Kagura is the music of Shinto. It is used on formal occasions at shrines or imperial functions and at Shinto folk festivals. The songs and dances are meant to praise the gods and to entertain them. Music at seasonal festivals is performed on drums, rattles, and flutes. Dancers at these festivals perform inside and outside the shrines; their performances are interspersed with chants to the gods. Music at a Buddhist temple in Japan is chanted in one of three languages: Indic, Chinese, or Japanese. The music is marked by highly ornamental singing and free rhythm; bells and chimes are sounded intermittently. The bonodori dances of the o-bon festival are mainly restrained in motion; they are accompanied by singers and sometimes by flute, drum, and samisen, a three-stringed lute. Research Kagura
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Abbreviations
Research Kagura
