It is said that a man from Aira in Satsuma, in the west of present-day Kagoshima, taught this twelve-person dance to the local youth. Each side has four men holding 6-foot poles and two young boys clutching sickle-shaped swords. They wear gallant costumes, with hachimaki headbands and the long sleeves of their garments tucked back with a loop of cloth, called a tasuki.