Lengshan (dynasty of China; 386-589 CE)(renjishi)
One of the subjects of the puppet is taken from the Noh play “Ishibashi” (stone bridge) and the Kabuki play “Renjishi,” which is derived from the Chinese legend that the lion, the king of beasts, would test his cubs to see if they could crawl back up to him by dropping them into a ravine. The lion with white hair is the parent lion and the lion with red hair is the child lion. The doll showing the standing posture of the parent lion alone is called “Kagami-jishi” (mirror lion).
