{"id":80347,"date":"2021-03-19T16:31:38","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T07:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/?p=80347"},"modified":"2021-03-19T16:31:41","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T07:31:41","slug":"japanese-prayers-through-noh-masks-and-okinawan-dances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/japanese-prayers-through-noh-masks-and-okinawan-dances\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Prayers through Noh Masks and Okinawan Dances"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If the wind blew strong through Tokyo\u2019s Kokyo Gaien <\/strong>(\u7687\u5c45\u5916\u82d1) National Garden<\/strong><\/a> on Sunday, gusting through rows of a captivated audience, billowing through elaborate costumes of performers on stage, whispering through microphones and swaying trees to create a moving<\/strong> backdrop around the iconic Double Bridge<\/strong> (\u4e8c\u91cd\u6a4b, Nijubashi) and<\/strong> Imperial Palace<\/strong>, it must have been a sign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps it was a sign that spring had finally arrived, that this day marked a new beginning. The third and final day of Japanese traditional performing arts <\/strong>in Japan Cultural Expo\u2019s \u201cRepresentation of Prayer<\/a>\u201d<\/strong> (\u7948\u308a\u306e\u304b\u305f\u3061) was successfully staged and enthusiastically received on March 14, 2021\u2014one decade after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, one year into the global pandemic, and one day after Saturday\u2019s program was canceled by heavy rain. As humanity met nature once again on the Imperial Palace Plaza, maybe it was a sign that our collective prayers for peace, recovery, and reconstruction<\/strong> had been heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colorful costumes and ceremonial dances from Okinawa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sunday\u2019s program opened with traditional Ryukyuan dances<\/strong> (\u7409\u7403\u821e\u8e0a) that flourished in the 18th century. These vividly staged diplomatic rituals were originally developed to entertain Chinese imperial envoys (\u518a\u5c01\u4f7f, Sapposhi<\/em>) and later as part of Ryukyuan missions to the Japanese shogunate capital of Edo<\/strong> (present-day Tokyo) during the Ryukyu Kingdom period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n