Each night, the full-blooming peonies in a certain daimyo's garden are destroyed by a huge lion
that dances among them. The distraught daimyo orders Taro-Raja to capture the lion and bring it
to him alive.
Whatever he tries, the lion always escapes from his attempts to capture it, and he gives up the
fight, choosing instead to mimic the lion's prancing.
The head and tail of the lion are played by two peoples and the role demands a high degree of
strength, skill experience and intuition. The role of Taro-Kaja is even more demanding, and ideally
the actor playing this part should also have played a part of the lion in the past, or it is thought
that he could not master the complicated dance movements.
The rhythms of the flutes and drums accompaniment are also unique to this play.