The name is said to have been derived from one of the Dengaku (style of dancing and music originally performed at agricultural festivals) pieces, "Takaashi-no-mai" (dance on high legs), since the shape of skewered foodstuffs looked like the dance performed on poles put up on the rice field.
語源はその具を串刺しにした格好が、田楽のひとつである、田んぼに棒を突き立てその上で踊る「高足の舞」に似ている事から名づけられたと言われる。