ANONYMOUS (17TH CENTURY)

Bugaku is a type of music with accompanying dance performances that was imported into Japan from continental Asia in the late 8th century. During the Nara (710-794) and Heian (794-1192) periods it developed a style unique to Japan as the official performing art of the imperial court, Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. This tradition was inherited throughout the medieval and early-modern ages by temples and shrines, as well as court aristocrats in their individual annual events.