, sometimes

romanized In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

as katcharsee, is a form of festive Okinawan

folk dance A folk dance is a dance that reflects the life of the people of a certain country or region. Not all ethnic dances are folk dances. For example, Ritual, ritual dances or dances of ritual origin are not considered to be folk dances. Ritual dances ...

. In Okinawa, it is often a feature of celebrations such as weddings and victory festivities after

tegumi or is a traditional form of wrestling from Okinawa. According to Shōshin Nagamine, in his "Tales of Okinawa's Great Masters", there are no accurate historical documents surrounding the origins of grappling in Okinawa. It seems that ''tegumi' ...

wrestling matches and public elections. It is traditionally accompanied by the

sanshin The is a Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyuan musical instrument and precursor of the mainland Japanese (). Often likened to a banjo, it consists of a snakeskin-covered body, neck and three strings. Origins The sanshin is believed to have originated fro ...

and

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

, and often punctuated with finger whistling called . The dance is executed with the hands in the air, palms flat for women and curled (or in fists) for men. The hands alternate pulling and pushing in an up and down elliptical motion, one hand facing outward and up, the other inward and down. The hand movements are difficult to execute without training. The steps are mostly improvised, generally made in a slight bow-legged stance, alternately lifting and lowering the feet to the rhythm.

Songs

* ("A Chinese Ship is Coming"), the most famous *, for courtship * * * *

References

External links

Kachāshī demonstration for women, Part 1Kachāshī demonstration for women, Part 2Kachāshī demonstration for men
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kachashi Dances of Japan Okinawan folk music