The actor Ichikawa Raizo II performing the Shakkyo Lion Dance

Ichikawa Raizō II raises a carved lion’s head mask on a stage set with hanging metal lanterns of the type found at Buddhist temples. The mask was used as part of a “lion dance” known as Shakkyō (“Stone Bridge”), derived from the Noh play by that name. In the play, based on an ancient Buddhist legend, a monk on a pilgrimage encounters a boy woodcutter. Later the youth appears to the monk as a lion (or two lions), performing a dance among peonies. Kabuki versions, popular in the eighteenth century, reenact the “lion dance” through the use of masks and peonies, the lion’s favorite flower — shown here decorating the actor’s outer robe.