Nihon Buyou – Traditional Dance
At the recent Mitama Matsuri in Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine I saw this beautiful performer of Nihon Buyou, or traditional Japanese dance. These days the vast majority of dancers in this traditional genre are much older than this lady and it is good to see that at least some in the younger generation that keeps the tradition alive! During the four day festival dozens of dancers performed at this stage, free of charge and plenty of seating. I’m surprised not more people came to watch, but I was also happy to be able to focus on getting good photos without the crowds for once.
Tokyobling's Blog 
nice photos..which dance is it?
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I was going to write it down but I didn’t and now I forgot… I’ll see if I can find the program somewhere… (^-^;)
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okie, it happens 😀
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There are a fair few younger folk doing it, but I think it takes many years to get good at it, so often it is older people you’ll see. And nice that it was free. One thing I picked up about Nihon Buyo is that everybody pays, and often more than once. We normally have to pay to watch, the performers pay to perform, then they have to pay more to the people that do the costumes and make-up and stage ninjas because they apparently hadn’t given them enough the first time (really!), then we have to pay the performers because none of the money we’d already paid went to them. Somebody’s making a mint!
Again, family connections in the Nihon Buyo world, so this topic comes up quite often (from me). Mrs Coal had planned to become a professional. Guess why that didn’t happen…
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I was waiting for you to step out of the shadows and tell us some more…! Yes, I have heard about the money thing with others, and in other art forms. Personally I am glad you could lead Mrs. Coal into another form of dancing! (^-^)
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She was doing both for the longest time. She may actually still be doing both now I think about it… It worked out well for her anyway though, as the grace of movements from one translated very well into the other.
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I would have loved to seen this performance. So graceful!
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Thank you! It really was. I think they’ll be doing it next year as well, hurry up and come visit!
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I wish I could see her dancing 🙂 Pretty and elegant!
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It is very elegant! And slow… (^-^)
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