Hikihitomai (侏儒舞)
"Hikihitomai" is a kind of "sarugaku" (form of theatre popular in Japan during the 11th to 14th centuries).
Summary
Hikihitomai is a dancing art performed by people of short stature, belonging to comical acts.
Hikihitomai was recorded in "Shinsarugoki" (a kind of textbook about manners and cultures of Kyoto in the Heian era) and categorized into sarugaku in the Heian period.
The first appearance of Hikihitomai in written records is the description at the section of March, the eighth year of the Emperor Buretsu's era in "Nihonshoki" (Chronicles of Japan), that "the emperor indulges himself in wanton pleasures by gathering many short people and actors to make them play queer performances and barnyard music."
This description is said to quote a Chinese historical event referring to an elbow and if so, it is unknown whether or not hikihitomai was performed in Japan at that time.