葛飾北斎　舞楽還城楽の舞　江戸時代

A dancer, dressed in the warm reds and oranges of dances set in China and other lands to the west, holds in his hands a coiled snake made of metal and a tasseled baton. His right foot is raised and poised to stamp, part of the half-agitated, half-languorous movements that characterize much of bugaku dance, a type of courtly dance that is Chinese and Korean in origin. The title of the dance piece, mentioned in the poem, is Genjōraku (Music for a Palace Homecoming). In it, the performer finds a snake and begins to dance excitedly. Owing to the long history of the dance, which dates as far back as the tenth century or even earlier, there are a number of explanations as to its meaning. Snakes were considered delicacies, for example, so his movements may represent the joy of a group of people upon finding the reptile. By the Edo period, Genjōraku was performed as part of shrine festivals in celebration of prosperity and peace.