Gagaku
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Gagaku is a traditional Japanese performing art comprising court music, song, and dance. Historically centered on the imperial court, it has also been transmitted at Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines,
A gagaku performance at the Manyo Botanical Garden in Nara in 2019
Court musicians depicted in the Kasuga Gongen Genki E (1309)
The dance Kochō performed before the emperor, from J. M. W. Silver's Sketches of Japanese Manners and Customs (1867)
Ninjō-mai, a dance associated with court kagura and the indigenous repertory
Shō (instrument)
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The shō is a Japanese free reed musical instrument descended from the Chinese sheng, of the Tang dynasty era, which was introduced to Japan during the Nara period, although the shō tends to be smaller
Gagaku
…became associated particularly with dances of the Left and the Ō family with dances of the Right. The Toyohara family was associated especially with the shō, and the Abe family with the hichiriki. The medieval and early modern periods produced important theoretical and practical writings. The Kyōkunshō (教訓抄…
Musician playing sho
Chinese sheng (L) & Japanese shō (R)
A woman playing the shō