What is "kachashi"

, sometimes romanized as katcharsee, is a form of festive Okinawan folk dance. In Okinawa, it is often a feature of celebrations such as weddings and victory festivities after Okinawan sumo matches and public elections. Traditionally, the dance is accompanied by the sanshin and drum, and often punctuated with finger whistling called .

The dance is executed with the hands in the air, palm flat for women and curled (or in fists) for men. The hands alternate in a pulling and pushing, up and down elliptical motion, one hand facing outward and up while the other is facing inward and down. The hand movements are notoriously difficult to execute without training. The steps are mostly improvised, but generally consist of a slightly bow-legged stance, alternately lifting and lowering the feet to the rhythm of the music.

• ("A Chinese Ship Is Coming"), the most famous kachāshī dance song

• , a courtship dance song