{"id":22,"date":"2017-10-02T15:35:28","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T12:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/?p=22"},"modified":"2021-10-19T14:24:39","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T11:24:39","slug":"kagura-sacred-shinto-dances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/kagura-sacred-shinto-dances\/","title":{"rendered":"<em>Kagura<\/em>, Sacred Shinto Dances"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 20%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-22 gallery-columns-5 gallery-size-full'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/jap05.jpg'><img width=\"399\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/jap05.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-486\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-486'>\n\t\t\t\tAn unmasked <em>kagura<\/em> dance <span>Jukka O. Miettinen<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>The still thriving tradition of archaic <i>kagura<\/i> (god-performance) dances is deeply related to Japan\u2019s earliest belief system, Shinto. Once strictly a form of ceremonial art, <i>kagura<\/i> has evolved into various forms over the course of a thousand years. Some of these forms are still related to Shinto shrines, and some to court practices, while many of the dances are linked to the rhythms of the agricultural calendar. Some of the forms employ masks, while some forms, more theatrical in character, involve storytelling and the re-enactment of stories.<\/p>\n<h2>The History<\/h2>\n<p>The origin of the <i>kagura<\/i> tradition is not completely clear, but it is suggested that it predates <i>Noh<\/i> theatre, which evolved at the turn of the 14<sup>th<\/sup> century. Japanese epics relate <i>kagura<\/i> to the mythical dance of the maid Uzume in front of the Sun god\u2019s cave, as mentioned above.<\/p>\n<p>Originally, sacred <i>kagura<\/i> dances were performed by shrine maidens. Later, the dances inspired many forms of popular ritual dances, which were based on earlier folk forms. Over the centuries various forms evolved, including forms of dance-drama and also completely secular variants.<\/p>\n<h2>Forms of <i>Kagura<\/i><\/h2>\n<p>The originally court-related <i>kagura<\/i> dances are called <i>mikagura.<\/i> They were performed in several sacred places, such as the Imperial Sanctuary and various Shinto shrines all over the country. They also formed part of the Imperial harvest festival, a practice, which still seems to continue in the secret in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.<\/p>\n<p>The folk forms of <i>kagura<\/i>, originally derived from the court variants and incorporated with various popular traditions, are called <i>satokagura<\/i>, or \u201cnormal <i>kagura<\/i>\u201d. They include dances performed by temple maidens, who originally became possessed by gods. Now the dances are formalised throughout.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the <i>kagura<\/i> dances are based on prototypes performed at certain Shinto shrines. Later these new variants also became popular in other parts of Japan. These kinds of <i>kagura<\/i> dances are related to particular ceremonies, such as ritual purification, the celebration of an auspicious day and to other temple festivals.<\/p>\n<p>The <i>kagura<\/i> repertoire includes one version of the <i>Lion Dance<\/i>, performed by a dancer wearing a lion mask. Lion dances are known in many variations in several parts of Asia. <i>Kagura<\/i> also became used in the enactment of stories and thus some of its forms have a secular theatrical quality. In Edo <i>kagura<\/i> even evolved towards street performances, called <i>daikagura.<\/i> They involved acrobatics, various dances, juggling etc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The still thriving tradition of archaic kagura (god-performance) dances is deeply related to Japan\u2019s earliest belief system, Shinto. Once strictly a form of ceremonial art, kagura has evolved into various forms over the course of a thousand years. Some of these forms are still related to Shinto shrines, and some to court practices, while many [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2048,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3395,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions\/3395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}