance inspired by historic stories, Onna Dance (Female Dance), Furyū Dance, Kyōgen Dance, and other varieties. Music is played with drums, gongs, and Japanese flutes, but also sometimes with shamisen (three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instruments). In some cases, both dance and music were exclusively assumed by fixed families and passed down only from fathers to sons. The back screen, with various designs, is set in front of the altar to make a stage. Scripts are often written in Iidatehon, but Kyōgen Dance has no script and the performer improvises the speech for the dance.