National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

Shishiko literally means a lion (Shishi) and a child (Ko), referring to the boy who leads a lion at the beginning of the Gigaku procession. The back of the head is made of wood and painted in white as a primary coating, while the forehead and the lips are painted in ultramarine and red, respectively. On the top of the head, a round copper plate is nailed, under which brown hair is fixed. The hair is quite short now, however, it was probably an ancient Chinese children's hairstyle.