Shaku (笏) is the Japanese name for a flat ritual baton or scepter of Chinese origin.
Usually made of woods like Japanese yew, holly, cherry, sakaki or Japanese cedar,[1] the shaku is often seen in portraits of shoguns and noblemen but is now used mostly by Shinto priests (the kannushi).
The shaku originally had a strip of paper attached to the back containing instructions and memoranda
for the ceremony or event about to take place, but it later evolved
into a purely ceremonial implement meant to add solemnity to rituals.[1]
The use of the shaku as a ritual baton originated in ancient China, where in mandarin it is called hù with the same Chinese character.[2]
The standard reading for the character used to write shaku is kotsu, but that is also one of the readings for the character bone (骨 hone) and is thus avoided to prevent bad luck.[1]
The character's unusual pronunciation seems to derive from the fact the baton is approximately one shaku (an old unit of measurement equivalent to 30.3 cm) in length.[1]
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