[Japan: 17th or 18th century].

In the seventh and eighth centuries, when trade flourished with the rest of Asia, especially Korea and China, Japanese nobility melded foreign dance and music traditions with native Shinto songs. This amalgam was eventually incorporated into official court functions and became so important that it even merited the establishment of a ministry of dance in 701. Trained court nobles and professionals were the only ones permitted to execute these complex choreographies. Bugaku (now known as gagaku) was a type of dance performed at the imperial court during the Edo period.

At the beginning of the... More