A Traditional Street Performance, Monkey Operation at Asakusa Sensoji-Temple

At very crowded popular sightseeing spots such as Sensoji-Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo, we can sometimes find a traditional Japanese street performance called "Saru-Mawashi". The word means "Monkey Operation" and a performer shows a Japanese monkey's acrobatic tricks with comical narration.

In "Saru-Mawashi (Monkey Operation)", Japanese monkeys wearing costumes would play on stilts, show big jumps or somersaults, and play drums as shown in the photos. The performers mostly talks as if they are having a comic dialogue with their monkeys while they make the monkeys do the tricks.

The history of this performance is pretty long. It is said that performances using monkeys were originally imported from China in the 8th century. Although it had been more like rituals in the beginning since monkeys were considered as guardians for horses, it gradually became just an entertainment performance. During Samurai era, it was a very popular performance and apparently "Saru-Mawashi" performers were all over Japan.

However sometime after the Japanese modern government was established in 1868, this traditional street performance was completely exterminated because modern police departments thought these activities didn't fit the Road Traffic Law. 

In 1970s, some of those who deplore the disappearance of the traditional performance made efforts to revive "Saru-Mawashi", and today we can enjoy it again. Thus these performers are now using busy sightseeing spots such as famous temple grounds or park for their show and don't use public streets. 

If you are lucky you come across this performance while you are visiting popular tourist spots!