Shinto music is the ceremonial and festive music of , the
indigenous religion of
Japan. Its
origin myth
An origin myth is a myth that describes the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the creation or cosmogonic myth, a story that describes the creation of the world. However, many cultures have st ...
is the erotic dance of
Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto which lured
Amaterasu from her cave.
Kagura
or 'entertainment of the
gods
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater ...
' includes music, dance and poetry and comprises mi-kagura of the court, o-kagura of major
shrines such as
Ise Jingū
The , located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and .
The Inner ...
, and village sato-kagura.
Forms
The repertoire includes eight forms that may be traced back to the eighth century: kagura-uta (kagura songs), azuma asobi (eastern entertainment), kume-uta (palace guard songs) ō-uta (big songs), onaibi-uta (night duty songs), ruika (funeral songs), ta-uta (field songs), and yamato-uta (
Yamato songs).
Instruments
Instruments include the , , , , , and clappers. In local
festivals
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...
the , , and may also be found.
See also
*
Gagaku
*
Kagura
is a type of Shinto ritual ceremonial dance. The term is a contraction of the phrase , indicating the presence of gods () in the practice.
One major function of is , involving a procession-trance process. Usually a female shaman will perfor ...
*
Dengaku
were rustic Japanese celebrations that can be classified into two types: that developed as a musical accompaniment to rice planting observances, and the dances that developed in conjunction with . The celebrated for rice planting was perform ...
*
Matsuri
Japanese festivals are traditional festive occasions often celebrated with dance and music in Japan. Many festivals have their roots in traditional Chinese festivals, but have undergone extensive changes over time to have little resemblance ...
*
Traditional Japanese musical instruments
Traditional Japanese musical instruments, known as in Japanese, are musical instruments used in the traditional folk music of Japan. They comprise a range of string, wind, and percussion instruments.
Percussion instruments
*; also spelled – ...
References
Music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
Religious music
Gagaku
Articles containing video clips
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