Kagura is a performing art, with players taking on one of two roles: musician or dancer. The traditional instruments used by the musicians – drum, flute and gong – give us a clue as to just how long kagura has been performed. All three instruments could be identified anywhere, but they each take on a distinct Japanese character based on their material and construction. The easily recognizable taiko are constructed from the hollowed core of a Zelkova tree, an elm-like species with ultra-dense wood that the Japanese call keyaki; they are covered on both open ends with tightly-stretched hides. Taiko produce low-frequency bass notes that reverberate pleasingly in the surrounding walls, floor and ceiling. The smaller shimedaiko, with a much tighter skin, accompanies the big drum and plays variations on the melody. The kagurabue (literally, the kagura flute) is made of bamboo – wrapped in birch-bark or cherry-bark, then lacquered. It has six finger-holes, and produces a deeper, milder sound than its cousin, the shinobue. Finally, the atarigane is the hand-held brass gong that is struck with a piece of antler or horn to produce a piercing sound: it sets the tempo for the musicians and dancers.

Japanese music often seems unapproachable to western ears, and leaves first-timers bewildered when they can’t find familiar rhythmic patterns. This unfamiliarity arises due to its use of ma – the interval between the notes, the silence that is used as negative spacing or for dramatic effect. Instead of rising crescendos, shorter or longer ma are employed to effect the artist’s intentions; and instead of flourished finales, the music just comes to a stop. I recall my own first experience attending a concert of a famous koto player, and leaving in disappointment, thinking that it wasn’t oriental in the graceful or ornamental or exotic way I had imagined; it was just oriental in a weird, foreign way. And even though kagura doesn’t use koto or shamisen or biwa – stringed instruments that play a part in Noh and Kabuki – it does use ma. Therefore, the uninitiated needs to find accessibility in the music by listening for the johakyu, the three parts to the composition: exposition, development, and resolution; they correspond to the slow beginning, the varied middle, and the very fast conclusion – with the conclusion slowing down just before coming to an abrupt end.