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Bugaku-Hoe: Japanese Buddhist Chanting and Court Dance
at 3pm on Sunday, 4 December 05
in Logan Hall, Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL (adjacent to SOAS). 

Extraordinary concert of Buddhist liturgical music (shômyô) accompanied by gagaku music and bugaku dance. A rare occasion to see monks from two major schools of Japanese Buddhism, Shingon and Tendai, joining voices to sing the highly ornamented, meditative shômyô chants. In this ritual performance, known as bugaku-hôe, they are joined by the gagaku musicians of the Tokyo Gakuso Ensemble. Directed by Prof. Toshiro KIDO. 

Tickets: £ 10 (£5 concessions). To book e-mail: [log in to unmask]; tel 020 7898 4892
Please note this event is FREE for all SOAS staff and students and their guests (Please bring your SOAS ID card).

As the event starts at 3pm we are asking people to arrive at 2.45pm if possible.

The nearest underground stations are Russell Square and Euston Square and the nearest mainline stations are Euston and Kings Cross. If you are travelling by car, there are a number of NCP car parks nearby, for example Bedford Way, Coram Street and Marchmont Street. More information regarding parking can be found on the Camden Council  web site ( http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/transport-and- streets/parking/ )

The event is part of the Creative Tradition 2005 EU-Japan Tour event, which includes an exhibition of digitalized Buddhist paintings at Brunei Gallery, SOAS, 2-5 December. FREE

SPONSORED BY THE CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF JAPANESE RELIGIONS 
-- 


BUGAKU-HÔE 

Sunday 4 December, 3:00 pm, Logan Hall, Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H  0AL 

PLEASE NOTE: THE CONCERT STARTS AT 3:00 (SHARP). DOORS OPEN AT 2:30







A rare occasion to see monks from two major schools of Japanese Buddhism, Shingon and Tendai, joining voices to sing highly stylized, meditative shômyô chants. In this ritual performance, known as bugaku-hôe, they are accompanied by the gagaku musicians of the Tokyo Gakuso Ensemble. 


Shômyô is melodic chanting used in Japan to recite Buddhist scriptures. It is often likened to Gregorian chanting. In the Nara period (710-784) grand-style performances became popular during the religious rituals of the imperial family and the aristocracy. On these occasions monks were joined by court musicians and dancers. Musical instruments were brought from Central Asia to Japan in the 8th century, via the Silk Road, and were used for a type of court music called gagaku. It was often played to accompany a highly stylized dance called bugaku. The tradition of performing Buddhist chanting on a stage whilst simultaneously dancing and playing is thus more than a thousand years old. Indeed, in old shômyô music scores there are often notes for chanting together with gagaku instruments. There is also evidence of a 7th century Imperial order that required Buddhist chanting and music, both transmitted via the Silk Road, to be performed together in order to give the rituals a more sublime nuance. This tradition was kept alive throughout the pre-modern period. 


In this bugaku-hôe (liturgical ceremony) two mandalas, sacred diagrams that embody the reality of esoteric Buddhism, are placed on the stage for a rite called 
mandala shômyô. The womb mandala (taizôkai) represents compassion, and the diamond mandala (kongôkai) knowledge; they are used together to signify non-duality. The chanting performed by the monks seated on the left, which is associated with the eastern direction and the sun, is Tendai shômyô, and the monks on the right, which is associated with the western direction and the moon, chant Shingon shômyô. The bugaku
dancers will perform two different pieces, one called ryo-o, in praise of the taizôkai
mandala, and the other called nasori, in praise of the kongôkai mandala. 








The Artists:


The shômyô chanters belong to two schools of Japanese Buddhism, which have preserved different styles of liturgical chanting. 


The Tendai monks are from the Hôgi Onritsu Research Institute of Hiei-zan Enryaku-ji, the headquarters of the Tendai school. The institute was established in 1948 to preserve the shômyô tradition and conduct research on the liturgies of the Tendai school. Taki Donin, the chief authority on Tendai shômyô at that time, played a central role as an advisor, while Nakayama Genyû and Honda Genshô acted as instructors. Currently under the leadership of Tsukuma Sonno, its 20 members have performed shômyô in Japan and abroad, and have also experimented with writing shômyô using Western scores.


The Shingon group, Chisan Shômyô Kenkyû-kai, was founded in 2004. Its parent organization, the Shômyô Association of the Kanzô-in Temple in Tokyo, has been active since 1990, researching prosody and the history of the Shingon style of shômyô as transmitted in the Chisan lineage. The organization holds regular workshops and Buddhist ceremonies several times a year. It has also worked with non-Buddhist and ethnic musicians, and has performed in Japan and abroad.


The gagaku music is played by the Tokyo Gakuso ensemble. Established in 1973, its core members are from the Music Department of the Imperial Household Agency, but it also includes outstanding players from other unofficial groups. Its forerunner, the Shigenkai, was formed in the late 1950s by musicians of the Imperial Agency as a means to promote public appreciation of their ancient art through activities outside their official duties at the Imperial Palace.  With the aim of popularizing gagaku, the group is active worldwide, and has produced about a dozen CDs. 


-----------
Dr Lucia Dolce
Chair, Centre for the Study of Japanese Religions
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square
London WC1H 0XG
UK
Tel. (dir): +44 (0)20 7898 4217
Fax: +44 (0)20 7898 4699




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