Selected dancers spent days practicing until the evening of the day of the Ox (one of the twelve animals of the oriental zodiac), two days before the Niiname-sai festival, where they went to the Imperial Court and made a demonstration called 'Chodai no kokoromi' in front of the Emperor at Joneiden palace.
選ばれた舞姫は練習に明け暮れ、新嘗祭の前々日である丑の日の夜に宮中へ参上、直に、「帳台試（ちょうだいのこころみ）」と称して常寧殿にて天皇に練習を披露した。