The 20th January issue of Jinja Shinpō included two articles about Shishimai, concerning closely connected events.
“Shishimai” seems to be generally translated as “lion dance”. “Mai” is certainly “dance”, and they are indeed dances, but “shishi” do not generally look that much like lions. The Japanese name is for a large group of dances, with examples found all over Japan. They can be very different from one another, but in the basic form the “shishi” is danced by one or two people under a sheet, holding and operating a lacquered wooden head, with articulated jaws. The sheet is typically dyed in traditional colours and patterns (traditional to each dance), and the precise design of the head also depends on the dance. The performances are typically part of Shinto rituals, and are particularly associated with New Year.
One of the two events was a performance in Tokyo in which four different Shishimai were staged. In one, the shishi was danced by five people, in another the shishi climbed a ladder and danced at the top, and in a third the dance was associated with another widespread ritual in which hot water is splashed out of a cauldron for purification. I suspect that the organisers, a group that has been holding performances of folk art in Tokyo for a century, deliberately chose a sample that showcased the variety.
The other event was a “Shishi Cafe”, where anyone could come to talk about Shishimai with some of the groups performing at the first event and other experts. It was partly aimed at people who are in groups that perform Shishimai, because they do not have that many chances to talk to members of other groups, but it was also for people who were simply interested.
There were people (plural, I think) there who had come to get hints on finding young people to carry on the tradition. This is a near-universal problem in Japan, with the exception of a handful of traditions that are very famous, well-organised, and in relatively urban areas. On the other hand, people were also asking whom to contact if they were interested in getting involved.
These problems arise in part because of the demographic shifts in Japan (if there are only three children in your town, you have a fundamental problem), and in part because a lot of these traditions were passed down in families. In the hereditary ones there is often reluctance to teach outsiders, and even when they would be happy to train anyone, there are no mechanisms for doing so.
A lot of the most active traditions are now managed by “hozonkai”, which means “preservation association”. These provide a formal organisation that can recruit new people and organise training, as well as stage performances. Of course, that does mean that part of the tradition has been lost. However, given the choice between losing part of the tradition, and losing all of it, a lot of places are willing to lose the part that restricted the performances to particular families.
While a lot of particular Shishimai traditions are facing difficulties, enough examples seem to be on a solid footing for now that the tradition as a whole is unlikely to disappear within a lifetime. And that, to be honest, is as secure as this sort of tradition can ever be.