Nihon buyo

Nihon buyo is Japanese classical dance. It developed from older mai and odori traditions during the Edo period (1603-1867), largely through kabuki, whose dance grew into a refined stage style. The modern term dates from the Meiji era, when the writer Tsubouchi Shoyo is credited as the first to use it.

Its movement combines mai, calm and inward, odori, rhythmic and dynamic, and furi, gestures drawn from everyday Edo life. Dancers wear kimono and use fans and other props, with sung verse and instrumental music. About two hundred schools exist, five regarded as the major ones: Hanayagi, Fujima, Wakayagi, Nishikawa and Bando. The Nihon Buyo Association promotes the art.

Sources

• Nihon-buyo (Wikipedia)
• What is Nihonbuyo (Nihon Buyo Association)
• About Kabuki (Shochiku)

Organisations connected with this dance

• Nihon Buyo Association (Nihon Buyo Kyokai)
• National Theatre of Japan (Japan Arts Council)
• Shochiku Co., Ltd. (Kabukiza)

Listed as references; being listed is not an endorsement by or of the organisation.

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