Bugaku, meaning ‘dancing music’, originated in the Nara period (AD 710-784). It was part of the larger category of gagaku ceremonial music performed in shrines, monasteries and at the court. The dances took place on a square raised stage with a wooden railing, and dancers wore flowing robes of heavily embroidered brocade and orange or green gauze, together with skilfully carved and painted wooden masks and court headgear.

In the Heian period (784-1185) bugaku became an essential part of festivals and ceremonies, performed by young noblemen as well as by professional dancers. With the advent of warrior rule in the late 12th century, bugaku lost its central role, but was maintained by certain temples and in the regions outside the capital. In the early 17th century, the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu supported the revival of bugaku and other traditional arts as a way of legitimising his power. This revived Edo-period form of the dance survives today.

The programme is organised into a series of paired dances, alternating between performers of the Left and Right (four to six dancers). The sequence of ‘statement and response’ progresses from slow ‘literary’ dances, through stronger, ‘military’ pieces, to the final lively ‘running dance’ by a single performer. The instruments used to accompany bugaku include drums, flutes, reed-pipes, stone chimes, and bronze bells.