Kagura

Kagura is the sacred music and dance of Shinto in Japan, performed to entertain and welcome the kami at shrine festivals. Its oldest stratum, mikagura, is the court repertory of song and dance maintained by the Imperial Household, while the village satokagura of the regions stages masked dances and comic or mythological theatre, from the solemn miko dances of shrine maidens to the serpent-slaying spectacles of Iwami kagura. Ensembles of flute, drum and hand percussion accompany hereditary troupes whose performances structure the ritual calendar of thousands of local shrines and preserve Japan's oldest continuous dance tradition.