Dai Tao Fut Sketch

This is a sketch of Dai Tao Fut (lit. Big Headed Buddha) also known as Clown, Buddha, Monk, etc, who is a masked character that will often accompany lions during Chinese Lion Performances and acts kind of like their trainer.

As with many Chinese Legends (or even legends in general) there are several variations of the story but the basic story is that lions would come down from their home in the mountains to terrorize a particular village. A monk was heading to the mountains to meditate and the villagers warned him about the lions. He said he'd be fine and went up to the mountains and locked himself in their with the lions, by the time he came out the lions were vegetarian and ever since have been praised rather than feared.

Apparently this story originated in a small village where someone saw a monk passionately kissing a girl, and then that village incorporated this into their Chinese masked opera performances. Later on a troupe of lion dancers travelling through the town saw this, were intrigued by it and decided to incorporate it aswell.

The current character somewhat draws inspiration from the character of Xuanzang (Tang Sunzang) from the novel, the Journey to the West.

He usually carries a palm leaf hand fan (as pictured) and always wears a red sash (one version of the story of the origin of dai tao fut and the lions says that he used it to tie around the lions as a sort of leash, which is also why lions have red sashes tied around their horns).

When the Dai Tao Fut wheres an Orange robe (or maybe its yellow) then they represent a Shaolin Monk and therefore have to show certain respects such as bowing differently. The Dai Tao Fut should be a fairly high ranking member of the team as they need to be able to communicate with the lions and help them solve the obstacle/puzzle.

Just thought I'd include all that in case anyone was interested because there's barely any information on it available what I know is from years of studying and from being a Lion Performer (particularly since I'm usually the one on my team to play the Dai Tao Fut).