Kidai Shoran (detail) © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Asiatische Kunst (Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin), former collection of Hans-Joachim and Inge Küster, gift of Manfred Bohms 2002, photography: Tadao Kodaira

26Maruichi daikagura circus troupe

Daikagura is an art form based on Shinto rituals to ward off misfortune and is done by street performers who do lion dances and acrobatics. The man in front holds a Shinto ichimando staff with paper streamers. It was believed that anyone who received a purification rite using this staff would receive 10,000 times the usual benefit of such a ritual. Troupes like Maruichi Sen’ōshachū that descended from Edo daikagura are still active today.