Torimono (採物)
Torimono are the tools used by miko (a shrine maiden) and performers of Kagura, (sacred music and dancing performed at shrine) in Shinto rituals and Kagura.
"Outadokoro Onuta poetry" of "Kokin Wakashu" (A Collection of Ancient and Modern Japanese Poetry) describes four kinds: Sakaki, Kudzu, archery (a weapon), and Shaku (ladle). Furthermore, a Kagurauta song describes a total of nine tools by adding five kinds: Nusa (symbols of divinity made of cloth or paper and hung on a pole), Shakujo (hand bell), archery (a weapon), Ken (sword of sharpened two edges), and Hoko (a pike). Some suggest that Shaku and Kudzu were originally the same ('shakukudzu').
Shinobu ORIKUCHI put forward a new theory that taking hold and brandishing them were intended for 'a repose of souls' of the gods.