Nankin Tamasudare (南京玉簾 or 南京玉すだれ Nankin-tamasudare, lit. "Nanjing Lily") is a kind of traditional Japanese street performance.
The name "Nankin Tamasudare" is a play on words, as it can mean a kind
of flower, as well as mean something like "a wonderous woven screen." (Sudare is a kind of screen made by weaving straw with twine.)
The performance consists of a person skilled in manipulating special
screens made of loosely woven sticks, as well as chanting an
accompanying a kind of poetry. The performer chants a rhythmic poem as
s/he uses the screen to portray the objects in the poetry without
stopping. The screen is twisted, folded, extended, etc. in many
different ways to portray an object, and then brought back quickly to
its original screen shape.
It is said to have been a popular form of entertainment that began in the Edo period.
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