Kuniburi-no-utamai: Song and dance from ancient Japan

The various types of kuniburi-no-utamai are sets of songs and dances that derive from Japan’s distant past, conditioned through contact with the music and dance transmitted from the Asian continent, and brought to full form during the Heian period (9th to 12th centuries). Some derive from the local performing arts of various parts of the Japanese archipelago, while others developed during the Heian period in relation to Shinto ceremony.

Certain of the kuniburi-no-utamai form a special class of pieces related to the early history of the ancient Japanese state, as depicted in its earliest histories, Kojiki (‘Record of Ancient Matters’) and Nihon shoki (‘Chronicles of Japan’). They are called jōdai kabu (‘ancient song and dance’) or fuzoku kabu (‘song and dance of local manners’).

Almost all of the pieces include movements with sung texts, and take the forms of suites. Although they are accompanied by an instrumental ensemble demonstrating influence from the tōgaku (‘Tang music’) repertoire, they also use some instruments indigenous to Japan. The musicians are called utakata (‘singers’), a term which indicates the primacy of the voice. The dancers wear simple, elegant costumes. An exception is the dance for women, rare in the whole gagaku repertoire, in which the dancers wear beautiful, ornate costumes.

Transmission and history of the indigenous song and dance forms

Regional song and dance forms were transmitted from ancient times. The Utamai-no-tsukasa (or Gagaku-ryō, ‘Bureau of Music’) established in 701 was given charge of both imported and indigenous forms, and was responsible for collecting regional performing arts and training their performers. With the process of ‘Japanization’ of the imported forms in the Heian period (9th to 12th centuries), the indigenous forms were allocated to a new institution, the Ōutadokoro (‘Folk Music Office’).

Although the imported forms spread widely within Heian court culture, performance of the indigenous forms was limited to ceremonial and Shinto worship contexts, and as time passed there were fewer occasions for their performance. It appears that they died out during the war years of the medieval period, which reached their peak in the Ōnin war of 1467–77.

With the return of peace in the Edo period (17th to 19th centuries), several of the indigenous song and dance forms were revived, based on research undertaken by court musicians of the time. The majority of their surviving forms are essentially revivals of Edo and later date. They are performed at ceremonies of Japan’s imperial house and festivals of major Shinto shrines.